Let Your LOVE Flow this Valentine’s Day with this Yummy, Fudgy Treat!
Dark Chocolate Cake – with an oozing filling of swirling chocolate & peanut butter.
This Valentine’s Day treat your sweetie to a delicious, rich, dense and fudgy cake – perfect for sharing!
A chocolate treat that has a warm, gooey, flowing chocolate-peanut butter center. Who can resist this?
This is an easy recipe, and will teach you the principles of a soufflé cake – egg whites are whipped to soft peaks and folded into the chocolate batter before baking. Rich peanut butter truffles are made ahead of time, and when firm – are dropped in the batter for a molten, oozing center. (PS: they are fabulous truffles by themselves!)
I have reduced the fat and sugar content, adding extra bittersweet chocolate for texture and dense flavor.
Gluten-free? No problem! There is only a small amount of flour here, 1/3 cup – substitute all purpose gluten-free flour blend for amazing results.
The lava cake with have cooked cake-like edges with a soft oozing center.
Cooking time is important! It’s finished when the edges are firm, and the center feels soft – you want it to flow… like lava; hence it’s name!
I’ve cooked mine in vintage Pyrex 8oz, 1 Cup Individual Oval Clear Glass Baking Dishes.
Use any oven safe 1 cup capacity baking dish – or if you prefer, a 4 cup baking pan for the whole recipe (this will take a bit longer in the oven.)
Making ahead of time? Undercook a bit, then reheat and let the lovely center flow. Alternately, prepare the cakes and refrigerate until ready to bake. Place on your countertop for at least a half an hour to take out the chill, then pop in a hot oven and serve immediately.
Little Chocolate History – It’s link to Valentine’s Day:
Richard Cadbury, whose British family manufactured chocolate, was searching for a way to use the pure cocoa butter that was extracted from the process Cadbury had invented to make a more palatable drinking chocolate. His solution was “eating chocolates,” which he packaged in lovely boxes he designed himself. A marketing genius, Cadbury began putting the Cupids and rosebuds on heart-shaped boxes in 1861: even when the chocolates had been eaten, people could use the beautiful boxes to save such mementos as love letters.
The commercialization of Valentine’s Day flourished in America at the turn of the century. Chocolate pioneer Milton Hershey started as a caramel maker, but in 1894 began covering his caramels with sweet chocolate. In 1907, Hershey launched production of tear-dropped shaped “kisses,” so-called because of the smooching noise the chocolate made as it was manufactured. Mass-produced at an affordable cost, the kisses were advertised as “a most nourishing food.” (Source: Smithsonian Magazine.)
Some more Chocolaty Recipes you’ll love:
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Make it a sweet one.
Karen