Voluptuous Red Velvet Molten Chocolate Cake

Voluptuous is defined as being full of indulgence in luxury, pleasure, and sensuous enjoyment and this cake is exactly that. This divine desert will keep your taste buds sinfully happy and it's perfect for a romantic dinner for two or for dazzling friends at a dinner party. Though it looks complex this desert was actually very simple to make. 

I am an admitted Food Network junkie and one of my favorite contributors is Chef Anne Burrell. Her wit and wisdom endear her to me and her recipes are outstanding. So, last year when she had her team on "Worst Cooks in America" make Molten Chocolate Cakes I thought, "Hey it can't be THAT hard". You can see how confident I was though since it took me a year to buck up and try them myself. Luckily Food Network offered a number of recipes for these including my favorite from Chef Anne. 

I didn't follow her recipe exactly because I wanted these cakes to be Red Velvet for Valentines Day, but I used her recipe as a base and the changes were minimal.

Red Velvet Molten Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
Granulated sugar, for the ramekins
1/2 (6-ounce) bag white chocolate chips
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, plus a little more for dusting
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cake flour (Chef Annes' recipe calls for all-purpose flour )

Special equipment: 6 ramekins or aluminum souffle cups 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Melt 1/4 a stick of butter in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Paint the inside of 6 ramekins with butter and then coat them with granulated sugar. Set these aside for filling later.

Put the remaining stick of butter in a large mixing bowl with the chocolate chips. Set the bowl on a saucepan filled with about 1-inch of boiling water being sure the bowl does not touch the water. Gently stir the butter and the chocolate together until melted and the mixture is smooth. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.  (It is important you do not add this hot mixture directly to the eggs to avoid cooking them.)

Combine the eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. (This can also be done with a hand beater.) Beat the egg mixture until it doubles in size, and gets very thick and very pale. Add the food coloring. This will take quite a bit so be patient. (If you are uncomfortable with red food dye you can find natural alternatives, like beet juice or powder, in most health food stores. However, I have no experience in how these might affect the end result.)

Gently whisk the melted chocolate and butter into the egg mixture. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently stir in the flour. Your batter should still be light and airy. Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins. Arrange the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 14 to 15 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and let rest for 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the ramekins, and arrange them on individual serving plates. Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with a sliced strawberry. ( You may want to CAREFULLY run a butter knife around the edges of each cake to help it release from the ramekin.)

Serve these up with pride. The delightful flavor and luxurious texture will have your sweetheart, or guests, raving!