Chocolate Volcanoes

Since I discovered that my boyfriend loves chocolate lava cake, I've told him about this one that I made a long time ago and how good it was. But I never made it for him. Not very nice of me but it's hard to go back to old recipes when there are so many new ones out there! Well finally I did remake the lava cakes (though they're called Chocolate Volcanoes in this recipe) and I was really happy that he loved them!

There are a couple of really great things about this recipe. One is that you can make the batter ahead of time because they have to be frozen at least overnight. The other is that because they're baked from frozen, you're pretty much guaranteed a gooey delicious centre. The recipe calls for serving them with a raspberry coulis, which I've made before and is good (so I've listed it below), but this time we just ate them with ice cream. Nothing wrong with that!

I was happy to see all of your comments about wanting to see more Abby pictures! =) And I wouldn't want to disappoint you all, so here's another one. She's laying in front of her favourite plant pot to dig in.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
German Chocolate Cake
Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars
Rich Chocolate Cheesecake
Chocolate Chunk Malt Cookies

Chocolate Volcanoes
Adapted from The Rest of the Best and More (From the Best of Bridge Series, 2)

1 1/2 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 tbsp boiling water
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking powder
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs

Raspberry Coulis:
10 1/2 oz pkg frozen raspberries, thawed
1/3 cup sugar

To Make Volcanoes:
Dissolve coffee granules in boiling water. Set aside to cool. Grease 6 - 4 oz. ramekins.

Using a whisk, combine flour, cocoa and baking powder in a small bowl. Reserve.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Add butter and sugar and stir until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl. Using as electric mixer, beat in eggs 1 at a time on medium speed. Add dissolved coffee and flour mixture and continue beating until fully mixed. Raise mixer speed to high and beat for 6 more minutes. Pour batter into ramekins and tightly wrap with plastic wrap. Freeze overnight or up to 2 weeks.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Take ramekins out of freezer and remove plastic wrap. Bake volcanoes for 18 minutes - no longer! Cool on rack for 5 minutes. The outsides will be crusty and the centers will be gooey - sort of like your average volcano. To serve, drizzle individual plates with raspberry coulis. Invert each ramekin onto a plate and add a small scoop of ice cream.

To make raspberry coulis:
Combine raspberries and sugar in a blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a sieve (or a clean j-cloth) to remove seeds. Store in refrigerator.