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Galley Crumbs is back, courtesy of Montclair Chef, the largest network of Superyacht chefs in the industry. Experienced Superyacht chef Chris Demaillet presents to you: Chocolate Lava Cake.
After so many articles shared with you here, it’s about time I offer some proof of my long-lived life as a chef. Today, I decided to give you a quick and easy recipe for a dessert that will “excuse my French” but rock your F***ing boat.
This is not a Michelin star recipe, and it doesn’t have to be. This is chocolate comfort, and once you put this on your menu, you’ll understand that a great dessert isn’t about how many tricks and techniques you can show off to your guests. It’s about food, flavors, and chocolate deliciousness.
It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s DELICIOUS!
This quick and easy recipe can be whipped (literally) in a few minutes, but it can also be made ahead for the next day or even the one after if your lovely guests decide to eat outside the boat at the very last minute—no worries!
In the restaurants I worked at, I used to prepare the mixture and set it in ramekins. While this works, it isn’t the easiest and most adequate for a yacht chef like you. The main problem with the ramekin recipe is that it doesn’t cook as fast, and you have to pop it out of the ramekin to serve, which offers more room for errors. So if you want a fast, easy, and successful method, here is my updated “stainless steel ring” approach in more detail:
Chocolate Volcano
Serves 6 people (6 round bottomless pastry rings or 6 ramekins):
- 3 eggs
- 3 yolks
- 75g flour
- 75g sugar
- 100g butter (real butter, obviously)
- 100g dark chocolate
Step 1:
Melt your chocolate and butter together, either in a water bath or in the microwave (not too long, it melts fast).
Step 2:
Whip your eggs and sugar until fluffy and white. They should at least double in size.
Step 3:
Sieve your flour into the mix, a little at a time, and fold it in. Do not use a whisk, as it will deflate the fluffy eggs.
Step 4:
Add a little of the flour-egg mix to your bowl with the butter-chocolate mix to start incorporating them and getting the textures closer.
Step 5:
Incorporate all the butter-chocolate mix into the flour mix. Finish by whisking slowly with a mixer. Use a silicone spatula to ensure the bottom part of the bowl is well mixed. You should now have a thick light brown chocolate mixture.
Step 6:
Fill a piping bag with your mixture and close off the opening by tying a knot or sealing it in the vacuum pack machine (just sealing, not vacuum packing).
Step 7:
Pour the mixture into 6 pre-buttered ramekins or 6 pre-buttered bottomless stainless steel pastry rings. The mix is so thick that it won’t run out from the bottom.
Step 8:
Save this tray in the fridge and take it out 30 minutes before serving. It will need 6-8 minutes at 180°C before it is cooked, perhaps a little more depending on the oven.
You can keep these on the tray for up to 20 minutes, and if you haven’t overcooked them in the first place, they will hold pretty well.
Serving them:
While it’s still hot, using a flat spatula (something that will slide under them while still hot on the pastry tray and in the metal rings), move the volcanoes from the pastry tray to your choice of serving plate (keep the ring around for support while moving them). Once on the plate, run a small knife around the inner circle of the ring to free the chocolate cake from its mold. You should feel a slightly hard shell on the outside, but the center should be gooey and runny. If you press on it, the chocolate lava should come up (hence the name, lava cake).
What’s the secret of a Chocolate Volcano or Lava Cake?
Well, it’s lava… To achieve this, make sure you keep the center almost raw. It will be warmed up because of the heat from the oven, but most of the inner mixture must stay raw to ooze out of the cooked chocolate shell.
Serve them and garnish them:
Serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or salted caramel sauce. I also once tried a sour cherry compote on top, and it was simply delicious! Alternatively, if you wanna fancy this up, you can add a piece of white chocolate in the center of the lava cake before baking. This will give you a beautiful black and white chocolate lava cake once cooked.
Have fun and please don’t overcook them, or they will look like a chocolate sponge from your local supermarket.
Wanna make this gluten-free?
Simply replace the wheat flour with corn flour, it works too!
Enjoy and feel free to tag me on Instagram once you’ve made them @superyachtchefchris
Montclair Chef specialises in Yacht Crew and Private Chef recruitment globally.
Connect with Chris Demaillet on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdemaillet/
Montclair Chef website: https://www.montclairchef.com/
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