Moelleux au Chocolat

These little beauties were something I used to whip up at the drop of a hat, but I realised the other day that I haven't made them in absolutely ages.  They are ridiculously easy to make.  My starting point for this recipe was Nigella's molten chocolate babycakes from How to Be a Domestic Goddess.  My copy was given to me by my sister, Alison, when it was first published and she dutifully stood in line in December 2000 and had it signed for my birthday present.  Seeing as my birthday is 6 days before Christmas, I got a Happy Christmas dedication instead of Happy Birthday but, being well used to the birthday/Christmas pressie combo, I was happy as a pig in clover! I love a cook book and have amassed quite a collection but, for years, I'd always go back to this one for inspiration.

I've recently been experimenting with swapping wheat flour with the GF alternative, so I've used Doves Farm gluten and wheat free plain white flour blend.  I find I get great results with this flour but you just have to remember that it requires a little more liquid than wheat flour as it's very absorbent. It is a blend of buckwheat, maize, tapioca, rice and potato flours.  I think King Arthur Flour do a gluten free flour similar to this for those of you in America. You could also use coconut flour, which I intend to try next time.

Alternatively, you could use no flour at all and just whip up the egg whites and sugar (leaving out the yolks) and fold into the melted chocolate and replace the flour with cocoa powder.  Bake for a couple of minutes less.  I believe Alice Waters' Chez Panisse restaurant does it this way.

Recipe

Ingredients

50g room temp, unsalted butter
350g really good dark chocolate
20g raw cocoa powder
30g Doves Farm gluten and wheat free plain white flour blend
100g coconut sugar (or unrefined rapadura or golden caster)
4 large eggs at room temperature
a good pinch of Himalayan pink salt
a tsp of real vanilla extract
6 tbsp dulce de leche/caramel*

Method

Grease 6 pudding moulds or ramekins with butter, then dust with cocoa powder.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan oven) gas mark 6/400ºF, putting in a baking sheet at the same time.  Skip this for now if you are making these up ahead and putting them in the fridge.

Melt the chocolate, vanilla, salt and butter in a bain marie over simmering water or carefully in the microwave, and let it cool a little.

Separate the eggs and beat the yolks into the chocolate mixture. Then add the flour and combine.

In another bowl, whip half the egg whites with the sugar until thick, glossy and white, then throw in the cocoa powder and the rest of the egg white and whisk until you get soft peaks.

Pour the chocolate mix over the egg whites and carefully fold with a metal spoon until just combined, trying not to knock out too much air.

Divide the batter between the 6 moulds, retaining a quarter to pour over the caramel.

Spoon or pipe roughly a tablespoon of the caramel into the middle of each pudding then top off with the rest of the chocolate mixture.

At this point, if you can stand to wait, cover with clingfilm and put these babies in the fridge for half an hour or longer (can be left for a couple of days). You could even freeze them and bake from frozen for an extra 10 minutes.  Cooling them helps to guard against over-baking the centres and they are more likely to be gooey.  However, if you are impatient, like me, skip this and bake for the shorter time.

Cook for 10-12 minutes. If you have made them up in advance and stored them in the fridge or freezer, then you will need the extra 2-10 minutes.  They should be firm on the outside but wet on the inside if you test with a toothpick.  Leave for a couple of minutes then turn them out carefully onto plates and serve straight away.

* I used store bought but I will post a recipe for caramel separately