Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes

I hope you’ve enjoyed your holidays thus far – I have. However, I can’t believe I have taken this much time off. Can NOT believe it.

Forgive me?

I’ll make it up to you with these Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes, and at the end of this post…with a giveaway.

See? That perked you up just a bit, didn’t it? And here you thought I was just going to do my 25 Days of Doughmesstic Christmas and then never give anything away ever again.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Truth is, I’ve decided that 2012 is going to be MY year, and no one is going to stop me. 2011? Yeah, it was good. I wrote a cookbook. I went on sponsored trips. I made decent money. I ALMOST got on national TV show. (Thank the Lord that didn’t happen. The show kind of embarrasses me.)

So what’s in store for 2012?

Well, maybe two cookbooks. More trips, I hope. Bigger and better cakes. Blog posts that are meaningful to at least a few of you. I want to keep this up, be better, do better. Be a better writer, baker, blogger.

At the same time, I want to be a better mom. Seven starts school this fall. I can’t fathom it. That gives me 8 more months to spend as much time as time with him as possible, exposing him to as much fun as I can. Movies. Bowling. Fun trips. Maybe Disney? We’ve not been and maybe it’s about time we go.

Gracious…that was a tangent, wasn’t it? You are here for molten lava cakes.

Right.

So, molten lava cakes. These puppies are perfect for New Years Eve, or well, any night of the week if you want to make the people in your house feel special. They don’t have to know they only take 20 minutes start to finish, and more than likely, you have everything on hand to make them.

Shhh. I’ll never tell.

Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes

Rating: 5

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Serving Size: 1 cake

Ingredients

8 Tablespoons Salted Butter
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
4 ounces Semisweet Chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger 62% Baking Chips)
4 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger 70% Baking Chips)
1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 2/3 cups Powdered Sugar
3 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425. Spray the cups of a 6 Cup Muffin Tin. You can also use individual ramekins, if you desire. If making more than 6 (meaning, smaller cakes) be sure to adjust the baking time.
Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave, 45 seconds at first, then stir. Continue to cook in 30 second increments, until chocolate and butter are smooth. Add in flour and sugar, stir. Stir in eggs. Finally, add in vanilla and stir until smooth.
Pour into prepared baking cups. Bake for 12 minutes, until outside edges are set but middle is still a little shaky, as the cakes will continue to cook a bit out of the oven. Remove from baking pan after 5 minutes.
Add ice cream and enjoy!

The Giveaway

The above recipe is for 6 good sized cakes, maybe a little larger than one person should consume alone, but, um, neither Jon or I had any problems at all knocking one back with a couple scoops of ice cream. We went chocolate on chocolate, but feel free to go the vanilla route if you prefer. It’s just what we happened to have.

Now, you CAN make these in a regular muffin tin if you want, but why? I’m giving away this 6 Cup Giant Muffin Tin from Chicago Metallic. Now you, too, can make them the same way I do!

Just leave me a comment here, letting me know you want it. That counts as one entry.

I’m going to give you a bunch more chances though…so choose to do any or all of the options below. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each one you do.

• Stumble this post, then comment letting me know you did so.
• Pin a picture of this post on Pinterest (you know you want to, we Pinterest folks are addicts and want to pin anything delicious!) Again, be sure to comment letting me know you did.
• Share this post on Facebook, for one chance to win. Just be sure to come back here and comment, letting me know you did.
• For another chance, Tweet the link to this post. Again, return, and let me know you did – I’m not psychic!
• Fan Chicago Metallic on Facebook and/or Follow them on Twitter. Each one counts, so that’s two additional chances, just be sure to comment for each one you do.

That’s SEVEN total entries per person, max. All extra comments will be deleted.

Contest is open to addresses in the US only, and closes at 11:59pm EST on January 7, 2012. Prize is supplied and shipped by Chicago Metallic.

Happy NEW YEAR!