This warm chocolate cake, or moelleux au chocolate, is David Lebovitz’s dessert of choice in his “old faithful” French bistro Astier in Paris. This chocolate cake takes on the tender texture of a baked ganache. Supposedly with dark chocolate lava oozes out from the center of the cake as you dig into it.
First melt the some bittersweet chocolate with butter over a water bath. Set aside. In a stand mixer, beat the eggs and confectioners sugar at high speed for about 5 minutes until the mixture holds its shape. Then add the all-purpose flour. Beat gently until it’s all mixed in. Finally, fold in the chocolate ganache. (I used two whole eggs to make 4 individual cakes. That requires 100g of dark chocolate, 34g of butter, 34g of sugar and 36g of flour.)
The secret of getting the right texture is to chill the cake batter in the refrigerator for 24 hours to allow the flavor to meld. Then bake it in a 350°F oven for 12-13 minutes. I left the cake in the oven for a few minutes too long, I did not get the soft center cake, but a rather dense chocolate cake.
You really can’t beat the salted caramel sauce to go with the warm chocolate cake. That has me licking the fork. For a soft-center chocolate souffle cake, here is one of my favorites.
Salted Butter Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (125ml) water
- 6 tablespoons (3 ounces/85g) salted butter, cubed, at room temperature
- ½ cup (125ml) heavy cream
- Sea salt or kosher salt (optional)
Instructions
Spread the sugar in a large skillet or wide saucepan and pour the water over it. Heat the sugar over medium heat, swirling the pan very gently, just enough to moisten the sugar evenly with the water.
Once the sugar is moistened and starting to cook, swirl the pan only if there are dry spots of sugar that aren’t melting. Continue to cook the sugar until it begins to darken. Watching carefully, gently swirl the pan, only if necessary, so it cooks evenly. (If the sugar starts to crystallize, continue cooking, stirring only if you see very dark or burnt spots appearing, and the crystals should eventually smooth out.)
When the caramel is a deep amber color and begins to smoke, remove the pan from the heat and drop in the cubes of butter. Stir the butter in with a whisk until it’s completely melted, then gradually whisk in the cream, stirring until the sauce is smooth. If there are stubborn bits of caramel stuck to the bottom, loosen them with a wooden spoon, and stir them in. If they refuse to melt, rewarm the sauce over low heat, which should do the trick. Once the sauce is cool enough to taste, you may want to add a bit of salt. The sauce will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator and can be reheated before serving. If cooled and rewarmed, it may need to be thinned with a bit of cream or milk.
Notes
Adapted from David Lebovitz's My Paris Kitchen
2 Comments
Chez Nanacheznana
May 17, 2019 at 7:26 pmThis really was a big surprise, and a fun dessert to make. The sauce was easier to make than I expected, and so delicious.
Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)
May 21, 2019 at 6:34 amYou are right about the caramel. I could literally drink the stuff!!