Chocolate Lava Cakes for Two

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I’ve been asking myself: what could I possibly bake to do it justice? The answer? Use chocolate!

Even if you’re single this Valentine’s Day, this is still the perfect treat to whip up for yourself. Designed for two people, there isn’t a lot of leftover batter; plus, you can easily put the batter that you don’t use in the fridge and save for the next day.

Before you begin baking these, though, one note: they’re so easy to overbake! Because you actually want to underbake these (that’s what makes the “lava”!), I advise not leaving these in longer than 7 minutes. Anything longer will compromise the centers. Besides, when you pull them out, they’ll continue to cook for a minute or 2, so they really can’t be too underbaked.

What You Need
Cakes

4 tablespoons (½ stick) salted butter
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour

Topping

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¼-½ teaspoon cinnamon

How You Do It

Preheat oven to 450F and butter and flour two ramekins/ small dishes.
Over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate. When fully melted, remove from heat and set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar.
Slowly pour chocolate-butter mixture into eggs, stirring as you go along.
Stir in flour.
Pour into baked tins and bake for 6 minutes. Remember, you want these to be underbaked, so they should have firm edges but shiny, jiggly centers.
Combine the cocoa powder and cinnamon and set aside.
When cakes are done, remove from over and let cool for 2 minutes, undisturbed. When ready, put a small plate atop the cake and invert. Remove the tin.
Dust with the cocoa-cinnamon topping.