Chocolate Molten Cakes With Raspberry Sauce And Chocolate Truffles Recipes

MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKES WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• For Cakes:
• To make the ganache, melt 4 ounces of the chocolate with the heavy cream over a double boiler. Stir until smooth and chill until firm enough to scoop, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and butter 8 (7-ounce) ramekins. Coat the inside with 2 tablespoons of the sugar, making sure to tap out the excess.
• In a medium bowl combine the remaining chocolate with 1 cup of butter over a double boiler until melted, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. In large bowl beat together the eggs, egg yolks and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until pale, thick and light. Sift the flour over top, and fold in the salt and almond extract. Fold in the cooled chocolate mixture until uniformly combined. Divide equally between the prepared ramekins.
• Using a small scoop or tablespoon, form the chilled ganache into 8 balls.
• Put 1 into the center of each ramekin and press down slightly to cover with the batter.
• (Cakes can be prepared to this point, covered and held in the refrigerator for a few hours until ready to bake.) Arrange the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until the tops look set, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully invert the ramekins onto serving plates. Garnish with raspberry sauce and reserved raspberries and serve immediately.
• For Raspberry Sauce and Garnish:
• Reserve 8 raspberries for garnish. Mash the remaining raspberries through a fine meshed sieve into a small bowl. Discard the seeds. Add the 2 tablespoons of superfine sugar and the Kirsch and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.

CHOCOLATE MOLTEN CAKES WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE AND CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Butter six 3/4-cup souffle dishes or custard cups.
• Stir the butter and chocolate in a heavy, medium saucepan over low heat until melted. Cool slightly.
• Whisk the eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl to blend. Whisk in the confectioners' sugar, and then the melted chocolate and the flour. Pour the batter into the prepared dishes, dividing equally. Bake the cakes until the sides are set but the center remains soft and runny, about 11 minutes (or up to 14 minutes for batter that was refrigerated).
• Run a small knife around the cakes to loosen. Immediately turn the cakes out onto plates. Spoon Raspberry Sauce around the cakes. Top with Vanilla Sweet Cream and Chocolate Truffles.
• Cook the raspberries, confectioners' sugar and lemon juice over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain through a fine sieve to remove any seeds and chill.
• In chilled bowl, whisk the cream until it begins to foam and thicken. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla and continue to whisk just until soft peaks form.
• Heat the heavy cream in a 2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan until bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan. Make sure that you have chopped the chocolate as finely as possible to allow it to melt quickly and easily. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-size mixing bowl. Make a ganache by pouring about half of the hot cream over the chocolate and letting it sit for 30 seconds to melt the chocolate. Then slowly whisk until smooth and homogenous. Do not add all of the hot cream to the cold chocolate at once; the shock of the temperature extremes would cause the fat in the chocolate to separate.
• Pour the ganache onto a plastic wrap-covered baking sheet and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and allow it to cool for at least 4 hours at room temperature.
• When the ganache has cooled to the consistency of a thick paste, scrape it into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip. Pipe 1-inch-diameter mounds spaced 1-inch apart on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet. To pipe the mounds, hold the pastry bag at a slight angle and allow the tip to touch the parchment as you begin to pipe. Once you have formed the mound, stop squeezing and lift the tip straight up, leaving a small tail on the top of each mound. You can also use a spoon and drop small mounds of ganache onto the baking sheet. Let the truffles harden in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, until they are hard enough to roll with your hands.
• To roll the mound into a ball, place a truffle between both palms, squeeze slightly and roll between your hands. The truffles will look nicer if they are as round as possible.
• When all the truffles are rolled into balls, they are ready to be coated. If they have become too soft, place them in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours until they are firm enough to coat. Roll in cocoa powder or chopped walnuts, one at a time.

MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKES WITH SUGAR-COATED RASPBERRIES

Steps:

• Melt butter and chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; remove from heat. Beat eggs, sugar and salt with a hand mixer in a medium bowl until sugar dissolves. Beat egg mixture into chocolate until smooth. Beat in flour or matzo meal until just combined. (Batter can be made a day ahead; return to room temperature an hour or so before baking.)
• Before serving dinner, adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a standard-size muffin tin (1/2 cup capacity) with 8 extra-large muffin papers (papers should extend above cups to facilitate removal). Spray muffin papers with vegetable cooking spray. Divide batter among muffin cups.
• Bake until batter puffs but center is not set, 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully lift cakes from tin and set on a work surface. Pull papers away from cakes and transfer cakes to dessert plates.
• Top each with sugared raspberries and serve immediately.

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE WITH RASPBERRIES

Steps:

• Make cake:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter a 10-inch springform pan.
• Chop chocolate and cut butter into pieces. In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate and butter with sugar, stirring until smooth (sugar will not be dissolved). Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and cool mixture to room temperature. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.
• Separate eggs, putting yolks in a small bowl and whites in a large bowl. Add yolks 1 at a time to chocolate mixture, whisking well after each addition. With an electric mixer beat whites until they just hold soft peaks. Sift flour over chocolate mixture and with a whisk fold flour and half of whites into mixture gently but thoroughly. With a rubber spatula fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.
• Pour batter into pan, smoothing top, and bake in middle of oven 40 to 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out with moist crumbs adhering. Cool cake completely in pan on a rack. Cake may be made up to this point 2 days ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.
• Make ganache:
• Chop chocolate and in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat. While chocolate is melting, in a small saucepan bring cream just to a simmer and add espresso. Add cream mixture to chocolate with butter and liqueur and stir until smooth.
• Assemble cake:
• Remove side of pan and cut cake into 8 wedges. Invert wedges (so that top sides will be flat) onto a large rack set over a large shallow baking pan, spacing them at least 1 inch apart. Pour enough warm ganache evenly over wedges to coat them and let stand 5 minutes.
• Scrape excess ganache from baking pan into bowl of ganache and pour ganache over wedges again, making sure they are coated completely. (Remaining ganache may be chilled, covered, and reheated for using as a chocolate sauce.) Let wedges stand at room temperature until ganache is set, at least 1 hour, and up to 6.
• Just before serving, pick over raspberries and cover top of each wedge with raspberries.

CHOCOLATE-RASPBERRY TRUFFLE CAKE

Steps:

• Puree raspberries in a food processor.
• Press raspberry mixture through a wire mesh sieve, using the back of a spoon to squeeze out the juice; discard seeds.
• Bring juice and the 1-2 T sugar to a boil over high heat, then cook over medium heat, stirring often until the mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup.
• Remove from heat and cool completely.
• Butter an eight inch cake pan and line bottom with parchment or waxed paper.
• Heat the 1/3 cup sugar and the Chambord in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.
• Add butter and continue heating and stirring until butter melts.
• Remove from heat and add chocolate, stir until smooth and cool.
• (I heated the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave at 50% power for about four minutes, then stirred until smooth and then added the warm melted chocolate to the liquor/butter mixture-It seemed to make it a lot smoother and quicker).
• Whisk together the raspberry reduction,eggs, flour, and almond extract in a large bowl.
• Add chocolate mixture and beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended.
• Pour into prepared cake pan.
• Place cake pan into a larger pan (I used the broiler pan from the oven) and add hot water to a depth of one inch.
• Bake at 325°F for 42 to 45 minutes.
• Cake will have risen and not be completely "set".
• Remove from water bath and cool cake completely on a wire rack.
• Cake will "collapse" as it cools down.
• Run a thin knife around pan to loosen cake.
• Invert cake onto a plate, remove the parchment or waxed paper, and invert again onto a serving plate.
• To serve, cut cake into small wedges and place on plates that have been drizzled with the chocolate syrup.
• Garnish with whipped cream and a few fresh raspberries and serve.
• If desired, cake can be made a day ahead of time.
• Cover and chill in refrigerator then let stand at room temperature for at least one hour before serving.

TRIPLE-CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mixes, eggs, water and oil; beat on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium 2 minutes. Fold in chocolate chips., Pour into a well-greased 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely., Meanwhile, place water, raspberries and sugar in a blender; cover and process until well blended. In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch and lemon juice; stir in raspberry puree. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Refrigerate until serving., Dust cake with confectioners' sugar. Serve with sauce.