Soft-Centered Chocolate Cakes with Blood Orange Granita
Individual almost-flourless chocolate cakes with delectably oozy centers, paired with magenta-pink blood orange granita and créme chantilly. The tastes and textures combine in wonderful ways: intense dark chocolate, fluffy on the outside and molten on the inside; tangy, crystal-crunchy granita, and rich, lightly sweet cream. The only thing tricky about this dessert is the final timing: like a souffle, these little cakes need to be served immediately after leaving the oven, plus the granita melts rapidly at room temperature. So beat the granita shortly before it will be used then return to the freezer until plating, ready the serving plates as the cakes are baking, and add the granita to the plate last.
If you can’t fine blood oranges for the granita, tangerines make an exceptionally nice substitute.
— 8 servings
*Items marked in green are available from The Gourmet Corner.
Ingredients
Blood Orange Granita
- 6-7 blood oranges — choose smooth-skinned fruit that feel heavy for their size, with a dark blush on the rind: the darker the rind, the darker the juice!
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 lemon
Soft-Centered Chocolate Cakes
*Do not substitute a lower-percentage chocolate: because the batter contains so little flour the cocoa solids contribute much of the structure to the cake.
Crème Chantilly
Blood Orange Granita
Juice the blood oranges, then strain the juice through a fine sieve. You will need a total of 2 cups juice.
Measure 1/4 cup of the juice into a small saucepan. Add the sugar to the juice and place over low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. As soon as the sugar is completely incorporated, add the mixture to rest of the juice.
Add 1-2 Tbs strained lemon juice to the mixture. It should be sweet-tart.
Place the granita mixture in a flat, shallow container that can be put in the freezer. Freeze until solid, 3-5 hours (the shallower the mixture is in the container, the faster it will freeze). Every 30 minutes or so, mash the mixture briskly with a large, heavy fork, scraping it off the bottom and sides of the pan. Break up the frozen parts near the edges into smaller chunks and rake them toward the center.
While the chocolate cakes are baking, mash the granita well to break up any chunks, then return to the freezer until plating.
Crème Chantilly
Place cream, sugar, and vanilla in a deep bowl. Whisk gently until combined, then whisk briskly until firm peaks form. Set the bowl in the refrigerator until plating the dessert, up to 6 hours.
Soft-Centered Chocolate Cakes
Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 375F.
Melt 1 Tbs butter in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to thoroughly coat the insides of 8 6-oz ramekins with the butter. Place the cocoa powder in one of the ramekins and roll it around until the butter is uniformly coated with cocoa (if there are any bare spots, brush on a little more butter and roll the cocoa over it. Tap the cocoa out of the ramekin until only a thin, even coating remains. Repeat with the rest of the ramekins. Arrange ramekins in a shallow pan with sides, leaving some space between them.
Melt 8 tablespoons butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost simmering water. (Or melt chocolate and butter in microwave oven, using 30-second intervals at 50% power.) Once the chocolate and butter have melted, whisk them gently together until smooth; remove from heat. Sprinkle the flour over the surface of the chocolate mixture and whisk it in until completely blended. Cool at room temperature until barely warm, but still liquid.
Beat eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and sugar at highest speed in a stand mixer with whisk attachment for 5 minutes or until the mixture triples in volume, becomes a pale, creamy color, volume nearly triples, and the mixture drops from beaters in a smooth, thick ribbon. (If using a hand mixer, you will need to beat 10 minutes or more).
Gently pour chocolate mixture over egg batter, then fold it in until the batter is uniformly colored. Ladle batter into prepared ramekins.
NOTE: At this point, the ramekins can be covered with plastic wrap or placed in a covered container and refrigerated up to eight hours. Return to room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
Bake until cakes have puffed up above the ramekin rims, have a thin crust on top, and jiggle slightly at center when ramekins are gently tapped, 13 to 15 minutes. Do not overbake!
Plating the Dessert
Immediately after removing from oven, run a small, sharp knife around inside edges of ramekins to loosen the cakes. Invert ramekins onto serving plates, then allow to cool for 1 minute before removing ramekins.
After removing ramekins, place a generous spoonful of Crème Chantilly beside each cake. Use a small ice cream scoop or large melon baller to place 1-2 mounds of Blood Orange Granita by each cake (the granita texture is light and flaky, so pack it firmly in the scoop to keep it from collapsing into a shaggy heap when un-molded from the scoop). Serve immediately.
