Chocolate Lava Cakes

This is from my Family Fun magazine - in the Let's Cook segment (cooking with your child). Makayla helped me for a while until I kept making mistakes and had to keep back tracking. When they were done they were AMAZING - they rivaled anything you could get in a restaurant!

1 stick + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1cup (6oz) bittersweet chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate bar broken in pieces

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 tsp granulated sugar

3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup flour

Big pinch of salt

1. Heat the oven to 450. Use a double boiler or create your own by filling a saucepan with an inch of water then fitting a heat-safe mixing bowl in the top of the pan. Combine the butter and the chocolate in the bowl over hot (but not boiling) water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes.

2. When it is completely melted, stir or whisk the chocolate mixture to fully combine the ingredients. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and stir in the vanilla extract. Set it aside.

3. While the chocolate mixture cools, butter six (8oz) ceramic ramekins or custard cups (the sides of each cup should measure no taller than 2 1/4 inches). Place 1 tsp of granulated sugar inside each one. Tip and turn the cups to coat them with the sugar, then set them aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk. Add the confectioners' sugar, and whisk again. The mixture will look lumpy at this point, but it will become smooth as more ingredients are added. Whisk in the chocolate mixture, then add the flour and salt, and stir with a wooden spoon until the batter is smooth.

5. Divide the batter among the 6 baking cups and set 5 of them aside. You'll use the sixth cake to conduct a trial run of the baking process.

6. Place your trial cake in the coolest part of the oven and bake it until the top is flat (not sunken or bulging), about 9 minutes. Be sure to monitor the baking closely so that the cake does not overbake and become set in the center.

7. Remove the trial cake from the oven - making not of your exact baking time - and place it on a pot holder to cool for 5 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the perimeter of the cake to loosen it from the baking cup. Place a dessert plate over the baking cup and, using the pot holder, invert the cake onto the plate. Wait 10-15 seconds, then carefully lift the cup off the plate. The cake should have a nice, round shape and be slightly sunken in the center. Use a knife to gently poke the middle of the ckae to find out if it's molten and lavalike beneath the surface.

8. Finish baking the cakes in 2 batches, adjusting your baking time up or down in one-minute increments as needed. Serve the cakes at room temperature (they need about 30 minutes to cool) with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We recommend splitting each cake into two servings, as they are quite rich. Makes 6 mini cakes.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I got this original recipe off of allrecipes and changed it a bit to fit my needs better.

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 Tbls ground flax seed
4 Tbls water
(you could use two eggs in place of the flax and water)
1 cup Succanot
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut or olive oil
3/4 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup water (could use milk, or almond milk)
3 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1 cup shredded carrots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. mix all dry ingredients together, then add the wet. Lastly add the zucchini and carrots and mixed until just moistened. Bake for 35-45 min or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Serve plain, or add this simple frosting recipe from Robyn, at greensmoothiegirl.com

1/2 cup powdered succanot (if you don't have powdered succanot just put succanot into a coffee grinder and make it)
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup water

My boys at this up like crazy! They loved it and I didn't mind so much letting them eat it!

Chocolate Cream Cheese cake or cupcakes

This is my favorite recipe

1 1/2 C Flour
1 C Sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C cocoa
1 tsp soda
1 C water
1/3 C oil
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Sift flour, sugar, salt, cocoa & soda and mix well. Add other ingredients. Mix well and fill cupcake papers 1/3 full.

FILLING:
1 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1- 6 oz pkg chocolate chips
1 egg
1/3 C sugar
(I add a tsp vanilla as well but the recipe doesn't call for it :D )

Mix well all ingredients and put 1 TBSP filling on top of cake mixture in each cupcake paper. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. Eat warm or chilled. Makes 1 1/2 dozen.

I also like to do this in a bundt pan and dump the cream cheese mixture in the center and so it is a surprise cake. When I was growing up my mom made a variation of this recipe and they were called treasure cupcakes because the cream cheese was hidden inside.