Mocha Java Cakes

So here's what we had (or rather what we didn't have for dessert on cook-out night. We all thought the the scrumptious Lemon Roast Chicken was goin to end on the sweetest of notes with these Mocha Java Cakes, but it didn't. Not quite. Well, so it did in a half-past-six manner. I'm not making any sense? 

You see, the batter was made correctly, but unfortunately the cooking time stated in the original recipe didn't work for the cold oven we baked them in despite preheating the oven to the given high temperature. What did we end up with? Little chocolate puddings that were not set.

We tried to unmould one (tried being the keyword) and we found that it had set on the top but not all around the molten centre. So back in the oven it went for another 15 minutes.

We unmoulded the second pudding and that while better was still not set properly. So, we ate whatever we could and I put the remaining four puds back into the oven for as long as it took for us to finish a bottle of wine... for oh say about an extra 20 minutes with only the oven's bottom heat turned on.

We said our goodbyes at about 11pm. I switched-off the oven and left the four puds to cool in the kitchen overnight.

This morning, I warmed them up and unmoulded one to check. Perfect! It came out with a soft plop and I enjoyed a little death-by-chocolate for breakfast. What a fine start to an overcast Saturday morning!

MOCHA JAVA CAKES

Adapted from Southern Living

180g salted Butter

200g good-quality Dark Chocolate

1 teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

4 whole Eggs

4 Egg Yolks

230g Raw Sugar

70g Plain Flour

A little Butter and Flour, for ramekins

Preheat the oven at 180 Celsius. Butter and flour 6 ramekins well. Place them all in a shallow square baking tin (swiss-roll tin). Set aside.

In a saucepan on very low heat, melt the Butter and Dark Chocolate gently. Mix through until smooth and remove from heat. Mix in the Vanilla Extract and Instant Coffee Powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat Eggs, Egg Yolks and Raw Sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer for about 7 minutes.

Add in the Plain Flour and Chocolate mixture. Beat for about 1 minute until well combined.

Transfer the batter into a large jug and pour into the prepared remekins.

Bake the pudding at 180 Celsius for about 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, run a knife gently along the inside of one ramekin. If the knife comes out clean, the pudding is set. If not, put it back into the oven to cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes using the bottom heat of the oven only. Check if its done at the 5 minute and 10 minute mark.

When done, remove from the oven and let them stand for 10 minutes. Then gently run a knife round the inside of the ramekins and turn out the pudding on individual serving plates. Garnish, if desired.