Thursday, June 3, 2010

Molten Centered Cakes

I have been itching to bake in ramekins since quite some time. Only I did not have them. I have hunted for them in so many places, but no luck. Then I read on Ria's famous blog that she got her ramekins at Arihanth Plaza, Commercial Street. Wonderful!!! With the kids at home during the summer break, an evening on Commercial Street and dinner at the much written about Booby's Dhaba near Ulsoor lake sounded very appealing. Before I forget to mention, Bobby's Dhaba is a very small, blink-and-u-miss kind of place near the Ulsoor lake, next to the Gurudwara. Found the food extremely lip smacking and compensated for the wait and the ambiance or lack of it. Surely a place you must must visit if you are OK with eating a small joints.

Back to Arihant Plaza. Well, I found the ramekins of Treo brand, priced extremely reasonably at Rs.25 per ramekin with a lid. Isn't that a super deal?? You bet I was pleased with my purchase of the multicolored ramekins. White ones weren't available, saved this one for the next expedition.

Found this recipe for Molten Centered Cakes on Aparna's  fabulous blog. She sure has a really diverse collection recipes on her blog, My Diverse Kitchen. I specially love her bakes and of course the superb pictures. Don't think there is anybody who hasn't visited her blog, but in case you haven't, you absolutely must.

Have seen plenty of recipes for the Choco--lava cakes, but this recipe has frozen ganache in the middle of the batter, which melts when you bake. Brilliant idea!!! Absolutely loved it. And you can flavor the ganache with cointreau, coffee or any thing else you fancy. Agree with Aparna when she says its not all that exciting to eat a cake which is partially cooked and hence the center runny. Makes me wrinkle my nose too .

These little, rich, buttery light cakes exploding with silky warm ganache was a hit!! Son wanted me to 'bake the cake a hundred times' and daughter said, 'Tumba Channagide, dinaa ide maadu' (means ' its very good, make it every day). Hubby, being a chocoholic, loved it.

Thanks for sharing this fantastic recipe Aparna!!!


Ingredients:

4 tbsp soft butter
55 g caster sugar (¼ cup)
1 egg
85 g self raising flour (about ¾ cup flour + ½ tsp baking powder)
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:
Put the butter, egg, flour, baking powder and cocoa in a bowl and whisk together, till just smooth.( The batter will be firm and not be the least runny, in case you begin to panic like I did. I ran back to my system to check if I had missed out any ingredient:-)).

Spoon half of the batter into the ramekins. Make a small indentation in the middle of each cake with a spoon. Place a ball of ganache in the center of the batter. Spoon the remaining batter on top covering the ganache ball.

Bake at 190C for about 20 minutes till springy to touch and the top of the cake is slightly crusty. Stand for 2 to 3 minutes before serving them warm.

For the ganache centers:  Idea adapted from  Anitha's Dessert First. An awesome, awesome, awesome blog for the dessert crazy.

4 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, 62% to 70%
2 Tablespoons (28 g) butter
3 Tablespoons (45 g) heavy cream( I use Amul fresh cream for making ganache)
1/8 teaspoon salt
To make the ganache, combine the chocolate, butter, cream, and salt in a bowl and melt over a saucepan of simmering water on the stove. Stir occasionally to make sure it melts evenly.
Pour the ganache into a container and place in refrigerator for about an hour until it starts to set up. You can also place it in the freezer to speed up the process.
When the ganache is firm enough to scoop, use a spoon or cookie scoop to make ¾” round balls. Place in a container and store in freezer to keep them firm while you make the cake.
I have doubled the quantities and got about 10 cakes. Do not skimp on the ganache or your cakes will not have enough of the gooey chocolate. Some of my cakes did not have enough of the chocolate. Found the cakes a tad too buttery, guess I can use a little less butter next time as Aparna did.

Do surely try this out and you will be glad you did!!

This is also my entry to Champa's Bake off event.

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoooooooooooo! If I said I was drooling all over my laptop like a 6-month old, I'd be lying...I'm actually flooding the place!
Psst, can I come over to your place now? Pulllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease :) :)
And I'd be damned if I dont make this soon, and as soon as TODAY! Stop doing this to me Suma!!

Anonymous said...

Pssst, I love your new ramekins...they look so cheerful and cute! Im rushing to Arihant Plaza right away ;) Also, Adam's have it they said. What say to some Blog-shopping sometime? ;)

And coming to Bobby's Dhaba, all I can say is: I was in food coma after eating the lip-smacking food there!!

Saritha Thomas said...

Hey Suma

What heavy cream do u use?and from where?

Suma Rowjee said...

@Madhuri - LOL!!:-)) U must try it out. And u bet am all game for blog-shopping!!

@Saritha- I have just given Anitha's recipe. I have used Amul fresh cream and it works just fine for making ganache.

Deepti said...

ohhh God........so tempting yaar !! Nice Work !!

Priya Suresh said...

Cant take my eyes from the click..drooling here..

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

This looks so good. I can almost smell it dear.

Champa said...

I love these. I have never baked them though. Looks awesome. Thanks for the entry.

Sum said...

Soooo yummyyyy....
And thanks for the info on all the places in B'lore where to find what.. really useful...

Champa said...

Suma, I answered your question on my blog. Yes you can use those substitutes without any problem. Do you know any cake decorating supply stores in India? I wanted to check it out when I am down there. I'll be visiting sometime next month or at least in August depending on my visa. If you want any tools from here, let me know. I should be able to carry something not too heavy. But you'll have to come and pick it up since I get lost in B're. I am scared to death of going out alone in B're. Can you believe that?

FH said...

YUMMO! My kids love any Chocolate dessert, looks so gorgeous.

Vrinda said...

This is my fav too...perfect for choco lovers,looks delish

Kiran said...

Suma these maolten lava cakes look very delicous and tempting.Love the colors of your ramekins.

Shubha said...

I have eaten this one, it was yumeeee

Panchpakwan said...

Wow so so delicious..

Cool Lassi(e) said...

This is a beautiful cake with gooey center. It is sort of similar to Lave Cake.Love it!

Simplyfood said...

Wow chocolate lovers heaven.simply delicious.

FewMinute Wonders said...

The lava cake looks yum. I clicked on Aparna's link and it did not take me to the Cake.

Vani said...

Can't wait to get home and try makin' 'em!!! I have tried one other recipe...like you said it was 'uncooked batter' which smells very eggy!
Thanks gal! Will let you know about how my lava cakes turn out.

Btw...even I was hunting for ramekins a while ago. One fine day I found these beautiful white ramekins at Westside. I asked him 'how many pieces of these do you have'. He said '16...4 boxes with 4 pieces in each of them'. I said 'I WANT ALL OF 'EM' :)).
Arihant plaza is a good discovery! Another friend of mine had told me about it too. Will get there soon :)

suma said...

@Srimathi- Sorry about the incorrect link, have corrected it now.

@Vani- Hey,great to know that Westside has these too!! Do lemme know how your cakes turned out..

M D said...

I am a huge fan of molten lava cakes and I ALWAYS pick them up from Dominos. I totally LOVE them! Your molten cakes look brilliant making me want to run to my kitchen to make them all by myself!

And yes, Aparna has a great blog. What I love about her is that she is an Indian blogger, so her ingredients and substitutions are very much from Indian markets.

Rachana said...

Wow!!!!! I just cant take my eyes off this beautiful chocolatey cake... Would definitely give it a try :-)

Nandinis food said...

What a rich, chocalatey goodie! I'd gobble up the cake and drink the chocolate oozing out!

TREAT AND TRICK said...

Hello Suma, so far never bake this kind of cake but yours turned out great with chocolate oozing from the ramekin, it's absolutely delicious....

Divya Kudua said...

I had bookmarked these from Aparna's blog too..only thing,haven't tried it yet!!When will I get to bake all the goodies I bookmark..sigh!! The cake looks so droolworthy with the molten center oozing..yum I love it!!

Nitha said...

wow..looks delicious..

Malar Gandhi said...

Whooo, that too chocolateey, I love it:)

Unknown said...

These look so delicious and tempting. I can eat them in no time. My favorite. I too am looking for good ramekins to buy. All i find everywhere are plain white ones and I want some colorful ones. They won't matter in cooking the dish, but still it will be good in serving...lol

Spice said...

me too love this but yet to try my hands on it....

Sushma Mallya said...

i had done this in dominos, but havent tried it at home, looks yum suma

Ria Mathew said...

This is one of my fave! I have been making it over and over again, though with another recipe. :) I love Aparna's space too :)

Parita said...

I too wanna make these someday, yours have come out fab!

Unknown said...

Wow the molten choc looks so yum...drooling over them

Arathi Shankar said...

ver beautiful ramekins!
and regarding the small places to eat... i just wanted to tell u ..theres one in sanjay nagar main road..called ''parota plaza'' ....even there the parotas r tasty...its a fter that radha-krishna temple...if u have not visited there..u can sometime!..we used to go very often there...now im not in India..so miss all my chat streets/food a LOT!!!

Sook said...

Ooooh this is just what I need right now! :)

Anshika said...

I really love the molten choclate cake one of my favorites it is. And I can do anything to have them :)

ann low said...

Oh Suma, this is really tempting. I'm late for this, next time please inform me when you bake this again ;D
I'm following you...

Unknown said...

i have tasted this and its absolutely mind blowing!!!!!!

M D said...

Loved this look of ur blog Suma. It's got a totally new shape. Nice one!

Padhu Sankar said...

I am drooling now !!

Veggie Hut said...

simple awesome..droolworthy!!

Sanjeeta kk said...

Yummy clicks! Must try it out.

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

So you made this. Its something we love and am happy you liked as much. Something totally special about the melting chocolate....:)

Shanti said...

Hi Suma,

Love your blog. Can so relate to it coz Ive recently started one of my own. One question, do you especially need ramekins for this recipe or would a muffin tin work as well?