“When you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done”.
If you go through my blog ( which I really hope you have already done!) , you’ll see that I have an unhealthy (literally and figuratively) love for all things gooey , syrupy or flowy. As far as I am concerned , the more squishy and messy my chocolate desserts are , the better! So, needless to say , the mere thought of these dulce de leche molten cakes had me drooling. When I actually made and tasted one , I was literally swooning. I know every blogger waxes poetic about their bakes.. but trust me , these ARE THAT GOOD!
If like me, your food vocabulary isn’t vast , then Dulce de leche (meaning “milk candy”) is a sweet confectionary used in South American desserts made by heating sugar and milk for long hours. Thankfully, you can turn a can of condensed milk into golden dulce de leche much more easily and with minimum expertise. Basically, heating condensed milk removes all the water from it and caramelises the remaining fat and sugar . Caution : its too easy to eat by the spoonful !
As you must have figured out , these mini cakes have a dulce de leche lava. As if that wasn’t good enough, the chocolate cake itself is so damn soft and melts away on your tongue. Now these little things are calorie bombs , with 3 eggs and nearly 3/4 th cup of butter going into just 4 servings. But if you have to take in some calories, then there’s no better way to do it than eating one of these bites of heaven.
Recipe courtesy : Caroline Bretherton
You ‘ll need:
- 150 grams dark or semi sweet chocolate
- 150 grams or about 11 tbsps unsalted butter
- 3 eggs (room temperature)
- 66 grams or 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 4-6 tsp dulce de leche
Makes : 4 lava cakes
Time : 15 mins prep + 15 mins baking time
Lets get started :
Prepare your dulce de leche. You can do this by filling a pressure cooker half with water, place a condensed milk can in it , heat on medium for one whistle and then at low for 30 minutes (light and flowy ) upto 45 minutes (darker and thicker). Let cool completely and open the can.
Preheat oven to 200 C . Butter 4 ramekins and dust with cocoa powder. I don’t have ramekins so just used my idli cups. You can also use individual silicon muffin molds .
Melt the butter and chopped chocolate together in a double boiler or microwave until liquid and mixed. Cool completely.
Beat the eggs with the sugar until light and triple in volume.
Mix in the chocolate-butter mixture.
Sift in the tablespoon of flour and fold it in.
At this point , you can refrigerate the batter (for upto two days) until you need to use it. Let it come to room temperature though before baking.
Fill half of your ramekins with the batter. Add a teaspoon or two of dulce de leche.
Cover with more chocolate batter . The dulce de leche should be completely covered and your ramekin shouldn’t be more than 3/4th full.
Bake at 200 C for 12-14 mins. The sides will be set and the centre will be slightly wobbly. Cool for a minute or two . Run a knife along the sides and invert onto a plate!
Also :
- These are best served warm . Reheat before serving if using microwave able ramekins/ silicon cups.
- This recipe makes 4 desserts if the size of your ramekin is around 200 ml . If you are using smaller cups, you might get upto 6 .
- The baking time will vary depending on your ramekin size, how much you fill them and your oven ofcourse.
- The cakes will rise well and then fall when out of the oven.
- Double the recipe as needed.
If you like molten chocolate cakes, you should try these NOW! Like seriously, stop reading and go into your kitchen .You can prepare the batter ahead of time if you are baking this for company and bake just after the main meal . Or if its just you and the husband / boyfriend/ girlfriend / roommate .. make two for lunch and you can bake up the remaining two after dinner!
The shot of caramel uplifts the gooey almost falling apart chocolate cake to an unbelievable level. And since the dulce de leche is so sweet , the cake itself is dark and intense. Exquisite.
PS : if you dont know what to do with the remaining dulce de leche, stay tuned!
i try to put up a post atleast once in 3 days or so.
How frequently do you post? This is wonderful.
i try to put up a post atleast once in 3 days or so.
How frequently do you post? This is wonderful.