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I bought my first bundt pan this weekend, and I couldn’t have possibly been more excited to use it.

My bundt pan-shopping has been irritating, to say the least. I saw a pan on sale at Winners for $9, so I bought it. Once I got home, I started looking up recipes. Well, apparently size matters when it comes to bundt. My pan was a 9-cup, and every single bundt cake recipe I came across required a 12-cup. Uh-oh.

Some quick internet research confirmed that I would need a 12-cup pan if I ever hoped to bake a bundt cake. I went to kitchen store after kitchen store, but none of the pans listed their capacity. When I would ask salespeople, they would exclaim, “Twelve-cup! That’s sooo big!”

Finally, an impromptu trip to Walmart solved the problem. For $12, I finally scored my 12-cup bundt pan.

I really enjoy reading Joy the Baker’s blog, and came across a bundt cake that I had all the ingredients for. Not only that! A chocolate-orange one, possibly my favourite flavour combo for desserts ever.

Preparing it was a breeze. I didn’t have any orange extract, so I used the juice from the orange I grated for the rind. I was surprised at how much batter goes into a bundt cake…12 cups, indeed! My mixer was almost full, a sight rarely seen.

The end result? This is a deliciously light and fluffy cake – its texture is incredible. The chocolate chips add nice little bites of chocolate. The orange doesn’t stand out much, but I think that’s because I didn’t use extract – next time, I’ll either hunt out some, or use more orange rind than the recipe asks for. Overall, this was one excellent cake, and I’m happy to have chosen it for my first bundt.

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake
Adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook
(and then adapted from Joy the Baker)

3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter at room temprature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, left at room temperature for 30 minutes
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon orange extract (I used 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice)
zest of 1 large orange
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Put rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan and set aside.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

3. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add half of flour mixture, and mix until just blended. Add sour cream, mixing until just combined, then add remaining flour mixture and mix until smooth.

4. Divide the batter evenly into two bowls. In one bowl add the orange zest and orange extract and stir to combine. In the other bowl add sifted cocoa powder and chocolate chips and stir to combine.

5. First pour the orange batter into the buttered Bundt pan, spreading it evenly around the bottom of the pan. Next, simply add the chocolate batter on top of the orange to cover. No swirling is necessary, although you can swirl the batters together if you like.

6. Bake until cake is springy to the touch and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

7. Remove from oven and cool cake in the pan for 30 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

First, let me say that cheesecake is my absolute favourite dessert. I loooove cheesecake. Cheesecake makes me happy, and can cheer me out of any bad mood (which has been proven on more than one occasion).

Secondly, I have to admit to being afraid to attempt this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, Cheesecake Pops from Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, chosen by Elle at Feeding My Enthusiasm and Deborah at Taste and Tell. I was even considering sitting it out. It seemed too much work, too many ingredients to buy…but after doing it, I’m so happy I fumbled my way through it. The results were absolutely, utterly delicious, in every way.

I only made one third of the recipe, since all I had were two packages of cream cheese (and only two people to eat the pops!) Even though thirding the five eggs and the egg yolks proved to be tricky, the cake was perfect. I baked it in an 8″ round pan, and it took about 50-60 minutes to bake properly. The cheesecake recipe itself was a perfect cheesecake recipe. I made sure to leave some in the pan to snack on – I didn’t want to sacrifice it all to the pop.

Scooping out balls of cheesecake was messy, and it was even messier to roll them into balls. I used bamboo skewers instead of lollipop sticks, and they worked well.

The dipping process was fun! I really liked what the vegetable shortening did for the chocolate – an important ingredient that I wouldn’t skip. I didn’t go crazy with the toppings, keeping it relatively simple. In the end, I wound up with three types of pops:

1. Plain chocolate – fantastic, with a nice snap to the chocolate coating. I loved the contrast between the cake and the chocolate.

2. Chocolate and graham cracker crumbs – even better than the ones with chocolate only. I enjoyed the extra texture, and all the flavours worked really well together.

3. Chocolate and plum preserves – I was originally going to use cherry, but plum was on sale. For some, I dipped the pop into the preserves, then into the chocolate. It was pretty messy and sticky going; the chocolate didn’t adhere as well to a plum-dipped pop. For some others, I drizzled chocolate and the plum preserves; these worked out better. I liked the fruit addition, and would definitely try that again.

There are lots of other combos I would’ve liked to try, but with only a few pops, I kept it simple. My only real issue was that I put the pops, post-dip, back on parchment paper, so they got a flat edge on the bottom. Then, if I took a bite of one, the other half of the pop would fall off the stick. If I were to make these again, I would skip the lollipop aspect, and just make bonbon type bites out of them.

These were a lot of work, but fun work, and the results were great, so I would probably make the effort again. At the very least, I have a new and very successful cheesecake recipe!

Cheesecake Pops
Adapted from Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey
Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks (I used bamboo skewers)

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (this ingredient is so important to get the right texture for dipping these!)

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) – Optional

CHEESECAKE
1. Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

3. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes (mine took almost an hour, for an 8″ round pan)

4. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

POPS
5. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

6. When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

7. Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

8. Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Thanks Deborah and Elle, for choosing a great, fun and challenging recipe!

I have a healthy collection of recipes that I am saving from other food blogs, and hopefully will be able to attempt all of them (though I collect faster than I bake). After the Orange Kiss-Me Cake, I was a bit hesitant to try another online recipe, but the Mayan Chocolate Sparklers from Under the High Chair. I loved the description and the photos, and desperately wanted to sample that chocolate-cinnamon-pepper-cayenne flavour combo.

I’m quite pleased with how my version of them turned out. The pepper lends a fantastic bite to the cookie, and the cayenne is a hot note that only resonates after you’ve swallowed most of the cookie. The cinnamon, as cinnamon tends to be with chocolate, is beautiful. The chocolate chips are a necessary component to the cookie, lent a bit of variety in the texture, as well as little niblets of pure chocolate bliss.

Oh – and the cinnamon-sugar coating adds a perfect crunch!

I halved the recipe, and used only butter, substituting for the shortening. I’m guessing it changed the texture of the cookie a little bit – while they were somewhat dense, they also fell apart rather easily. It also seemed to make the batter unworkably sticky, but thirty minutes in the fridge fixed that right up.
The flavour certainly didn’t suffer.

I will definitely be making these again!

Mayan Chocolate Sparklers
Adapted from Under the High Chair
Makes about 5 dozen

TOPPING
½ cup granulated sugar 125 mL
1 tsp ground cinnamon 5 mL

COOKIES
¾ cup vegetable shortening 175 mL
½ cup unsalted butter, softened 125 mL
¾ cup granulated sugar 175 mL
¾ cup brown sugar, packed 175 mL
2 large eggs 2
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 5 mL
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 425 mL
1 ¼ cups cocoa powder 300 mL
1 tbsp ground cinnamon 15 mL
2 tsp baking soda 10 mL
¼ tsp salt 1 mL
¼ tsp ground black pepper 1 mL
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper 1
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 250 mL

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.

TOPPING
Combine sugar and cinnamon for topping.

COOKIES
1. Beat shortening, butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

2. Sift together flour, cocoa, cinnamon and baking soda. Stir in black pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper.

3. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture, beating after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Roll in 1” (2.5 cm) balls, don’t flatten. Roll into cinnamon and sugar topping. Place on prepared cookie sheets, about 2” (5 cm) apart.

5. Bake 7-10 minutes. Cookies should still be soft in center. Let cool on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Remove, cool on wire rack.

Again, I love eggs – maybe too much when it come to the Benny! Although traditionally considered a reasonable breakfast, I’ve managed, on more than one occasion, to sedate myself back into a jellified bedlust by noon, just because I love it too much.

Hollandaise Sauce (serve 2 – 3)
3 eggs yolks
1/2 cup butter (clarified)
1 lemon and zest
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
pinch cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

While techniques vary, you basically want to first melt butter (option to clarify), combine and whisk yolks and other ingredients, and slowly temper the yolks incorporating the butter, being careful not to cook the yolks with the hot butter. A tablespoon of tepid butter pieced into the yolks helps to safeguard against cooking. WHISK! MORE! I went crazy with lemon, over a 1/2 cup, because I enjoy the tang and I wanted to thin out my sauce.

Eggs and Spinach (per person)
1/4 pound spinach
2 eggs
1 English Muffin
salt and pepper to taste

When I saw this cake on Baking Bites, I knew right away I wanted to have it. There are some recipes that just speak to you, and the Orange Kiss-Me Cake was screaming to be made. It was my turn to make this week’s snack for work, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

The cake certainly didn’t beat out my last snack offering (coconut-lemon bars); it was just…okay. It didn’t really match up to the photos Baking Bites offers up, and the description “extremely moist” seemed like an understatement. I was expecting a somewhat fluffier cake – moist, but not as moist as it mine came out. Mine was slightly flatter, veryveryvery dense, slightly chewy and yes, extremely moist. Not that it was awful, but definitely not my favourite texture for a cake and not what I was expecting.

However, texture aside, the taste was great! The orange glaze was very flavourful; the cake absorbed some of it, but the top was still sticky and sweet -the cinnamon was an excellent touch. I didn’t have any walnuts, so I left out the crunchy walnut topping, but I think it’s important for such a moist cake. A contrast in textures might’ve made all the difference.

I used cashews in the cake itself, and threw in extra raisins, as well as the whole orange – the chunky paste that ensued was fragrant, and did add an interesting dynamic to the cake.

Overall, I felt the cake was a fine flavour, very bright and citrusy. Not sure about the texture though – I don’t know if I did something wrong, but I don’t know if I’ll try it again. I’ll definitely be trying this glaze on other baked goods though!

Orange Kiss-Me Cake

CAKE
1 medium orange
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup walnuts
2 cups all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk (low fat is fine)

TOPPING
1/3 cup (fresh) orange juice
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

CAKE
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.

2. Cut orange in half and remove all seeds. In a food processor, whizz orange (with the peel and everything), walnuts and raisins. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk and the rest of the flour. Stir in the orange/walnut/raisin mixture and pour into prepared pan.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the top springs back.

TOPPING
1. While the cake is baking, whisk together all the topping ingredients (walnuts are optional) in a small bowl.

2. When cake comes out of the oven, pour topping over hot cake and let it sit while the cake cools.

Cool completely before serving.

This past weekend, I was in charge of making my aunt’s birthday cake. I chose what I thought would be a relatively simple one that would be perfect for a spring birthday: Lemon Poppy Seed Layer Cake. Though I did hit some snags with the cake along the way, it ended out being a great choice. Very light, and bright the the flavour of lemon. I am a fan of all lemon desserts, and this one did not disappoint. The cake is buttery and slightly crunchy with all the poppy seeds, the filling tart, and the icing absolutely wonderful. In fact, the lemon frosting was my favourite part, and I know I will be using the frosting recipe over and over for a variety of desserts.

So – where did it all go wrong?

First of all, the cakes didn’t really rise enough to cut into half. This was okay though – a two layer cake is fine with me. Perhaps next time I’ll make a third cake layer and turn this into a three-layer cake, but it did work with the two. Besides for the not rising thing, the cakes were fantastically moist and flavourful.

Second, the recipe suggests greasing and flouring the cake pan. Well, I did this, and the first cake (thankfully I only have one 9″ pan, so I was making one cake at a time) stuck to the bottom, making it completely impossible to remove. I had to make a third cake, and this time, lined the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. The cakes popped right out that way.

Third, the lemon filling was more of a glaze – it didn’t thicken enough. It wasn’t awful – it soaked through the bottom layer of the cake, making it quite moist and lemony. Not a problem! Next time, I would use a recipe for a more successful lemon curd, or I would use this filling as a glaze and then spread some frosting on top of it.

The cake was enjoyed by all, and I fell in love with the frosting. I had leftover “filling,” so I drizzled a tablespoon over each slice of cake as well.

Lemon Poppy Seed Layer Cake
adapted from Robin Hood’s Baking Festival

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Two 9″ round cake pans, greased and floured (I greased the pans and lined the bottoms with parchment paper)

CAKE
2 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 ¼ cups cake-and-pastry flour)
1 tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 1/3 cups butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
4 eggs
½ cup milk
¼ cup poppy seeds

FILLING
2 eggs
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
6 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup butter, softened

FROSTING
½ cup butter, softened
4 cups confectioner’s (icing) sugar
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
¼ cup light (10%) cream

CAKE
1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Cream butter in a large bowl on medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk, mixing lightly just to blend. Fold in poppy seeds
4. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.

FILLING
1. Beat together eggs, lemon zest, juice and sugar in small saucepan. Add butter
2. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Cool Completely. Mixture will thicken upon cooling. (Prepare several days ahead, if desired. Refrigerate until using)

FROSTING
1. Beat together all ingredients until smooth and creamy (I had to add some extra lemon juice to bring it to a spreadable consistency)

ASSEMBLY
1. Cut cake layers in half horizontally to make four layers.
2. Place on layer on serving plate. Spread half of the filling on top of it.
3. Place second cake layer over filling and spread that one with some frosting.
4. Place third cake layer on top of frosting and spread the remaining filling.
5. Top with the last cake layer. Cover sides and top of cake with the frosting.

Almost exactly one year ago, we received an ice cream maker as a house-warming gift. We don’t use it nearly enough, but when we do – it yields great things!

Our best ice cream adventure thus far has been Burnt Sugar Ice Cream, taken from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. The process was quite exciting; we used demera sugar, so it was difficult to gauge when the sugar had reached the proper “burnt” stage, as we no longer had colour to use as a guide. As the sugar boiled away, it started puffing up, bubbling, then smoking. Some people who have tasted it have said we might’ve gone to far with the burning, but for me, the taste was perfect. Definitely a burnt quality – but in a delicious, tight and flavourful way.

We’ll be making this ice cream again – next time though, I think we’ll try a little less burning, just to see.

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

1 cup sugar (we used demera sugar)
3 tbsp. water
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Stir the sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

2. Increase the heat and cook until it becomes a caramel of deep amber color.

3. Lower the heat and add the milk and cream. It will bubble like mad but continue stirring until it is smooth, remove from the heat.

4. In a large bowl, whip the egg yolks and salt until a little thick, slowly pour the hot milk mixture over it and whisk to tamper the yolks. Put back into the saucepan and cook until it coats the back of a spoon (creme anglaise consistency or 170 degrees F).

5. Let cool completely and churn into your ice cream maker. Freeze for 2 hours or moreor until firm to scoop….if you can wait that long!

I love sushi. I love tuna. Got this bad boy from work on a Friday night and decided to do it up seared and saucy. So, get the best tuna you can afford and try to find something you’ll be able to cut into a block, avoiding the shaped called steak. Streaks are great for other things, but this techniques works best with thick and evenly shaped pieces of tuna.

Roll your clean tuna in a dish that is covered with untoasted sesame seeds. Untoasted is best because a raw seed can still take a lot of heat. Not much else goes on here beside heating up your thickest skillet to med-high or high and dropping a teaspoon or less of your favorite vegetable oil. Once ready, place the tuna in the skillet for a maximum of 2 minutes per side. For this I like to err on the rawer side of safety. Set the tuna on a cooling rack to rest for a few minutes and slice.

Sauces! Yum. I’ve worked in many restaurants and have had the great pleasure of tasting and tasting and tasting! Ever taste away 1500 calories in an evening? I have. So that said, 2 sauces came to mind this night. A sesame paste vinaigrette and a tobiko, chive, and mayo sauce.

Sesame vinaigrette

Mix together…
1 tablespoon sesame paste
1/2 a lemon
2 tablespoons mirin or other vinegar
2 table spoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
pinch salt to taste

Tobiko and mayo

Mix together…
1 tablespoon Japanese or other sweet mayo
1 teaspoon tobiko
1 teaspoon chopped green oinion
1 teaspoon fine chopped Japanese, Lebanese, or wild cucumber
Rooster sauce to taste (spicy! garlic-y!)

Enjoy!!

Addition:

My chef friend took one look at that first picture and asked “sugar”? Indeed, these was an optional marinade that I had omitted from this post, so for anywhere from 5 minutes to 3 hours, marinate your tuna (in a Ziplock bag) with the following ingredients:

Tuna Marinade

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
some whatever else you might enjoy like garlic, sugar, sake, etc…

Enough desserts!

Okay, not really…I doubt there can ever be too much dessert. But just so we put out the appearance of being well-balanced people who eat a variety of foods, I’m going to step away from the sugar-loaded posts for a minute.

One of my favourite kitchen appliances is my bread machine. Perhaps bakers who insist on baking bread the traditional way shudder at the thought, but it really is great to get home from work, throw some flour and yeast into my bread machine, and four hours later, be munching on fresh bread.

I have lots and lots of favourite recipes I use in my machine, and this one is in the top five. Slightly tangy, a little sweet, and with a nice, light texture, it makes a great sandwich bread.

Cottage Cheese Dill Bread
(makes a 2lb loaf)

1 1/3 cups water
½ cup low-fat cottage cheese (try to choose a creamy or small-curd cheese)
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp shortening
3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (or bread flour, in the US)
2 tbsp snipped fresh dill
1 ¼ tsp bread machine yeast

1. Measure ingredients into baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

2. Insert pan into the oven chamber.

3. Select Basic Cycle

So easy, and this bread comes out great every time!

The title says gooey, but gooey they are not.

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie’s assignment was to make Gooey Chocolate Cakes, and Dorie’s description claims they are “small, dark and warm, with a lava-like runny center.” They were certainly small, dark and warm, but the centers were lacking the promised chocolate lava. I followed the recipe exactly, so I can’t guess at what the problem could’ve been.

Not that they weren’t tasty though! Fresh out of the oven, they are slightly underbaked, rich and packed with chocolate flavour. Perhaps too much so – I found the first bite to be great, but they quickly became too one-dimensional for me. If I decide to ever make them again, I’ll definitely add some flavour to them, like peppermint or orange extract. A fruit coulis would be nice as well – anything to add a bit of a kick to them.

They were nice and easy to make, so it’s nice to have a quick dessert recipe that can be whipped up anytime dessert is needed. Add a scoop of ice cream, a drizzle of raspberry coulis, and you’re all set.

Gooey Chocolate Cakes
adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours
Makes 6 cakes

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate,
4 ounces coarsely chopped,
1 ounce very finely chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

3. Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

4. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

5. Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

6. Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.