The Scoop On Ice Cream Summer Entertaining
- hey guys, valentine's day is almost here and i wanted to arm youwith a very romantic, festive dessert that iknow you're going to love. it's my chocolate molten lava cake. i love this dessertbecause it is so elegant, so delicious and so easy to put together. don't be intimidated by them, they're easier than you think. and i'm going to share withyou my foolproof recipe.
so we're first going to startwith a four cup pyrex pitcher. i love these pyrez pitchersbecause you can actually create lots of batters in them. and then they're all ready to go and you can pour itright into your ramekin and not have to take out a ladle. they also go right in the microwave, which is also nice as well. and to make this recipe even easier,
we're going to work with chocolate chips. i love to use the chips here because that saves us a step ofhaving to chop the chocolate. i also like to use thesemi-chocolate chips, because if you taste one you'll see they're actually quite sweet. so that also saves us a step of having to add sugar to the recipe. then we're going to add some butter.
we're going to take fivetablespoons of butter and pop it on top of the chips. then we're going to microwave this mixture in 30 second increments. and you want to makesure that you take a fork and kind of mix it up eachtime you microwave it. you don't want to skimp this step because the smoother the mixture, the smoother your molten lava will be.
so you definitely want to take the time to make sure that yourchocolate is nice and melted. now i also like to add a half a teaspoon of instant coffee. now this is the instant coffee, the kind that you canactually add hot water to and actually create drinkable coffee. it's not the coffee grounds. so you want to take the instant coffee
and just stir it into that hot chocolate. it'll dissolve and it will create a really nice depth of flavor. anytime i'm working with chocolate, i always like add a littlebit of instant coffee, because it does sort oftake the sweetness down of that semi-sweet andturn it into something a lot more sophisticated. and then you're also going to add
a teaspoon of vanilla anda quarter teaspoon of salt. stir that up and now we'regoing to add our eggs. now you want add two whole eggs and two egg yolks. give that a stir and then the final step is just to add our flour. so we don't want to add alot of flour to these cakes, because we really want them to be dense and fudgy and delicious.
so they only take a quarter cup of flour. and that's it, our batter is done. now we're going to prepare our ramekins. now here's another tip for you. because this is a dessertthat we are actually going to flip over and invert, it really helps to havea pretty shaped ramekin that will create a nice sized cake. and i really love usingthese six ounce custard cups,
because they go in the ovenand when you flip them over, you'll see they create a nice little dome. if you want to know whereto get these ramekins, they're pretty affordable and i put a link in the description. so we're going to take these ramekins and we are going to spraythem with some cooking spray. now i have tried it with melted butter and it just does not work the same.
so in this instance, you really kinda gottause the cooking spray. and if you can find thebaking spray, even better. and then we are goingto pour in our batter, about two-thirds of the way full. now here's the other geniuspart of these ramekins (laughs). they come with these little plastic tops. so if you really wantto be a domestic genius, you will have this done all in advance.
and then when it comes time for dessert all you have to do ispop them in the oven. so the fact that they comewith these little lids, you just pop the lids on andvoila you put it in your fridge and it is all ready to go. then when it comes timeto bake your cakes, you're going to take theramekins out of the refrigerator. we're going to take the tops off them. flip them on a cookie sheet,this will just make it easier
to take in and out of the oven. and you're going to popthem in a pre-heated oven that is at 450 degrees fahrenheit. now, here's the other tip. you do not want to over bake your cakes or you're not going to havethat delicious runny center that we are after. so set that timer for 10 minutes exactly. and you also want to makesure that if your oven
is running a little hot, andsometimes ovens will do that, keep an eye on them. because when they're really done, the other sign that you'll know, is they'll still be a little bit concave. if they start to popup thatmeans they're cooking to much in the centers. you really want to pullthem out when they're set and the little centers arestill a little bit concave.
that means that thosecenters are still runny. that's what you want. so while they're cooling,you want to get together all the things you're going to need to assemble your desserts. some fresh raspberries, ashaker of powdered sugar and of course, our vanilla ice cream. then when the ramekinsare cool enough to handle, you take your dessert plate,pop it on top of the ramekin
and then take the wholething and flip it over. then, because we used our cooking spray, you will see when youlift up that ramekin, those cakes should just pop right out. we're going to dust themwith some powdered sugar. garnish with a fresh raspberry. and then place a nice healthyscoop of vanilla ice cream along the side. and there you have it, areally delicious, romantic,
sophisticated dessertthat anybody would love to have on valentine's day. and then when your special someone goes to cut into that cake, you will see it'll be light and spongey on the outside and oozy and chocolatey on the inside. the vanilla ice cream isalso a nice complement to lap up all of that chocolate sauce. it's like having a chocolatecake and chocolate sundae
all in one (laughs). i hope you guys give this one a try, it's easier than you thinkand you too will make a big impression on somebodythis valentine's day. and if you don't have anybody special in your life this valentine's day, that is okay. i had years like that too. instead, why don't you go down the hall
and grab that neighbor, your co-worker, your best girlfriend and make these cakes, because i tell ya valentine'sday is for everybody. and you will be happy you did (laughs). so sending all my love to all of you and i will see you back here next week when we are going to tacklespaghetti and meatballs. it is my four-generationrecipe coming from all of my favorite italian women in my life.
so i will see you back here then, bye. ♫ loving you is easy, you're amazing. ♫ ♫ please take a bite of my apple pie. ♫ ♫ oh love, love me, love, love me. ♫ ♫ oh, it's a piece of cake. ♫ ♫ oh yes, yes, it's true. ♫ ♫ because it's you. ♫
