My garden is filled with ripe citrus fruits right now, so I gathered two full baskets of clementines. Even though the rain hasn’t been all that great this season, the fruit is incredibly sweet. We’re lucky! I usually peel fruit right after dinner, leave them at the dining table and let everyone help themselves right away. But this time, before peeling the clementines, I gathered the zest to make my husband Lulu’s favorite: chocolate lava cake. It might look complicated, but fear not, it’s just a matter of timing. Like love!
If you’re planning to surprise your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day this year, a decadent chocolate dessert should be at the top of your list. First, it’s delicious, and second, I love the idea of Googling aphrodisiacs in preparation for Valentine’s Day!
1. Info for Clementine Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 8
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Clementine Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe
- 8 whole eggs
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure orange extract
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, to grease the molds
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (optional), for dusting
- 1-½ cups semi-sweet chocolate, (about 7 ounces)
- 2 clementines, freshly zested
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
3. Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Grease 10.5-ounce ramekins with the softened butter, then dust them with cocoa powder (using a fine mesh strainer).
- In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until you get a pale yellow foam; the texture of the egg yolk will be thicker. Add the orange extract.
- Make a “double boiler” (a pot filled with hot water, covered with a piece of cloth) and place a stainless steel bowl filled with semi-sweet chocolate chips on top. Make sure the bowl circumference is larger than the pot, so there isn’t any splatter of water in the chocolate. Slowly melt, stirring frequently. Turn off the heat and add the butter and clementine zest. Stir well until the mixture is uniform.
- Combine the egg mixture, melted butter-chocolate, salt and flour. Pour the mixture into the ramekins (about 3/4-way up the side of the ramekins).
- Wrap each ramekin and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes, the center should be still jiggly. Remove from the oven.
- Place a serving dessert plate on each ramekin. Flip the ramekins on the plates right away and unmold them.
- I served the chocolate dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzled warm tangerine-kumquat marmalade as a reminder of the citrus flavor in the cake.
- With a spoon, gently open the cake and let the lava ooze out.
- Serve immediately.
- Bon appétit!
