Oh my my, Oh hell yes, you gotta put on that party dress… I’m not really sure why I just wrote that but for some reason that’s what I’m singing in my head when I start thinking about these molten lava chocolate mousse cups. Oh my, hell yes! This is my second attempt making these this week. The first time they never puffed up, they tasted wonderful but were more like moist brownies. They also shrunk up so they were like two bites per serving. I couldn’t figure out why but I did have several theories, one being that I supplemented (oh no!) dried cane sugar instead of white granulated. When I went to write out this recipe it dawned on me that I may have missed an egg too (I do this sometimes when halving recipes). I did some quick detective work opening up the egg carton and counting eggs. Sure enough that was the first mistake (looking at the pic below I also see two eggs, there should have been three folks). But the biggest mistake was folding the whipped, full of air, egg whites into the melted chocolate and butter too fast and rough. I basically deflated all the air out of my whipped egg whites. This second time I gently folded the two together keeping it more like the light, fluffy egg whites consistency. So try to keep as much air in the folding process as possible. Once again it came down to technique not ingredients. I made a test cup last night with the new and improved fluffy version and didn’t cook it long enough. It needed 5 or 10 extra minutes from what the recipe calls for so more like 35 to 40 in my oven (I added that into the recipe below). Finally I got it pretty much perfect and still did it using the all natural, unrefined, dried cane sugar and 100 percent whole ingredients.
The end result was a molten hot mousse-y gooey goodness. I’m pretty sure I could have just chilled the mixture and ate it without even cooking it, more of a chilled chocolate mousse. Raw eggs though. It actually rose up out of the cup higher but when I dropped it onto the towel by accident it started deflating right away. I snapped some pics as quick as I could. Everyone loved this. Thumbs up from little Z, but of course. It is mostly chocolate, butter and sugar.
How can you go wrong with this five piece ensemble? That’s the all natural, unrefined sugar in the cup on the right (I have a link to more info in the recipe below).
Molten Lava Chocolate Mousse Cake
Makes about 12 cups (about 350 calories). I halved the recipe, who has room for 12 cups in their freezer? I know I don’t. Recipe was taken from Feb 2010 issue of Sunset magazine. I’ve been picking these up from the thrift store for $.29 a pop and they are only a few months old.
- Ingredients
- 14 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I used semi sweet chocolate chips)
- 3/4 c. unsalted butter
- 1 c. sucanat sugar, I use the Rapunzel brand rapadura sugar, I think it’s slightly less refined. Both can be found at Whole Foods Market. Or regular white granulated sugar.
- 6 free range organic eggs
- tiny pinch of sea salt
- Preparation
Start by boiling one to two inches of water in a medium pot. Once it starts boiling place a medium metal mixing bowl in/on top of boiling water not allowing the water to touch the bottom of the bowl. Add chocolate and butter into the mixing bowl and stir until all the chocolate is almost melted. Remove and continue stirring until smooth and set aside. Separate egg whites and yolks. With a hand mixer on medium speed, mix egg whites and tiny pinch of sea salt until they foam then rain in the sugar, mixing until medium peaks form. Mix egg yolks into melted chocolate and butter then gently gently gently fold in the whipped/airy egg whites until all is mixed uniform. Do your very best to keep the consistency as much like the egg whites, light, puffed up and full of air. Don’t deflate the egg whites! Pour 4 oz. into each oven safe mug, cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer for at least two hours. These can stay in fridge up to a week. When your ready to get down, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove plastic wrap (duh) and set on a cookie sheet baking for about 30 to 40 minutes (keep a close eye during that 10 minute difference). Tops should be cracked and the centers a bit gooey still. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes before eating though I’d say eat them as soon as you can handle ’em because around 10 minutes out of the oven and they will start to collapse. Though still tasty they are not as fun to eat when their all shrunken up.
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