eureka!!!

i have come across many different recipes that claim to be "molten chocolate cake", but havent lived up to their expectation.

since coming back from our cruise in july, jesse and i were still intoxicated from the warm, oozing chocolate cake that carnival cruise lines calls, warm chocolate melting cake. oh...it was so yummy. we practically had it every night.

my mom had sent me carnival's recipe for the cake through an email about a month or so ago. so i tried it out and was very disappointed. i think i overcooked it. it tasted like chocolate scrambled eggs. not so good. i figured that some day i will try it again and hopefully wont mess it up again.

in late summer, i was looking through pioneer woman's cooking website and saw this recipe for none other than little chocolate melting cakes. pioneer woman got it from a reader on her sharing recipes site called "tasty kitchen". after reading the whole recipe, i figured that even though it appears simple to do, actually making one at home was just an unatanable goal. i will just have to live with eating them at local sit down restaurants. *sigh*

yesterday, for whatever reason, i had this baking kick. i wanted to bake as much as possible with two 3 year olds running around the house. so i decided to make shortbread cookies from pioneer woman and let the kids decorate them with frosting. i couldnt find my rolling pin to roll out the dough, so i used a meat tenderizer and hammered the dough flat. i used food coloring and made 5 different colors to choose from. the kids loved it.

after dinner (chicken salsa bake) i wanted to make dessert and i bravely thought to attempt making the chocolate melting cakes. the recipe is SUPER simple so i thought i really cant mess it up. it only requires one stick of butter, 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks and 6 tblsp flour. you see, SUPER easy.

so i followed the recipe to a tee and hoped for the best. i stuck them in the oven and kept checking on them, determined not to overcook them again. after 12 min. i took them out, they appeared done to me. i let them cool and plopped one on a plate (upside down). here is the true test to see if i did it right. i took a fork and cut into the little cake and hoped to see oozing chocolate coming from the center. and guess what...i did!!!!!!!!! i was so happy that i finally found a recipe that works and is easy for these cakes. they would make great dinner party desserts. i highly recommend them.

please click on the recipe link for pioneer woman, she takes such great pictures along the whole baking process. it makes it much easier to cook with.

*note* i used choc. chips instead of baking chocolate because i didnt have any. it seemed to be ok, as long as they are semi-sweet. i also didnt have any custard cups, so i used 4 ramekins instead. that also seemed to be ok. good luck trying out this yummy recipe.