Request Line - GW

Move over Max Brenner. You've just met your match!

A while ago GW sent me over a recipe for Molten Chocolate Baby Cakes. I had a quick squiz at it, and while I thought it sounded great, I wasn't too sure if the recipe was going to work.

Part of the problem was that some parts of the recipe didn't make sense, and moreover, there was an ingredient missing. Namely, sugar.

So today, when I finally had some time to do a bit of recipe testing (and fill in the blanks work), I decided to give this a go.

Little did I know, that after tweaking bits and pieces here and there, the end result turned out to be almost identical to my beloved Max Brenner Chocolate Souffle! It brought tears of delight to my eyes (being Asian and all, my first thought was Hey! Now I don't have to pay 10 bucks for this stuff!)

The journey throughout this recipe though, was a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs.


This is my silicon muffin tray. I got it as a part of my 18th birthday present years ago, and till today, I've never really had a chance to use it. (Not much of a muffin person)

However, given that the recipe originally asked for 6 pudding moulds, I thought I could put this to good use. Since I'm just testing and all, if it doesn't work, well...then it doesn't work.

Note about silicon trays: I placed mine in another metal tray because the bendiness of silicon makes it very hard to move the tray without the messing up the mixture and the melts.


I also had some dark chocolate melts left in my pantry and I decided to put it to good use as well. As you can probably tell from the picture, I'm really not very neat when it comes to pouring things out.

And it's not like it really matter anyway.

Now from here until the final product, I didn't take any photos. Here's why.

1. The recipe asked for the batch to be cooked for 10 minutes. I can guarantee that it was NOT done in 10 minutes.
   
2. After an extra 10 minutes, I pulled it out, and the melts were starting to get a little burnt. I stuck a skewer in to see if it was cooked. The skewer came out gooey, but tasted good nevertheless. So I turned the oven off and pulled the tray out.
3. The mixture was way too soft for it to be removed from the tray, so I left it to cool in the tray for about 5minutes.
4. Thinking that it was the moment of truth, I gathered around a lot of of teatowels just in case everything fell apart when I flipped them onto the cooling rack.
5. I took a deep breath, and flipped it around. And to my absolute surprise, everything not only stayed in shape, but didn't even crumble! They were perfect!

I was really over the moon.

So now that the recipe is complete, it is here to be shared.



Molten Chocolate Baby Cakes/Max Brenners Chocolate Souffle
Serves: 6

Buy:
50g salted butter
350g dark cooking chocolate
4 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar (roughly. As mentioned before, this was left out of the original recipe, so it's guesswork on my part.)
6 chocolate melts
6 pudding moulds, buttered (or 1 deep, silicon muffin tray, as pictured)
Baking paper

Bake:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees
2. Grease the trays (not necessary if you're using silicon) and cut out small circles of baking paper to line the bottom of each mould
3. Melt chocolate (microwave/double boiler both okay), and rest aside to cool slightly
4. Cream butter and sugar until light in colour
5. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract
6. Add sifted flour and gently fold into mixture
   
7. Add melted chocolate and fold until smooth and evenly mixed
   
8. Divide into moulds and top with a chocolate melt in the centre of each one
9. Place into oven and bake for 20 minutes (keep an eye on it after 15)
10. Remove and let it rest in tray for 5minutes
11. Tip onto cooling rack, but serve warm with cream/strawberries/drizzled chocolate sauce/ice cream -- whatever rocks your boat.

Nom it while it's hot.