S'mores volcano cake.Tara O'Brady/The Globe and Mail
Molten chocolate cake is arguably the dessert most tightly bound to Valentine’s Day, first gaining fine-dining fame in the 1990s before slowly sliding out of favour and into cultural cliché.
This February stalwart, alternatively called a chocolate truffle cake or lava cake, has disputed beginnings. Even though chef Michel Bras’s coulant, with flowing ganache miraculously ensconced in cake, debuted six years prior to the “happy accident” of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s unintentionally underbaked version in 1987, Vongerichten historically claimed invention. (He was catering for a large group and failed to take into account how the mass of so many cakes in the oven would affect the oven’s efficiency.) Meanwhile, Jacques Torres argued such softly oozing treats, moelleux, existed in France before that fateful party. Torres, bemused, told The New York Times in 1991, “Nobody has exactly the same recipe, and to tell the truth it’s really very simple, nothing exceptional, but everyone seems to love it.”
Fifteen years later, in a pivotal scene from the film Chef, a critic scathingly declared the cake insufferable. (Jon Favreau’s titular character seems to follow the Bras tradition, for the record, closing the scene by screaming the difference between the molten and uncooked.)
Yet, the lava cake endures. Maybe it is nostalgia. Maybe it is the comfort of a warm dish all to yourself at the end of a meal. Maybe it is that, when done well, a sense of wonder and surprise prevails, no matter how jaded we are as eaters. And, dare it be said, it can actually be tempting to eat when there is a proper, puffed crust, a downy crumb and that voluptuous centre saucing all.
Though chocolate may be the indisputable classic for a lava cake, s’mores felt like a natural progression, pairing a graham cake with a semisweet puddle of ganache, served with a scorched marshmallow. The cake, bolstered with crushed crackers and wheat flour for a wooliness, stands up to the depth of the chocolate. Use the best you can here, one you’d be happy to eat on its own. It is a dessert made for cozy nights and flickering light; candlelight or fireside, you choose.
The batter is intentionally thinner than most cakes of its ilk, which allows the ganache to sink into its embrace. What’s more, when the cake is turned out to serve, the ganache is then clearly visible in a bold bull’s eye worthy of Cupid’s arrow, forming the chocolate-filled crater after which this version is named.
The recipe is both easily halved or multiplied, depending on how many spoons are poised around the table. I would go so far to wager that each cake is shareable, but that may be a step too far for love, no matter the day.
S’mores Volcano Cakes
Makes 4
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- Nonstick spray or extra butter for greasing the baking dishes
- Granulated sugar, for coating
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
- 4 ounces white or blond chocolate, chopped
- ½ cup packed golden brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ teaspoon medium-grained kosher salt
- Toasted marshmallows or marshmallow fluff for serving
- Crushed praline, honeycomb candy, or similar for garnish
Over medium heat in a saucepan or in the microwave, heat the heavy cream to steaming. Scatter in the chocolate and leave to stand 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Freeze until truly firm and scoopable, at least 1 hour.
Preheat an oven to 375 F, with a rack in the middle. Spray four 1-cup ramekins with nonstick and coat with granulated sugar, tapping out excess. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, whole wheat flour, and salt.
Tip the butter and white chocolate into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Warm over medium-low heat, stirring regularly until melted (this can also be done in the microwave). Pull from heat.
Vigorously whisk the brown sugar and eggs in a medium bowl until thickened and lightened in colour, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in the butter mixture, followed by the dry ingredients.
Divide the batter between the prepared dishes. Using a small spring-loaded scoop or a pair of spoons, form 4 balls of the ganache. Tuck one into the centre of each ramekin (the ganache might peek over the top of the batter, this is fine). Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the hot oven until puffed, deeply tanned and pulling away from the sides of the dishes, around 25 minutes. The tops should look fractured and shiny, but when shaken they should betray a slight wobble beneath.
Let stand 2 minutes. Then – careful, they’ll be hot – turn out and serve belly-up. Toast marshmallows to go alongside, or top with marshmallow fluff and torch upon presentation. Scatter with bashed up candy rubble if that’s your thing.
Best eaten right away, but any left can be refrigerated still in their baking dishes, and rewarmed gently on low heat in a microwave, swaddled beneath a damp paper towel.
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