Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe

Recently, I spend more and more time in the kitchen. Kitchen was a faraway land for me until last year, it became my escape land. Whenever I feel bored, irritated, happy, I go to kitchen, see what I have and begin to make something. Most of them are failure, tho.

This afternoon was no exception. After sewing all day long, I felt so tired and craving for sweet things. Brownies came to my mind at first, but, no, I want something lighter. Something that more mouth watering... something..... lava-ish. Ta..da!! Lava cake! Yes, please!! I've never baked lava cake. Furthermore, I never bake successful chocolate cake. But, oh, what can I say. Failure or not, chocolate is sweet and edible - hope so...

In 30 minutes,I found out that my Chocolate Lava Cakes are...... -take a deep breath- success!! So easy, simple, wow!


Now, let's make it together, shall we?

Ingredients :
170 grams semi-sweet chocolate
100 grams white sugar
60 grams all purpose flour
115 grams butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp cocoa powder
4 eggs
Icing sugar/powdered sugar as garnish

How to :
1. Preheat oven to 232 Celcius.
2. Boil water in saucepan and put a bowl of butter and chocolate on top, for double broiler. Stir until melted. Remove, let it cool at room temperature while we mix other.
3. In another bowl, mix the egg until fluffy using high speed (count to 15). You can use whisk or mixer. Want a little work out? Use whisk - tiring, but a little work is nice. Oops, don't let any sweat drop into the bowl! Yuck!
4. Add sugar and vanilla. Mix them in low speed, then add cocoa powder. For tue rest of this recipe, we'll use low speed. Not too long, just until they're mixed. We don't want any overmix, do we?
5. At this point, the chocolate should have cool. Pour it into the bowl while being mixed. Add flour little by little and mix them. I don't want to put then all in 1 step and send them flying, bursting like a magic trick. No, no, I need baking magic the oven, not powder, not outside the oven.
6. Last step! Pour them in a cup. Wether it's cupcake tin, muffin tin, or ramekin, anything as long as it heat resistant and covered with a thin layer of butter. I fill the cups 3/4 full to get them with nice round tops, and to prevent them from spiloing out over the top of the cups like a lava monster (oh, save it for halloween-noted). Bake them for 8 minutes. Yes, only 8 minutes! This way, we'll get pretty, crazy runny chocolate in the center when we slit the cakes. Looks like they're competing to run into our mouth!


Funny is, I just knew that if we put them in room for hours, the middle top will drop a little, giving them a mortar-shape-liked. First, I doubted the center still melted and runny after hours. Guess what, they still run, baby! Straight to the mouth! 5 hours and still lava-ish. See the picture above? I took it after 5 hours. Amazing, isn't it?



Not bad for beginners, huh?
I couldn't make a neat looks on the tray, tho. But, believe me, the taste is so yummy! They're soft, tender, moist, sexy.... Like a Lady.... Mouth watering, tempting, so sinful!

source :
Bake Like a Pro - Molten Chocolate Lava Cake
Food Wishes - Molten Chocolate Love

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Crisp & Crunchy Fried Oatmeal Cake

This idea came this morning when I made too many oatmeal porridge for breakfast. I plan to eat that later but thanks to "Law & Order 15" series, I forgot about it for almost 30 minutes. When I look back to my bowl, my porridge already became too thick and sticky, yuck! Unable to eat that yucky mixture, I began to remember dumpling dough I watched from a cooking program days before. With a lot of guts, sprinkle of spices, some herbs, good vegetable oil, I deep fried them and... voila ! I made Crisp and Crunchy Fried Oatmeal Cake.

Yeah, I know they're not the prettiest Oatmeal cake.  The oil was used to fry shallots, I don't want to throw it because it give nice smell and flavor, and I forgot to strain it. Darn. Gotta strain it for the next batch

These cakes may not as healthy as usual oatmeal, but I think they're much better than frozen nuggets from store, and better than usual dumpling made from flour. I mean, it's oat~ full of fiber, good for colons~ okay, I just make excuses for this unbelievable yummy crunchy snack. Perfect for salad, mashed potato, rice (oh yeah I love rice), pasta, Super Bowl snack, everyone will make excuses for more plates.

Ohh, tell you what, the "crunch" sound made from this dish is... out of this world!

Ingredients : 
100 grams oatmeal
100 ml hot water
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger (use fresh ginger, please)
2 tbsp finely chopped celery (optional - other fresh herbs will do good)
1 tbsp granulated sugar (optional - skip if your leftover oatmeal already sweet enough)
1 tbsp fried shallot (optional - garlic powder is fine, too)
1 tsp white pepper powder (if you like it, add more)
1 1/2 tsp salt
enough vegetable oil to deep fried for the oatmeal cake to sink

Tools : 
Bowl
Good Knife
Spoon
Wok and frying spatula (or deep fat frier)

Let's start!

Okay, The Oatmeal. IF you have raw oatmeal, ground it a little bit. Not to smooth, otherwise you won't get the crunchiness. If you have instant oatmeal, which usually already grounded, that's good. Pour hot water over the oatmeal, in a bowl. Any bowl. Mix, mix, mix. Add ginger, celery, sugar, white pepper, powder, and salt. Mix them together.

Here comes the important parts.
Celery is the only herbs I found in my fridge. If you have rosemary, thyme, parsley, anything, try them or mix them all. It will give nice smell. And don't forget the ginger. Small but powerful enough to give fresh taste, not boring or bland.

Fried Shallot is common thing in my place, Indonesia. We can find them in every stores. If you don't have it, chopped shallot and garlic, mix it with salt, then deep fry them in over low heat. Don't have much time? Go to Asian store and you might fine them. If, you can't find any Asian Store (I know it's not that easy to find it), substitute with garlic powder and pinch of salt. How hard can that be?

The mixture is kinda look liked dumpling dough but not that stiff. It is sooo sticky and thick, can't be shaped by hand, even though your hand is covered by flour. See the picture below? Little mountain of sticky dough.

So how we shape it? Meet our magic tool, spoon. Yes, spoon! Take a spoon and Frying Spatula, make Hell's Kitchen's pose, light the fire, take a picture, post it on Ins.. okay, everybody stop! We'll get serious from here as we'll play with time, fire, and real hot oil.

Now, pour the oil into our wok or deep frier. Heat it to 375F. Turn the heat to low. Take the dough with the back of one spoon. Grease the frying spatula with oil, just dip it quick to the wok. Not all part, only the "spatula" part. Press the dough, shape it thin, gently drop each piece of oatmeal dough into hot oil.

Sorry for the bad pictures. My kitchen tools are kinda old, about 15 years old. They don't looked pretty but they've given my family awesome dish until today. That black color on the wok is not rust. It just...turn black after 15 years of hard work and burning oil.

Wait until the color turn to golden brown, allowing the skin to crisp. Maybe, about 1 minute per side. I said "maybe" because I didn't count the time. I just watch over the color. Remove from the oil and transfer to a paper tower lined plate. Serve immediately. Enjoy the Crisp and Crunchy Fried Oatmeal Cake.

That little piece is prettier, isn't it? I use strainer to filter the oil and reuse it

A little note, we often use breadcrumbs and flour+water or flour+egg batter to make crisp food, but you don't need them for this oatmeal cake. You can add 1 tbsp of flour or more if you don't like the goey texture. Craving for more vegetables? Add broccoli, carrot, peas, corn, anything. Just remember to boil them then mix them into the dough. Or more meat? Easy. Add bacon, ham, sausage, chicken, anchovy, just name it. Lovely, easy, crunchy, and the most important is, yummy.

Sorry if my English is kind of mess. I hope you understand the recipe thoroughly. Read more!