Those Cakes We Like … Are In Desperate Need Of Chocolate

We all need a little comfort these days.

There hasn’t been much to take comfort in since January 20. Those last 11 days of January felt like a year all by themselves. What do you do when the world feels like it’s going to Hell in the proverbial handbasket? You listen to Mr. Rogers and look for the helpers. You reach for the things that bring you comfort and hold them close. If you can, you share those comforts with the people you care about.

For myself, one of the greatest comforts is chocolate. Rich, smooth, luxurious chocolate desserts are guaranteed to provide the brain with a huge hit of dopamine —something I think we’re all going to be needing a lot of over the next four years. An anonymous author from 1724 wrote, “For if a person fatigued with long and hard labour, or with a violent agitation of the mind, takes a good dish of chocolate, he shall perceive almost instantly that his faintness shall cease and his strength shall be recovered.” And who are we to argue with the anonymous authors of the 18th century?

The humble cacao bean has been known to humanity for over 4000 years. Initially used as currency by the Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs, cacao was also served as a savoury beverage, often flavoured with vanilla, chili powder, or allspice. The European colonizers did not initially approve of chocolate, describing the Aztec cacao beverage as a drink for pigs. The sweet chocolate of today owes its existence to the Spanish, who decided the only way to make the cacao drink palatable was to mix it with sugar. The English were even slower to discover chocolate; there is a story of English pirates seizing a Spanish ship carrying a cargo of cacao beans, mistaking the cacao for sheep’s droppings, and burning the lot. Thankfully, we soon learned better.

Many claims of the benefits of chocolate have been made over the years. Some 18th century European medical scholars even believed that chocolate could prolong the life of elderly men. The Natural History of Chocolate (1724) describes chocolate as “temperate, sustaining, revitalising and easy to digest.” Charles II’s doctor, Dr. Henry Stubbes, was said to be a promoter of the benefits of chocolate, claiming that amongst its other benefits, it was an aphrodisiac. Chocolate also had close ties to politics and rebellion, with the fashionable chocolate houses of the 18th century becoming meeting places for the Whigs and the Tories (although they did not frequent the same establishments), as well as the headquarters for the Jacobite Party during the reign of Queen Anne. Whites, a Gentleman’s Club still popular amongst the wealthy and political elite of London today, actually began its life as a chocolate house in the 18th century.

Use of chocolate in desserts has been recorded since the early eighteenth century, but it was not until the mid-19th century when a couple of Quakers developed a method of combining cocoa powder with sugar and cocoa butter. This enabled the production of the first chocolate bar and led to the founding of a chocolate dynasty, Fry & Sons, a company which was still producing its own chocolate bars up until 2010, although the company merged with Cadbury’s in 1919 (I am a huge fan of their Mint Creams, which are still being produced in the Cadbury’s factories).

The following recipe is for Chocolate Fondants, also known as Chocolate Lava Cake on the US side of the pond. Chocolate Fondants are one of those desserts that has a reputation for being trickier than it really is, mainly due to the risk of over baking and losing the delicious, gooey centre. They are also guaranteed to impress anyone you serve them to, especially if you tell them they’re homemade. The recipe I’m giving you today is the most basic version of this delicious dessert,; if you wanted to increase the wow factor you might consider adding a twist such as a splash of rum, whiskey, or Chambord to the cake batter, or serving it with a caramel sauce, raspberry coulis, or crusted pistachios. I served mine with a good quality vanilla ice cream, because I like to keep things simple on occasion.

For my diabetic friends, or anyone who tracks their carbohydrate intake, this recipe contains a total of 423g of carbs. It should make between 6 and 9 Fondants, depending on the size of your ramekins, so between 47g and 70.5g of carbs per serving, not including any extras such as ice cream.

Your Equipment

Dessert ramekins

Pan

Heat-proof mixing bowl or Bain Marie

Pastry brush

Wooden spoon

Large mixing bowl and electric whisk or stand mixer

Baking tray

Your Ingredients

50 g melted butter plus 200 g more butter

Cocoa powder (for dusting the ramekins)

200 g good quality dark chocolate (the higher the cocoa content the better, ideally you want at least 85 percent)

200 g sugar

4 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

200 g all-purpose/plain flour

The Important Bit

Firstly, you need to prepare your ramekins. Heavily brush the inside of the ramekin with melted butter, then place it into the refrigerator or freezer to allow the butter to set. Repeat until all your ramekins are coated (I usually pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes). Set aside the remaining melted butter, you’ll need this again soon.

Whilst your butter is setting, break your chocolate into small pieces and chop the 200g of butter into small cubes. Place these in the heat-proof bowl and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water until the chocolate and butter have completely melted. Stir the chocolate and butter mixture until it is smooth and leave it to cool for 10 minutes.

By this time, your buttered ramekins should be cooled — take them out of the refrigerator or freezer and brush them with more melted butter. After brushing each ramekin, add a spoonful of cocoa powder and tip the ramekin so that the cocoa completely covers the butter, then tip out the excess cocoa powder. Set your prepared ramekins aside.

In your other mixing bowl, or stand mixer, whisk the four whole eggs plus four egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture is thick and pale. I find this takes about five minutes on a medium-high speed. Add the flour into the egg mixture and beat together until smooth. Now add the melted chocolate and butter mixture in three parts, mixing well after each addition. You should now have a loose, smooth cake batter.

Divide the cake batter equally between your ramekins and chill for at least 20 minutes. I would suggest chilling them until just before you’re ready to serve them as they’re best enjoyed fresh from the oven. They can be chilled for up to 24 hours before baking, or frozen for up to a month if you want to keep them for longer than a day.

Heat your oven to 400F (200C) and place the ramekins containing your fondants onto a baking tray. Cook for 10-12 minutes (add an extra five minutes if you’re baking them from frozen). The tops should have formed a crust and be beginning to come away from the sides of your ramekins. Don’t panic if the fondants sink a little in the middle when you remove them from the oven, this is perfectly normal.

Loosen the fondants from the ramekins by sliding a knife around the edges, then simply tip them onto a dessert plate, add whatever extras you wish to serve alongside them, and now there’s nothing left to do except enjoy the velvety chocolate deliciousness.

With a certain commercially promoted day of romance approaching at rapid speed, I hope I’ve given you some inspiration to create a delicious treat for someone you love. Or just a way to reassure yourself that even in a world where people are losing their minds and hope seems out of reach, we can create a little bit of goodness and joy for ourselves.

And for those of you who can’t stand chocolate, I leave you with the immortal writing of Sir Terry Pratchett:

“I meant” said Ipslore bitterly, “ what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?”…

Death thought about it.

“CATS” he said eventually. “CATS ARE NICE.”

(From ‘Sourcery’)

Smaug is contemplating being nice. He'll probably decide against it.

For those of you who don’t like chocolate or cats …

What kind of canned-clams-loving MONSTERS are you?!?

If you can, please consider a one-time donation to Wonkette, I can guarantee Trix will want to bake this recipe and eggs are expensive right now for some reason.

You can donate via this handy button…

Or via this one…

See you next month, when I plan to give you an old fashioned recipe that feels like the perfect metaphor for the time we find ourselves in — Pineapple Upside-Down Cake.