Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Tuesdays With Dorie - Gooey Chocolate Cakes

I was so happy to learn that my very first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, chosen by Leigh of Lemon Tartlet, was Gooey Chocolate Cakes. When I first browsed Baking From My Home To Yours it was one of the recipes that caught my eye, or made my stomach growl but that’s pretty much the same thing. So I couldn’t wait to make these beauties.

On Sunday morning, I got all my ingredients ready and waited for it to be an acceptable time to make chocolate cake. Eleven AM sounded about right so after making a few sandwiches for lunch, I got started on my cakes. The batter part was fairly straight forward, kind of like making brownies, but better. As I slowly added all the melted chocolate, the batter got darker and gooier and even more delicious than I could have imagined. I filled buttered and floured muffin pans with the silky batter, sprinkled the tops with more chocolate, and into the stove it all went.

I promise you the aroma of the cakes baking into dark little treasures was by itself worth making these. The most stressful part for me was the unmolding of the cakes. I was afraid that half the cakes would remain stuck to the muffin tins. But all the cakes unmolded perfectly into little mounds of chocolate heaven. Heaven. Truly.

As Dorie advises, you do have to use the best quality chocolate you can find and also the one you most like to eat as the taste of the chocolate is what really comes out. I loved tasting the different textures within the cake and with a dollop of whipped cream, I thought they were perfect. Don’t forget to check out what the other Tuesdays with Dorie members thought about the cakes. I can’t wait for next Tuesday!


Gooey Chocolate Cakes
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate,
4 ounces coarsely chopped,
1 ounce very finely chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

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42 comments:

Mari said...

Welcome aboard! Your cakeslook good and gooey! I'm beginning to think I over baked mine, but never mind, I loved them just the same!

April said...

Your cakes look great! Welcome to the group and congrats on your first recipe!

Ginny said...

Amazing! They look great! I think im going to breakdown and get the cookbook...so delicious!

ChichaJo said...

This looks just to decadent and luscious for words!

Isabelle Lambert said...

Vraiment contente que tu ais rejoint le groupe :)
tes petits gâteaux semblent plus coulants que les miens...etk, ils sont vraiment bons !

noskos said...

Welcome to TWD! Great looking (and I bet tasting) cakes you've made!

RecipeGirl said...

I love this sort of thing... gooey and chocolate works for me :)

grace said...

wait, so 7 am is too early to start making chocolate concoctions in the kitchen? perhaps you're right. is it too early to devour aforementioned chocolate concoctions? i think not. :)

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

The dusting of icing sugar looks lovely!

Anonymous said...

Yours turned out wonderfully gooey - great job.

And nice touch with the icing sugar.

Mary said...

welcome to the group! i'm impressed with your goo!

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Your great description and your beautiful pictures have talked me into it - I've got to make these!

cakewardrobe said...

It's too bad I missed this! Was this a contest? Well, I just ordered the book, based on your yummy photo! :)

Annemarie said...

Welcome! Your cakes look wonderful...love the sprinkling of powdered sugar!!

Anonymous said...

Yours looks so wonderful and gooey! Great job!

Aimée said...

I love that these can be made in muffin cups! Really nice! Wish I could drop over for one. :)

Anne said...

Those photos are beautiful! I love the first two. They look delicious, great job!

Marie Rayner said...

Your cakes turned out lovely and molten!!! Fantastic! Mine were more fudgy for some reason, but that was rectified with the use of some Muscovado toffee syrup and a nice dollop of clotted cream. Well done on your first challenge!

Anonymous said...

Wow, your blog has impressed me so far but you really out did yourself with these cake pics. They look like they should be cuddled first! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Wow the centers of those cakes just look incredible. I think you've just convinced me to buy this book.

CB said...

Fabu goo you got there! Welcome to TWD! Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Anonymous said...

Your photos are so life-like I could lick them! Great Job!

Gigi said...

I love this book! I have been dying to make these and I think your photos have pushed me over the edge! *drool*

Amy said...

Oh my gosh yours looks so heavenly. The perfect amount of gooeyness! Welcome!

Anonymous said...

What beautiful photos! I'm glad you enjoyed your first week of TWD, welcome!

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the group and congrats on your first recipe! Your cakes look divine! :)

Missy said...

I have attempted to make a similar cake to this more than once and they never turned out very well. I will give them another try (with better chocolate!)

Mary Ann said...

gorgeous pictures! they look so good and I know that they taste so good!

Anna said...

WOW- the insides of these are to die for! Definitely trying these!!

Heather B said...

Welcome to the group! Amazing pictures! Great, delicious job!

Gretchen Noelle said...

I love that you started at 11am! Go chocolate cakes! Great job and welcome to TWD!

test it comm said...

Those look so decadent and chocolaty good!

Cecilia said...

Oh my goodness! Your cakes turned out so beautifully with their gooey centers. They look like perfection in your pictures. Forget my own cakes; I want a piece of yours!

Anonymous said...

so...chocolatey...and...gooey...must...bake.

Lore said...

I must try this one! Love it when things get gooey in a chocolate cake. Looks YUMMY!

Patricia Scarpin said...

LyB, this is a sinful recipe. :)
Your photos blow me away!

Piggy said...

welcome to the group! congrats on your success in making these gooey cakes! :-)

Dolores said...

Welcome to the madness... what a great way to start! I'm with you... the smell of these as they baked was at *least* as intoxicating as the taste. Yours turned out lovely.

LyB said...

Thank you everyone for the nice comments! I had so much fun this week both making these cakes and reading about everyone else's. I really can't wait until next Tuesday! :)

Helene said...

You did a wonderful job! The pictures do make me hungry !!

Cakespy said...

Oh my. Your version looks...well, gooey. But in the most fantastic way, like they need to make a new word for "gooey" that sounds better. YUM.

Jaime said...

welcome to TWD! your cakes look perfect and gooey!