I’m a glutton and by now everybody knows it. One of my favourite desserts is the “tortino al cioccolato con cuore morbido/caldo/colante” (mini chocolate cake with tender/melting/hot heart heart), which is very long to say. I discovered this cake in France, where they call it moelleux au chocolat. I fell in love with it and I tried to recreate it at home. After some attempts, I think I found the one. This is my beloved Italian chocolate lava cake. It can be a perfect idea for Saint Valentine.
I prepare it at every special occasion. It is very simple to make. Less simple is to get the baking right. It depends on luck or… guests. When I do it just for my husband and me, the result is always perfect. When I have guests, probably I get emotional, I do not know… but I never do it properly. It is too melted inside, or overcooked. Uffa! Luckily it is quite tasty with any texture, so no one is unhappy anyway. I promise.
Italian chocolate lava cake
Ingredients for 2
- 50 g dark chocolate (I use 70%)
- 50 g butter (I use lactose free butter)
- 15 g flour (if you live in Italy, you can use the 00 type flour. If you’re abroad, you can use plain flour or all purpose flour. Not a big deal, it is just a puff of flour, in the end)
- 33g of sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
Italian chocolate lava cake preparation
I use the microwave. So I put chopped chocolate, chopped butter and sugar in a microwave proof bowl. I let the microwave do the job of melting them (but pay attention, the mixture must not boil). Use your habitual program for liquids and stay there to check. It requires just a minute.
If you do not have the microwave, simply melt them in a double boiler or a bain-marie (we in Italy say “a bagnomaria”).
Let the mixture cool off and then add the egg, mixing carefully until well combined.
Add the flour and the pinch of salt and mix again.
When done, butter two small ramekins (or a bigger one as I did with my heart shaped mould, but two separate allow a better baking). Just for reference, I normally use Italian standard aluminium ramekins with a diameter of about 8 cm, and about 5 cm high. Fill three quarters of the ramekins with the mixture. Cover them and put them in your freezer for at least 2 hours.
Italian chocolate lava cake baking time
Pay attention
-
- After 2/4 hours in the freezer: preheat oven at 200°C and then bake for 8/10 minutes.
- After more than 4 hours: preheat oven at 220°C and then bake for 15 minutes.
It is delicious just as it is, but if you accompany it with a vanilla gelato scoop is heaven. As we Italian say: “è la morte sua”. Literally it means “it’s its death”, but we mean it is to die for, they’re a match made in heaven. But we only use this idiom in culinary contexts, eh, mi raccomando!
Buon appetito!
