I cannot believe that 3 years has gone by since the photo on the right. That is just crazy. And it’s taken me this long to write about these delicious cakes.
During covid 2020 Greg was home for his birthday – Andy too. Andy’s request that year was a chocolate molten cake. He loved it. Greg’s Birthday, just four days later requested the same. I sighed. How to make a truly delicious gluten and dairy free molten cake? It seemed impossible. I am/was really inexperienced in this type of baking but I scoured the internet and thought hard about this. (I make it sound like rocket science which is silly).
The basic recipe for the cake is from Organically Addison – I added what I learned from my first teacher Rick Katz – that molten is necessary for a seriously good molten cake. No underbaked center here – but instead, a ganache ball made with coconut cream (not coconut milk) and melted chocolate. This little nugget placed in the center of the batter filled ramekin did the trick. It was gooey, intense and the chocolate flavor popped. Greg was thrilled. 🙂
I made them again this last month – twice actually and Jill loved. Sylvie loved. She isn’t even GF or DF but enjoyed immensely. Nicole, andy’s girlfriend who is GF and DF is next at bat. These are easy to make despite this long write up!
Here are some important notes/thoughts (please read through before you bake):
The recipe calls for coconut sugar. But because Greg rarely eats desserts I opted for brown sugar. I wanted a true treat for him. But if he had access to these all the time I would make with coconut sugar as it is healthier than refined sugar.
The recipe also suggests that you grease the ramekins and call it a day. As mentioned above, because this is a rare treat for Greg when home I coated the greased ramekins with sugar. Yup I did. Regular white sugar so that the cakes had a crunchy sugar coating. I hope that these efforts bring him home more often :).
Laslty, make the ganache balls the day before or a few days before – or the morning before you plan to bake. This will give the ganache time to firm up – able to form a solid ball to be dropped into the batter.
Oh, truly lastly I tripled the recipe as it calls for only 3! ramekins. I made 9 and and froze the leftovers. Now I’m ready when he comes home to pop in microwave for an easy treat. The ganache recipe below is for 9 ramekins – so 3 times the recipe!
Ingredients and Directions
3/4 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup coconut cream (this is available in most supermarkets right next to the coconut milk)
tiny pinch of kosher salt
Heat the coconut cream to almost a boil. Then pour over the chopped chocolate. Wait a minute then whisk to combine. Add salt. Place in refrigerator to let cool and firm up.
When ready to make the cakes, form balls with the ganache – you can pick the size of these balls – but I’d say around 2 teaspoons or so. Place the balls back in the fridge.
Here is the link to her terrific blog and the directions.
Follow her instructions but as mentioned feel free to coat the ramekin with sugar as I did. And after you pour the batter into each ramekin – drop a delicious ganache ball into the center to create the molten lava that you will enjoy later.
Bake as directed.
Feel free to kind of press down on cake with your finger to check if done. The center ganache ball will remain gooey and will never looked cooked – but the cake should look and feel firmer and lose its unbaked sheen. You may have to cook for a minute or two longer…keep checking and timing.
Let sit for a few minutes then run a knife around the edges and pop out if eating immediately. Be careful the ramekin and ganache will be hot.
If saving for a later date, let cool, then run a knife around the edges and pop out. Freeze once completely cooled. Microwave before serving – in small increments. Don’t want to kill the cakes but warm up the ganache.
Enjoy!
