Dark Chocolate Lava Cake with Cape Velvet Ganache

Sometimes you get the urge to make a dessert again and again with in the span of few days even when it is extremely rich and there is no special occasion. This was one of those times.  A friend brought us a liqueur gift basket and, in there was a small bottle of cape velvet.  My husband told me it was a brandy based cream liqueur. I had never heard of this brand before but it was very tasty, smooth and creamy. We don’t  buy and keep cream liqueur in the house so the idea hit me to use it in  chocolate lava cakes. A little liqueur always spices up a decadent dessert. And now, that we are all adults in the house I don’t have to think twice to make alcohol based desserts. When I was about to make the cakes for these third time I realized I barely had enough liqueur for one try. So I made the Sunday evening Super bowl and  Valentine special!

Lava cakes are easy to do and incredibly yummy! They generally have molten centers. And, who does not love a melting chocolate cake?  However, my husband doesn’t like the idea of eating half cooked egg in lava cakes. So, I intentionally over baked them to the point where it stays spongy on the outside and wet and moist from inside.  If you like the spilling lava element, under bake them by two minutes.

My recipe yields 4 good size cakes, but it’s easy to halve or double to adjust the amount of people you are serving to. Begin by generously greasing the custard cups or ramekins or muffin cups with butter/or  oil and then dusting with sugar to ensure the cakes release easily. I used ground coconut palm sugar in my lava cakes. It’s a bit gritty and clumpy sugar and grinding it down to a fine powder makes it easy to dust and dissolve. It is not as sweet as refined sugar, but it brings a richer flavor to the finished product. Next chop up chocolate and melt along with butter or coconut oil. Next beat eggs, egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Once this is done, add the melted chocolate and flour and gently fold to combine. At the end add a good glug of cream liquor to make your lava cakes magical!

If you don’t happen to have cape velvet on hand or don’t want to buy any but do have some other cream based liqueur, use that. If you don’t want to use alcohol, you could make these cakes with out liqueur. It will still be rich in taste and chocolate flavor, and  sinful with every bite. I insist  you give this dessert a try on the upcoming Valentine’s day. You will thank me later!