Once in awhile, a mouthwatering dessert recipe comes along that you just know is going to taste like the food equivalent of love. It has to involve chocolate (obviously) but usually also makes creative use of something tart, tangy, and warm -- like the extravagantly decadent raspberry sauce that is drizzled over these amazing mini lava cakes. Winter is the ideal time to stay home, bake, and then cuddle up with chocolate treats, a glass of red wine, and someone else -- if you choose to. Enjoying these alone is also heavenly. So let's turn on the oven!
This recipe for Chocolate Lava Cakes With Red Raspberry Sauce is brought to you from Just a Taste. It is, essentially, a molten chocolate cake, which is one of those sinfully amazing desserts that you bite into and that provides you with a surprisingly gooey, warm middle that fills your mouth and belly with absolute delight.
This recipe yields one dozen small cakes and takes about 50 minutes to make, from prep to cook time. Be sure to have extra raspberries or strawberries and powdered sugar on hand in order to create a pretty garnish.
Chocolate Lava Cakes With Red Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients:
For the lava cakes:
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed
1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
5 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
For the red raspberry sauce:
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
Place the butter and chocolate chips in a smaller saucepan then melt the ingredients by holding the smaller saucepan over the pan of boiling water.
Stir constantly until smooth then set aside.
Beat together the eggs, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer until the sugar dissolves.
Beat the egg mixture into the melted chocolate, then beat in the flour.
Line a cupcake tin with paper cupcake cups that have been coated with cooking spray.
Pour the batter into the cups then bake for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the edges of the cakes are firm and the centers and still liquid.
Remove the lava cakes and let cool for 5 minutes.
Remove the cakes from the cupcake cups and serve with raspberry sauce (recipe below).
For the raspberry sauce:
Combine the raspberries, water, and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
Let mixture come to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until thickened. Stir frequently to break apart the raspberries.
Let cool before spooning over lava cakes and serving.
Image via Andrea Goh/Flickr