Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

Happy Valentine's Day! To round out my other romantic culinary creations is this ooey, gooey chocolate dessert. Lava cakes have been around for a while but they remain popular because they're both delicious and quite easy to make.

One of my favorite things about this treat is that the mixture can be made in advance and refrigerated until you're ready to bake. With so few ingredients, the quality of the chocolate really matters so use something you'd enjoy eating on it's own. Fair warning, though, that this dessert is quite rich so you might want to serve it with something light such as...ice cream! Hahahahaha. Enjoy!









Ingredients
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
6 oz. unsalted butter
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Melt the chocolate (in a microwave or over a double-boiler) and stir in the butter. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until the mixture lightens. Stir in the salt, vanilla and chocolate then add the flour.

Grease four ramekins and pour an even amount of batter into each. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to rest for a few minutes. These can be served in their baking dishes or tipped upside down over a plate and dusted with powdered sugar. Makes 4 servings.