Makes 12
I love the idea of a restaurant molten chocolate cake, and I have always wanted to serve one at the Shabbat table. I know lots of people out there do this, but somehow those were all about the ozzy chocolate and not really about amazing flavor. And aside from that they don’t taste very nice once cooled. I wanted an oozy chocolate cake that still tasted delicious at room temperature and that its taste wasn’t all in the drama of the filling.
This cake has a truffle heart making it good at any temperature, warm and straight out of the oven it will ooze when cut open, room temperature it will have a delicious creamy truffle center.
*Before starting make sure that all the cake ingredients are room temperature.
**Because of the coconut cream used in the truffles, when served warm these cakes have a coconut taste when warm. If that isn’t your thing replace the coconut cream with double (heavy) cream.
For the truffles:
- 90g (3 ounces) plain (bittersweet) chocolate (preferably 60% cacao solids), very finely chopped
- 105g (⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon) coconut cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For cakes:
- 125 (1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 65 (½ cup) cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 275g (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) greek-style soy yogurt
- 1 egg
- 100g (90ml) (6 tablespoons) vegetable oil
- 135g (⅔ cup) granulated sugar
Make the truffles:
Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan heat the coconut cream just until before it comes to a boil. Pour coconut cream over the chopped chocolate (I like to cover the bowl with whatever I have to hand, to speed the process along) let it sit for 30 seconds. Stir the chocolate until completely melted. Add the vanilla and stir again.
Freeze the filling for at least an hour, or up to 3 days.
Shape the truffles: Using a teaspoon, form 2 cm (¾ inch balls) place truffles, repeat until you have 12 truffles. Return the formed truffles to the freezer until ready to use.
For the Cakes:
Heat oven to 180℃ (350℉).
Grease well a 12 hole muffin tin, set aside.
In a medium bowl sift together, the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a second bowl, whisk together the yogurt, egg, oil, and sugar until combined.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the yogurt mixture and stir until just combined.
Fill each cupcake hole ⅓ of the way with batter, place a frozen truffle in the center of each batter filled cup. Spoon remaining batter over each truffle, ensuring that the truffle is completely covered.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
If you want to make this ahead of time and still serve it warm, what you can do is bring the cakes to room temperature and then place them still in the tin onto a moderately warm hotplate for about 15-20 minutes, until the centers are melting.
