Several years ago they were the darlings of the restaurant world. I finally got around to making some and I wonder why I didn’t sooner. Some trends are worth it.
First you must make some chocolate truffles. Don’t be afraid this is SO easy…
Chocolate Truffles
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1 pound of best quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped- I use Callebaut Bittersweet- don’t use supermarket chocolate chips.
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons instant espresso (optional but it does enhance the chocolate flavour)
- 2 Tablespoons liqueur of your choice ( I use Amaretto but you could use Gran Marnier, Chambord, Cassis, Frangelico or whatever you choose.)
Heat the cream to scalding, pour over the chopped chocolate in a glass or metal bowl. Whisk until smooth, add the butter, liqueur and espresso if using. Whisk until all is smooth. Cover the top with plastic wrap and chill until firm. Scoop into Tablespoon sized balls. Set aside 6 of these on a tray and cover tightly with plastic wrap then place into the freezer until needed in the cake recipe to follow. You can roll the rest in powdered sugar and/ or cocoa powder or dip into tempered chocolate and store in a tightly covered container in the fridge indefinitely. You most certainly will eat them before they have a chance of going bad. 🙂
Molten Chocolate Truffle Souffle Cakes (makes 6 individual cakes)
- 1 cup granulated sugar(plus a bit more to coat ramekins)
- 1/2 cup whole or 2% milk
- Â 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
- 1 tablespoon AP flour
- 4 ounces (by weight) best quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 4 ounces (by weight) best quality unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- Â 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter (plus a bit more to coat ramekins)
- Â 4 large egg yolks
- 4 large egg whites
- 6 frozen chocolate truffles from above recipe
- slightly sweetened whipped cream for garnish
- powdered sugar for garnish
You’ll need (6) one-cup ramekins. Coat the insides of each with butter and place a parchment circle cut to fit the bottom diameter inside each ramekin. Butter the parchment too then sprinkle in some granulated sugar and turn to coat then entire interior surface of the ramekins with sugar. Tap out the excess. If you are going to bake the cakes immediately, preheat the oven to 425F.
Reserve two Tablespoons of the granulated sugar from the one cup measured. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the milk, sugar (less the reserved 2 T)and espresso powder until it comes to a full boil. Whisk in the Tablespoon of flour and reduce the heat to medium-low so that the mixture simmers for one minute. After the minute, remove the pan from the heat and add both chocolates. Whisk until smooth. Add the butter and the egg yolks one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Set aside whilst you whip the egg whites.Â
Tip: I find it works best to wipe my mixer bowl with a paper towel moistened with vodka to remove any grease that may be lurking there prior to whipping egg whites. I also wipe down the whip in this manner.
Place the four room-temperature egg whites in the bowl of the mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Beat on low until frothy. Add the two Tablespoons of reserved granulated sugar from above and beat on medium high until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Take a large spoonful of the whipped whites and add to the chocolate base to lighten it. Then add the chocolate base to the whites and fold in gently using gentle strokes through the center and up the sides until the mixture is fully incorporated but not deflated. Fill each of the six ramekins half full and then place a frozen truffle in the center of each. Top each ramekin off with the remainder of the batter. At this point they can be baked immediately in the 435F oven for 10- 12 minutes and served hot or they can be held in the fridge for a day or even up to three -although they lose some potential volume each day.
This cake was mixed on Tuesday and held in the fridge then baked on Friday with only a small amount of loss in volume.
From the fridge you must increase the baking time to about 17 minutes. They can also be wrapped tightly and held in your freezer for up to a month. When you need a quick and impromptu dessert just remove the plastic wrap and pop them frozen into the oven at 425F and increase the baking time to about 25 minutes.
Serve hot from the oven inverted on an individual serving plate, parchment removed and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Top with slightly sweetened softly whipped cream for the perfect dessert.
Enjoy!
Hi Laurie,
Yes I think you could do this with a cupcake and have good results. The frozen truffle is the key to the molten center so I don’t know why it wouldn’t work in a cupcake batter. Note that these are only baked for 10-12 minutes so longer baking could affect the result. Do try it and let me know? Thanks for your question!
xo
Gabi
Would this work with my own cupcake recipe, instead of a souffle, but the same truffle centre? Is that the part that gets “molten” and “lava”-like?
I cannot eat eggs, but would like to recreate it if possible.
Hi Kristen- yes that would be ambrosial!
I can imagine this can only be enhanced with a scoop of rich, vanilla bean ice cream. I love molten chocolate cakes! Yum!
Hi Allison,
No need to wait to fill the ramekins. Just fill and wrap them tightly with plastic wrap. Then you can hold them in the fridge or freezer. Remove the wrap and pop them into the oven.- Easy!
Thanks for stopping by!
xo
Gabi
If I want to make these in advance, do I wait to fill the batter and truffle I to the ramekin? Do I fill the ramekin but put the frozen truffle in later?
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hi Susan! Thanks for stopping by and visiting. Love your blog too!
xox
Gabi
YUM! I even think this would be good for breakfast! (It’s breakfast time here now which is probably why I think this!) Thank you for this, you have a lovely bright clean web site. Have a great day!
Aw Thanks Sally! Hope you are having a lovely season at Casalba! xoxo
Smart girl, raised by a lovely Mum! They are so easy!
There’s a restaurant near us who makes these – yours look every bit as good, if not better (and I must stress this is an excellent resataurant!). I’ve never even attempted to make them myself. Great job Gabi. xxx
My daughter used to make a 15 minute version of these whenever she had a sweet tooth.