Twin Cities Food Photographer - Gluten Free Chocolate Lava Cakes

I have no illusions - I am in no way an illustrious cook. Not even a lustrious one. In fact, I'm barely a cook.

BUT, I do try. And every so often I'm successful at it. So lets pretend I'm a foodie for just a moment...

My recent try: Gluten Free Chocolate Lava Cakes. These were such a huge success that I simply have to tell you about them. They have changed the very tone of my recent (mostly) gluten free existence!

I created this recipe by mixing two recipes together...with just a little of my own ingenuity involved. So here I am taking a thankful nod towards Gluten Free Fix, and Cooks Illustrated {*nod*,*nod*}.

But why is this recipe so amazing? Well, besides the fact that they are delicious (and cakey - a treat seldom found within the gluten free diet), I love the fact that you can easily save and cook this dessert for a later date. - Catch that? You can pre-make this dessert, and then days/weeks/months later have it baked up and fresh within approximately 12 minutes. Oh, how I love love love love this simple fact!!!  This makes it the perfect dessert for random company - or possibly for those times you bring someone a meal. A new mom / neighbor / friend perhaps?

No matter who you make it for, they will love this cake too, I promise.
(Unless of course they are allergic to chocolate, butter or eggs...heh. Keep that in mind.)

So, on to the recipe.

You will need:
6 Ramekins & an Electric Mixer
...as well as (hopefully) more obvious essentials, such as an oven, measuring spoons, etc...

Ingredients:

6oz Dark Chocolate (I used approximately 15 squares from Trader Joes' 72% Dark Chocolate "Pound Plus" bar. Because I *heart* Trader Joes.)
1/2c butter (+ extra for buttering the Ramekins)
4 eggs
4 drops of Stevia Concentrate (if you don't have/want to use Stevia, simply increase the sweetener to 2/3c)
1/3c Maple Syrup or Honey
2Tbs Coconut Flour (or regular flour if you're not going the gluten free route)
1t Vanilla Extract
1/4t Salt

• Step 1. Preheat oven to 400.


• Step 2. Butter Ramekins GENEROUSLY (I've also used Coconut oil for this step. Successfully, I might add.)


• Step 3. Melt butter and chocolate together (I use the microwave. You can if you want).


• Step 4. In a separate bowl, add Eggs, Maple Syrup/Honey, Vanilla, and Salt. Using the electric mixer, whip these ingredients together at a crazy high speed until the volume nearly triples. You will know it's ready when the mixture drops from the whisk in a thick stream. It may take 5-10 minutes to reach this consistency, depending on your mixer.


• Step 5. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate, as well as 2Tbs Coconut Flour. Whip all of this together until you get a nice even chocolate color.


• Step 6. Pour the mixture into 6 prepared Ramekins.

At this point you can choose to cover the Ramekins with plastic wrap and SAVE them for a later date (place them in the fridge or your freezer), or you can cook them right away. When cooking immediately, bake for 12-14 minutes.  However, if refrigerated/frozen it may take slightly LESS time for them to bake (funny how that works!).

Bake the cake until it has a thin crust on top, but you can still see a runny chocolate center (clue #2 - the center will jiggle if shaken slightly).

I recommended baking one cake individually at first, just to get your timing right. That way you don't end up with a bunch of cakes too runny or too done (too done is particularly sad - the creamy melted goodness is the best part!).

Once baked, let cool for about a minute. Then set a plate upside down on top of the hot ramekin, and (using something to protect your hands of course!) quickly flip the whole thing over. The lovely little cake should flop right out of the ramekin if you buttered it enough - otherwise you'll need to loosen the cake by running a knife around the edges.  If that doesn't work - just eat it out of the Ramekin.  It tastes just as good. ;-)

This dessert is phenomenal when paired with ice cream. It's also quite fantastic when paired with berries and whipped cream. Either way, it's an amazing, easy gluten free dessert that I simply can't get too much of. Be sure to let me know what you think, if you try it!