Chocolate Molten Larva Cake

Hi Guys!! 

I'm making something extra special today. 

There's this guy my friend Maria fancies, and he is coming over to our flat this evening. She really wants to impress him with a home cooked meal, but certainly doesn't want to spend all day in the kitchen, so she asked for my help. In the true nature of friendship, I was willing to. 

I decided we would make some homemade pasta for the main course and a molten larva cake with toffee ice-cream for dessert. Both are really romantic meals plus they are also easy to make, and we could just do most of the prep work before he arrives. She could then put the finishing touches to the meals in his presence #wink.

So here's what we made:

Ingredients

• 130g dark chocolate
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120g of butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/3 cup of flour
• A pinch of salt

Other things required

• 2 Ramekins (or muffin moulds/ moi-moi cups)
• A knob of butter
• 2 bowls
• An oven pan
• A whisk
• 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Crack two eggs into a bowl, add the icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Mix well until the sugar dissolves.

   

   Adding the sugar to the eggs

   
   

   

   Eggs, sugar and vanilla incorporated

3. Melt the chocolate and butter together, either in a microwave for 20 seconds or over a pot of boiling water and set aside.

   

   Melted chcocolate

4. Transfer the melted chocolate into the egg mixture, and mix well to combine. It should be light and smooth like a ganache.

   

   Adding the chocolate ingot he egg mixture

   
   

   

   Chocolate incorporated into the egg mixture

5. Now add the flour into the mixture, and gently mix it into the chocolate mixture.

   

   About to add the flour

   
   

   

   Added flour

   
   

   

   Flour incorporated

6. The take your ramekins and grease them with the knob of butter. Then take the cocoa powder and put into the buttered moulds. Run it around until it has coated both ramekins, then set aside.

   

   About to butter the ramekins

   
   

   

   Buttered ramekin

   
   

   

   A teaspoon of cocoa powder into the ramekin

   
   

   

   Coating the buttered ramekins with cocoa powder

   
   

   

   Cocoa powder coated ramekins

7. Carefully transfer your mixture into the ramekins, with a spoon  till it is about 2/3rd of the way ensuring that it doesn't spill. For variety you can place a white chocolate bar into the mixture.

   

   The mixture in the ramekins

   
   

   

   A white chocolate bar added to the mixture

8. Place the ramekins in an oven pan, and place in the preheated oven for  8-10 mins.
9. Once they are done, remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 2 minutes.

   

   Fresh out of the oven

10. Carefully turn them over on a plate. 

    

    Carefully turning it over

    
    

    

    Out of the ramekin

11. Serve with your favourite ice-cream. Break open the cake and see the larva flow....Enjoy! 

Tips

1. The mixture can be placed in the ramekin and left there until your guest arrives. So you can put it in the oven when you're about ready to serve.

Try it out and #eleanorzkitchen

Chocolate Eclairs

Hi Guys!!

Today I've decided to make some 'chocolate eclairs.

I'm not talking about the chewy caramel coated chocolate from cadbury (even though thats also quite nice) ....but no, I'm referring to an oblong pastry filled with cooled custard or cream, and topped with a drizzle of shiny melted chocolate. With the first bite, you get the crunchy pastry shell, and then you're hit by the creaminess and coolness of the cream, followed by the bitter sweet taste of the dark chocolate. 

This delightful dessert is just an explosion of flavour. You would certainly want to make this for that special some one. Its certainly a welcomed addition to any party, as a dessert on a romantic date #wink, or as an exciting way to get your kids into the kitchen.

I made these as a gift for a friends birthday party and it was gone in a flash...which pretty much demonstrates the name 'eclair' french for 'flash of lightning'.

It certainly requires a good number of ingredients, however, thats because I made my own custard from scratch. You can always decide to substitute with the ready made custard or instant custard, however, it has to be made thick and sweet and definitely not runny.

So here's how you make it:

Ingredients

For the choux pastry shells

• 100mls of milk + 100mls of water
• 5.5 tbsp of butter
• 1.5 cups of flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp of powdered sugar

For the custard

• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1.5 cups of milk
• 1 tsp of butter
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate ganache

• 160grams of dark chocolate (at least 50% cocoa solids)
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• 80mls of cream

Other materials required:

• 3 Pots
• 2 large bowls
• A baking tray
• A balloon whisk
• 2 Piping bags (1 large nozzle, 1 pin nozzle)
• A ladle
• Parchment paper
• A roll of cling film
• A tooth pick

Instructions

1. First we make the custard. Put the milk in a pot on low heat and bring to a simmer. In a bowl, add the yolks, corn flour, sugar  and vanilla extract together, and mix until it turns pale. 

   

   Corn starch added into the egg and sugar mixture

   
   

   

   Pale colour after incorporating the yolk, sugar, vanilla and corn starch

   

   Pot of milk brought to a simmer

2. Once the milk has come up to a boil, ladle a spoon of it into the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Then add the entire bowl of egg mixture into the pot of milk, and bring back onto the low heat, whisking continuously until it becomes thick. Add the butter and mix well. Transfer into a bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate.
3. Now to make the choux pastry. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Add the milk, water, salt, sugar  and butter into the pot, and bring to a boil.

   

   Melted butter in the milk

4.  Once it begins to boil, and the butter has dissolved, remove from the heat, and add the flour. Mix very well, until a dough is formed.

   

   Flour incorporated into the boiling milk

   
   

   

   Cooked flour dough

5. Transfer into a plastic bowl, and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. 
6. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each time. Then transfer into a piping bag with a large nozzle.

   

   Incorporating the eggs into the dough

   
   

   

   The dough put in a piping bag

7. Pipe the dough into oblong shapes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Then sprinkle the icing sugar over the dough shapes, and place in the oven. for about 20 mins or until its browned and puffy.

   

   Piping the choux pastry

   
   

   

   Piped choux pastry

8. Now to the chocolate ganache. Place the cream in a pot and bring to a simmer. 

   

   Simmering cream

9. Chop the chocolate into shreds and place in a bowl. Then add the sugar and butter. 

   

   A chocolate bar

   
   

   

   Chopped chocolate

   
   

   

   The chocolate and butter

10. Pour the cream over the chocolate and butter, and mix well, until its beautiful and shiny, then set aside.

    

    The chocolate ganache

11. Remove the pastry from the oven, and using a toothpick, poke a hole at the side to allow the steam out faster. Remove the custard from the fridge and transfer into a piping bag with the pin nozzle. 

    

    Pastry out of the oven, and custard in the piping bag

12. Use the toothpick and poke three holes along the base of the pastry, and put the custard into all three hole. Do this for all of them.

    

    Poking holes into the pastry for the nozzle to fit

    
    

    

    Piping the custard into the pastry shells

13. Now dunk the front end of the pastry into the chocolate ganache, and set aside.

    

    Dunking the custard filled eclair into the chocolate ganache

    
    

    

    A perfect eclair

14. Once you've done that for all the pastry's, allow to cool, and then Enjoy.
    
    
    
    
    

Tips

1. Ensure you continuously whisk the egg and milk mixture or else the eggs would scramble in the heat, and that would make for a lumpy custard.
2. When you add the eggs into the dough, it would split, but just continue to mix well, and it would become sticky again.
3. Alternatively, you can microwave the chocolate, butter and milk for about 20 seconds, or until they are melted. But do not allow the chocolate to burn.