Valentine's Recipe: Abby's Lava Cake

I don’t know about you, but after all the Christmas sweets and candy, by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around, my body still doesn’t need more candy. So we started making a special dessert to celebrate Valentine’s Day in my house. This is just one special treat that doesn’t hang around the house for days tempting me to eat it. I get to enjoy it once and then I can go back to my healthy eating.

We try to make an event out of Valentine’s Day at home that includes the kids because the restaurants are always so crowded on Valentine’s Day. My husband and I will cook a special dinner that we all like, usually a good piece of beef tenderloin topped with lobster or shrimp and some hollandaise sauce, which the kids really love, and I make a special dessert.  A few years ago, my daughter Abby took over making the special dessert. And after a few different recipes, she found the easiest one that tasted the best. Now it is a tradition. And after all our “Top Chef” viewings, she knows how to make a pretty present out of it as well.

This recipe is great because you can make the batter while dinner is cooking and put the batter in the refrigerator until dessert time. After dinner, but before you clean up, put the cakes in the oven.  By the time you finish cleaning up you have hot lava cakes for dessert!

Ingredients

4  1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate baking squares

1 stick of butter

1 cup of powdered sugar

2 eggs – yolks and whites

2 eggs – yolks only

6 Tbsp. flour

Ice cream or whipped cream or both for the topping

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwaveable bowl on High for 1 minute. Stir until butter and chocolate are melted. Add sugar and stir until well blended. Using a wire whisk beat in whole eggs and additional yolks. Just stir in the flour, no need to whisk it, just blend it. Put this batter in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook them. The batter will thicken in the refrigerator, so don’t get worried.

To cook them, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Using butter put a very thin layer of butter all over the bottoms and sides of 4 custard cups or ramekins and put them on a baking sheet. Divide the batter amount the 4 cups and bake for 13-14 minutes or until the sides are firm and the centers are still soft. After you take them out of the oven, let them sit for 1 minute. Then turn the cups upside down on each their own plate and the cakes will come out of the cups. Top with ice cream or whipped cream or both and serve immediately.