Sinful Chocolate Cake

I don't know why, but I got in the mood to cook tonight. It's another one of my passions, and I've neglected it lately (too much knitting, perhaps?). So, while in the city today, I got a replacement release valve for my pressure cooker, along with some yarn I'll tell you about later (no, I'm not stuck in the 70s - those things are one of man's most amazing inventions). This must have been what got me in the mood, because I have missed that little baby so much for the months I didn't have a valve.

So, I made a yummy traditional French lamb stew from a cookbook I bought recently. The name of it in French translates to "Our Grandmother's Cooking." They weren't my grandmothers, of course, but they still cooked some mighty yummy dishes back then. All that cooking and anticipating such a delicious meal got me thinking about dessert (Who wouldn't under those circumstances?). I started thinking about this cake you often get in French restaurants called "fondant au chocolat," which roughly translates as melting (thing) of chocolate. It's a rich chocolate cake with a melty center. Who wouldn't love that? Anyway, to my surprise, it wasn't in my new cookbook, so I set out in search of it on the net.

I found a free recipe in French, so I'll share it with you.
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time : 12 min

Ingredients (for 4 people) :

- 120 g dark cooking chocolate (plus several small chunks of chocolate set aside)
- 3 eggs
- 80 g of sugar
- 35 g of butter
- 1 tablespoon of flour

Preparation :

Melt the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan, stirring frequently to make a smooth sauce

In a bowl, mix eggs with sugar and flour.
Add chocolate mixture and mix well.

Pour into well buttered muffin tins or other individual-sized baking dishes (I used a silicon muffin pan and didn't even need the extra butter).
Place chunks of chocolate on top of each.

Place in preheated oven for 12 minutes at 220°C

Serve warm or hot, plain or with a fruit sauce (raspberry, for example) or custard sauce.

I didn't put the chunks of chocolate on them, and they were still melty and yummy.

I am a bit lazy after all that chocolate, so you'll have to convert the temperatures and quantities yourself if you need to. There are plenty of good converters on the net.

As you can see by the large amounts of chocolate, butter, sugar and little else, this is an excellent dessert for a healthy diet. Not to worry, though, you don't need much. I had two (rather small) muffin shaped cakes and feel like it was too much. Not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach, but oh so yummy.

Well, enough of this cooking nonsense. I've got some knitting to do! I have a little baby boy to knit a sweater for.