Ingredients
For the Salted Caramel:
- 1/3 cup (65 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp agave syrup , , honey or corn syrup
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp flaky salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- (alternatively, you can skip making the caramel: Take 6 store-bought salted caramels and poke one into the batter in each ramekin after chilling)
For the Cakes:
- 3.5 oz (100 g) chopped bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
- 1/4 cup (55 g) unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp (30 g) all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup (65 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp softened butter and 2 tbsp cocoa powder , , for the ramekins
- optional: whipped cream or vanilla ice cream , , to serve
Instructions
- In a deep saucepan, heat the first three caramel ingredients, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook over a medium-high heat, swirling the pan often (don't use the spoon to stir the mixture as this can cause crystallisation in the caramel) until the mixture becomes golden. Remove from the heat and immediately add the cream then stand back for a second as the mixture will bubble up. Stir in the cream until completely combined, then stir in the salt and vanilla extract. Set the caramel aside to cool.
- Butter six, 4-oz ramekins and dust with the cocoa powder, shaking out any excess.
- In a small saucepan, heat the chocolate and butter together on low, stirring until just melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour and salt until smooth.
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat using an electric whisk whilst gradually adding the sugar until pale. Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and gently fold together using a rubber spatula. Divide the mixture between the ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes (or up to 5 hours, if making in advance).
- Ten minutes before you're ready to bake the cakes, preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the cooled caramel into the centre of each ramekin and slightly push it down into the cake mixture. Place the ramekins onto a small baking tray and bake for 12-20 minutes, they should be molten in the middle and set around the edges. Loosen the edges of the cakes with a knife and turn out onto individual plates. Serve immediately with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it went! Mention @izyhossack or tag #topwithcinnamon!
I am so addicted to salted caramel at the moment. I have been making it with coconut cream and coconut sugar and pink salt. I will have to try making these molten cakes with it.
coconut salted caramel sounds amazing, yum!
Love the new-style photos! Omg these puddings look incredible! I say this stuffing my face with Christmas Cake… oops!
Katie <3
Concerning ” chilling the heck out with food”, may I suggest: yagourt and salted caramel…?
Not so heavy to return to “usual every day food…”
But thankyou for the rich recipes of December celebrations…
Loving the photos Issy – super slick!! These look almost as good as your Christmas sounds! Happy Christmas and new year … I will be checking in lots in 2014! X
These look to-die-for! The step-by-step photos are super helpful too. I’ve failed at every caramel making attempt thus far, but these have inspired me to try again.
OH WOW, this looks delicious!! Yum, yum!
I know what you mean, I love cooking up a storm for my family but I am ready for a break. And I didn’t even get nearly as fancy as you with all of the modernist techniques!
Ohmygooooooooaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh YES.
That oozing caramel center is evil!
These should come with a warning label I think 😉
I saw this post on Cup of Jo and thought that it looked just about the yummiest thing that I had ever seen. And such gorgeous photos.
Incidentally – I love Oddono ice cream too, but have you tried Gelupo? They have some pretty amazing flavours…
Good lordy, these pictures are so amazing. I just want to take a face plant into one of those tiny little cakes. MMM. If this whole meeting-up-in-london thing, by some act of god works out, we will bake. and photograph. 🙂
Oh WOW. They look incredible!
Love the steps in pictures, this way I won’t be left wondering if it looks the way it should!
{Teffy’s Perks} X
Is it possible to make these gluten free by not adding the flour or replacing it with some substitute? These look amazing….
You could probably sub cornflour or cocoa powder for the flour for a GF version. Otherwise, maybe almond flour? but I’d be a bit iffy about that cos of the fat in the almonds. Thanks!
Perfect I will try it!! Thank you so much, can’t wait to make em
You almost made me lick a screen of my computer.
Absolutely stunning photos! How do you take such great photos in your kitchen? I need more windows in my kitchen! LOL! This looks so redicu-licious MUST try it!
GURL!!! I’m all over this..Beautiful as always! 🙂
Wow! This looks so incredible! All of the photos make me want to jump into the kitchen stat!
Oh my goodness!! These little cakes look awesome!
Absolutely gorgeous pictures and I bet these taste wonderful too!
Oh man, I just made plain ol’ beef Wellington on Christmas and I thought THAT was fancy. (To be fair, it was only for three of us, so there was little desire to go above and beyond. Still, brioche pastry?! WUT.)
Congrats on the A Cup of Jo guest post! Daammn, I am a total sucker for molten cakes. I’m feeling the same food bean bag-ness at the moment, but I’d still eat two of these straight to my face. Love all the step-by-step shots! (:
Hey Izy, I just made a blog post about my new year faves and you’re featured in it!
http://addalittle.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/happy-new-year/
Hope you have a wonderful new year!
Oh my – amazing! My caramel sauce only ever comes out half the time but I think that makes me enjoy salted caramel even more (gotta work for it!). This looks absolutely stunning!!
That looks so amazing! Love the salted filling idea!
Happy New Year to you!
As per usual these photos are JUST STUNNING! I agree though, looking forward to getting back to a normal diet… I think my body has had chocolate and sugar overload. Happy New Year Izy!
craving waffles and caramel now…
This is on my food-bucket list!
Wow, I neeeeeed to make these…. Thank you so much for the pictures, you make baking easy!
Two questions to Izzy or whoever feels like giving me some input!
1. How wide are your cake pans?
2. I usually only use butter when I butter the cake pan. That is, no flour. I was told by a chef that it is better that way, that the flour only makes “more cake batter” but butter alone truly works like a lube to get the cake out. What do the rest of you have to say about this? I would be curious to hear others tips….
//malin
This looks incredible!! Ooey gooey rich chocolate things are a great weakness of mine. This is food porn and should come with a rating for those who have already eaten far more than their fair share of chocolate today!! 😮
xo
Oh. Em. Gee. I’m so glad I am behind in my blog reading, because I might have busted a button just looking at this about a week ago, but now I want one of these cakes very very badly.
amazing, just what I’ve been looking for and will be making this for Valentines, for me and my girlfriends! 🙂
Uh la la, so my boyfriend and I were on a hunt for the perfect molten chocolate cake recipe these last few months and your won, hands down. It is heaven! Requests for it after 10pm are not not unheard of at our house. It’s the perfect recipe to whip up quickly. I always hide a different sweet treat in the middle (sour cherries, white chocolate, peanutbutter, etc.).
smiles,
Franziska
Made these at the weekend and they were INCREDIBLE!! What a great recipe – and so so easy to do in the end 🙂
More like this please!!
Andrew
Wow! Looking at these pictures just made me hungry! Yum!
it looks amazing!
Looks amazing. Pinned 🙂
Is it possible to replace the butter with oil?
I don’t think so
OMG! these look amazing! I need to make these ASAP 🙂
Hi,
Any tips on how to ensure the caramel doesn’t dissolve into the cake?
Thanks, Josh
it shouldn’t dissolve into the cake to be honest! I’ve made them about 4 times so far and the caramel is always still there after baking 🙂 If you’re making the caramel yourself, maybe let it cool until just malleable and form it into little balls that you can put into the cake batter, rather than spooning it in hot. Hope that helps!
Ooh wow this looks amazing! That oozing caramel…
http://cafecraftea.blogspot.com
I don’t know what went wrong with my caramel, but it didn’t harden up enough to be rolled into balls, even if I put it in the fridge. I used corn syrup, and let it come to a dark golden brown. So when I baked it, the caramel ended up at the bottom of the ramekin, and was brown because it was mixed in with the batter.
I split these into two batches. The first batch I baked for 12 minutes and it was a disaster, and we had puddles for dessert 😛 The next time I baked for 17 minutes, and most of it had turned to cake, with the chocolate-caramel mixture being the saving grace because it was oozy. Otherwise, tastes fantastic.