Spotlight on: Baking: From my Kitchen to Yours

Sara of Weekend Cookbook Challenge is hosting an event to promote a new cookbook; Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (published by Houghton Mifflin Company). Sara asked me to take part in this event and I can’t thank Sara enough for that.

I received a complimentary copy of the book by Dorie Greenspan from the publishers and as per Sara’s instructions I had to pick one or two recipes from the book, bake them and blog about them. Some of the pictures in the book (including the one on the cover) are quite intimidating for a novice baker like me, but Dorie’s clear and detailed instructions make baking these recipes a cakewalk. As I read the recipes, I felt Dorie's presence in my kitchen helping me through each of the recipe. Also all the recipes have additional information on serving, make ahead, storing and playing around tips.

Trying to decide which recipe to try first was a challenge and after leafing through the book for almost 20 times, I narrowed down my search to two. My husband being a chocoholic, my two choices were the Black-and-White chocolate cake and the Gooey Chocolate cakes. I ended up making the gooey chocolate cake and I can’t tell you how good they turned out and how my family was just raving about them for 2 days.

When I first tasted this cake about 3 years ago in Chilis (Molten chocolate cake on their dessert menu), I never thought I can make it at home. But this recipe can be made at home with foolproof results, even if you're not a star baker like me.

This recipe makes 6 small cakes and you will need 6 ramekins of same size, which even the author agrees is not possible. So the tip she gives is to use disposable foil muffin pans (that come 2 per pack) and they work great (you can wash and reuse them).

Ingredients:
All-purpose flour – 1/3 cup
Unsweetened Cocoa powder – 3 tbsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Bittersweet chocolate – 5 ounces, (4 oz. coarsely chopped and 1 oz. finely chopped)
Butter – 1 stick, cut into 8 pieces
Eggs – 2 large eggs and 1 large yolk at room temperature
Sugar – 6 tbsp

Method:

• Center the rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400ºF.
  
• Butter (or spray)6 cups of regular-size muffin pans (or the disposable aluminum foil pan), dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
  
• Sift flour, cocoa and salt together.
• Set a heat proof bowl over a sauce of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl, stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
• Whisk eggs and the yolk in a large bowl until homogeneous. Add sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes.
  
• Add the dry ingredients and still using the whisk, stir (don't beat) them into the eggs. Little-by-little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter.
• Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.
• Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool.

• Unmold the cakes onto a silicon lined cutting board and serve warm.

Dorie suggests serving these cakes with something that plays off their warm, gooey, chocolaty interior (like ice cream/ creme angliase). We just loved them as is, right out of the oven. (Will play around next time :-)
Though these cakes are meant to eat warm and runny, any remaining cakes can be wrapped in a plastic wrap (after completely cooled) at room temperature. The next day the texture of the center of the cake will remind you of ganache. I strongly recommend doubling the recipe, so that people don't complain that they didn't enough of it.
I look forward to baking more of the recipes for the upcoming festive season.