email this pageChocolate and the kind of novel with Fabio on the cover share a vocabulary: bittersweet, hot, dark, melting, surrender, lust, passion, yearning, hunger. Long before science told us that chocolate releases chemicals in the brain similar to those released when we’re in love, we knew it intuitively. The connection between love, chocolate and Valentine’s Day is a time-honored one, but it’s not nearly as ancient as cacao itself.
Chocolate is a true American original, a plant native to this continent. Like chiles, tomatoes, corn, potatoes and most types of beans, chocolate is now loved worldwide. But long ago, pre-Columbian peoples were cultivating and consuming chocolatl, Aztec for “hot liquid.” That was the way Aztec Emperor Montezuma, born around 1480, liked it: as a scalding hot unsweetened beverage, hot not only in temperature but chile-hot.
Molten chocolate cake, a hot dessert kiss with a warm, hidden gush of thick chocolate liquid in its core, was first popularized by well-known chefs in high-end restaurants (Daniel Bolud at Daniel in New York; Thomas Keller at French Laundry in Napa). From there, its fame spread. With its slightly crisp edges and oozing center, it has elements of mousse, custard and soufflé: in short, it’s one of a kind.
This take on a molten cake brings the old flavor combination of chocolate with just a little chile heat into the present. Serve it to your Valentine, and you’ll discover a whole new way to swoon.
Chocolate-Chile Molten Cake
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Ingredients
½ cup sugar, divided
5 ½ ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped (such as Ghirardelli)
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon finely chopped canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
3 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons stone-ground cornmeal
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, cocoa nibs, and raspberries or other fresh fruit for garnish
2. Place chocolates in a double boiler set over barely simmering hot water. Stir occasionally until chocolates melt. Remove from heat.
3. Beat butter and sugar together with a mixer until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and chopped chipotle; the mixture may separate slightly. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl and beating 1 minute between additions. Add chocolate and beat 5 minutes. (Batter will be thick.)
4. Combine salt, cornmeal, flour and cocoa; sift over batter and stir.
5. Divide batter among ramekins. Don’t worry about smoothing out the tops. Cover each tightly with plastic wrap and freeze at least 4 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 400F. Bake frozen cakes 10 minutes. (Tops will smooth out.)
7. Let stand 5 minutes. Invert onto serving plates. Serve immediately with ice cream and berries. Serves 6.
By Crescent Dragonwagon
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