Chocolate Lava Cake

(above) Chocolate Lava Cake

In need of a chocolate fix? Well, this will pretty much do it. Today I tried Alton Brown's "Chocolate Lava Muffins". The recipe is incredibly simple and the ingredients equally so. The only really difficult thing you have to watch out for is the baking time. Do it just right, and you will get a chocolate cake with an ooey-gooey chocolate filling. Do it wrong and overbake it, and you'll end up with a delicious brownie. I ended up slightly overbaking it. I did get a bit of gooey filling (so I can tell you just how delicious it is!) but not as much as I would have liked. Do me a favor and bake it for less than 10 minutes. You really won't want to miss out on the gooey chocolate filling that gives chocolate lava cake its name. If you're up for it, sift some powered sugar over the cake and serve on a plate drizzled with chocolate sauce.

(above) Use lots of semi-sweet chocolate...

(above) ...and melt it down with some butter...

(above) ...until it all melts together.

(above) A bit of sugar, flour and salt. Thats all the dry ingredients. Seriously.

(above) I've heard that some people have problems getting these cakes out of the pan so I buttered the cups generously and then dusted them with cocoa powder.

(above) I used half a recipe that made 6 cakes. Look at my new 12-cup cupcake tin! Pretty.

(above) All baked up! Although possibly a little overdone.

(above) The cakes.

Chocolate Lava Muffins

Recipe from Alton Brown

Makes 12 cakes
Ingredients
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
Butter, to coat muffin tin
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Place a small metal bowl over a saucepan with simmering water. Melt the chocolate and butter in the bowl. Stir in vanilla.
   In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour and salt. Sift these into the chocolate and mix well with electric hand mixer. Add eggs one at time, fully incorporating each egg before adding the next. Beat at high until batter is creamy and lightens in color, approximately 4 minutes. Chill mixture.
3. Coat the top and each cup of the muffin tin with butter. Dust with the cocoa powder and shake out excess. Spoon mixture into pan using a 4-ounce scoop or ladle. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes. Outsides should be cake-like and centers should be gooey