From Our Kitchen

Three recipes we make on rainy weekends, slow Sunday mornings, and Tuesday evenings that need rescuing. Use the best chocolate you have.

Molten chocolate cake
15 min · Serves 4 Easy

Molten Lava Cakes

The classic restaurant trick that is, in truth, the easiest dessert in the world. The whole secret is undercooking.

  1. Butter four ramekins generously and dust with cocoa powder.
  2. Melt 200g of dark chocolate (we use the Madagascar 72%) with 200g butter over a bain-marie.
  3. Whisk 4 eggs, 2 yolks and 100g sugar until pale and ribboned, then fold into the chocolate.
  4. Sift in 60g flour and a pinch of salt. Divide between ramekins.
  5. Bake at 220°C for exactly 9 minutes. The tops should be set, the centres still trembling.
  6. Invert onto plates. Eat at once, with crème fraîche.
Chocolate truffles
30 min + chill Intermediate

Single-Origin Truffles

Two ingredients in the ganache, rolled by hand in cocoa. The chocolate has nowhere to hide — so use the best you have.

  1. Chop 250g of dark chocolate finely. Place in a heatproof bowl.
  2. Warm 200ml of double cream until just steaming — never boiling.
  3. Pour the cream over the chocolate. Wait one minute. Then stir from the centre outward in patient circles.
  4. When glossy and smooth, cover and refrigerate four hours.
  5. Scoop teaspoons, roll between cool palms, then through unsweetened cocoa powder.
  6. Keep refrigerated. Bring to room temperature twenty minutes before serving.
Hot chocolate
10 min · Serves 2 Very easy

Drinking Chocolate, Properly

Not cocoa powder and milk. This is the European drinking chocolate — thick, dark, and so rich that two small cups are enough.

  1. Chop 100g of dark chocolate finely. We like the Ecuador 70% here.
  2. Warm 300ml of whole milk and 100ml of cream over low heat with a small pinch of salt.
  3. When the milk steams, remove from heat. Whisk in the chocolate until silken.
  4. Return briefly to low heat to thicken — about two minutes, whisking constantly.
  5. Pour into small espresso cups. Crown with a curl of fresh cream if you wish.
  6. Sip slowly. This drink is a meditation, not a beverage.
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