Red Velvet Molten Lava Cake 心太软

What should I make for my husband on Valentine's Day? You see, we are past that lovey-dovey stage. So expressive heart shapes with mushy wordings are totally out. I am sure there are many die-hard romantic souls out there but my family is more "Chinaman" inclined. So, I have decided on a Red Velvet Molten Lava cake. The message is subtle but is by no means less influential. The colour red represents the heart whilst the oozy centre represents one's overflowing love for each other. A perfect fit don't you think?

A lava cake got its name from the fudgy centre that oozes out when cut, resembling the flowing lava. When you bite into it, you would get the softness of the cake and the fudgy unbaked batter or ganache at the centre that tastes like a hot fudge. It is a perfect combination. The trick here is to bake your cake until the sides are cooked enough to form the structure to hold the soft centre. Underbake it and the cake would collapse. The centre has to be cooked just right, in order to achieve that gooey flowing lava. Overbake it and you would have a red velvet cake and not a lava cake. Therefore, accurate cooking time is essential. Bear in mind also that this cooking time might vary according to different ovens and the size of the mould. I would suggest a test run first.

Truth be told, I am still a bit apprehensive about serving raw batter/egg. Therefore, for this recipe, I omitted the eggs.This recipe is an adaptation from my Red Velvet Cupcake recipe. I made this batter more runny to get that oozy centre effect. For contrast, I added white chocolate in the middle. The more appropriate filling would actually be a ganache but I am just too lazy to make that extra step. Anyway, the cake turned out gooey-centre. I am a happy woman.

Red Velvet Molten Lava Cake 心太软

Makes 4 individual cakes

Ingredients

100 g plain flour
1/4 baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp dutch processed cocoa powder
40 g butter, room temperature + some for greasing moulds
50 g castor sugar
120 ml buttermilk
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp red colouring (I added a few drops yellow to make it look brighter)
80 g white chocolate chips/chopped white chocolate
icing sugar for garnishing

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease ramekins/mould and coat with a little flour (my mould is the size of a teacup).

2. Sift plain flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt together.

3. Add buttermilk, lemon juice, vanilla and red colouring together

4. Cream butter and castor sugar until pale and fluffy. Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients in three batches. Combine well but do not over mix.

5. Scoop one scoop of batter into each ramekins/mould. Add white chocolate in the middle. Add another scoop of batter to completely cover the chocolate chips.

6. Put ramekins/mould into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove and cool for a while. Loosen the sides with a butter knife and invert the cake onto a serving plate. Garnish with a little icing sugar.




Want other Valentine's Day dessert suggestions?

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Neapolitan Pudding