Molten Lava Cakes

It seems like a long, long time ago that Jeremiah and I lived on the little island of Molokai. We rented a house on the west end of the island, about 30 minutes from town. There was a little town, Maunaloa, not too far from the house. The Lodge was in Maunaloa. Oh how I loved The Lodge. It had a little restaurant that overlooked the prairie (yep, a prairie on a tropical island, weird, right?) and you could see the island of Oahu in the distance. About once a week Jeremiah would take me to The Lodge for dessert at sunset. We would share coffee and a lava cake with mac nut ice cream while we watched the sunset. Sigh, what sweet, sweet days those were. To this day lava cakes are our favorite dessert. This is our favorite recipe, and believe me, I've tried a lot of them!

Ingredients:

4oz semi-sweet baking chocolate

1/2 cups butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

6 T flour

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425. Spray 4 custard cups with Pam and set on a cookie sheet. Melt chocolate and butter - you can do this on the stove, in the microwave, whatever. Stir in the sugar. Whisk in the eggs and egg yolks (make sure the butter/chocolate mixture isn't too hot!). Stir in the flour. Divide the mixture between the cups. Bake for 13-14 minutes until the sides are firm and the center is soft. Let stand 1 minute. Invert the cakes onto a plate and serve with your choice of toppings. Whipped cream, ice cream, chocolate or caramel syrup. Yum!

Aunt Debbie's Chocolate Chip Muffins

For as long as I can remember, every Christmas family get together in Colorado has been marked with my Aunt Debbie's jumbo muffins and chocolate croissants. My favorite, hands down, is not the Almond Poppyseed muffins, the Cherry Chip muffins, or even the chocolate croissants. It's her Chocolate Chip Muffins. And I love, I mean LOVE, her Chocolate Chip Muffins. They are every bit dessert but baked as a muffin so as not to instill as much guilt to the eater. And they are just gooooood. I baked mine for a neighbor who just delivered her first baby, a little girl named Laura. But let me tell you, I wasn't the least bit sad when only 8 of the 12 muffins fit into the basket I had to give her.

INGREDIENTS:
Jumbo muffin pan
Jumbo baking cups
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 box instant chocolate pudding
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water
4 eggs
1 bag miniature chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Add cake mix, pudding, 1/4 cup flour, 1 cup water, 1/2 vegetable oil, and four eggs to bowl. Mix on high for 3 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Place batter inside baking cups and bake at 360 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool and store in airtight container or freeze individually. Makes 12 jumbo muffins.

Texas Sheet Cake...

..makes the world go round. I love this stuff. This was my birthday cake of choice as a kid. And it's not even noon and I've already had a piece. If you have never had this you must, must try it!

TEXAS SHEET CAKE:
Bring to a boil, then cool slightly:
2 sticks butter
1 cup water
4 T. cocoa

...

2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk (or plain ol' milk with a teeny tiny bit of vinegar)
2 cups flour
1 t. vanilla

Beat eggs, add sugar and continue beating until creamy. Add remaining ingredients alternately with above mixture which has been slightly cooled. Pour into 11x13 (or a standard jelly roll pan, that's what I used) greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

ICING:
Bring to a boil:
1 stick of butter
6 T. milk
2 1/2 T. cocoa

Remove from heat and add:
1 box powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix well. Ice cake while it is hot. Eat as much cake as you can while it's still Friday and you don't have to think about points or calories or whatever.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

This should really be called chocolate cake, with a hint of banana. But since most of us probably would eat this for breakfast, let's stick with banana bread.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
3 Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

Paula Deen's Flourless Chocolate Cake

Gluten free but not calorie free. Dieters beware.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 sticks of butter

1 1/4 cups of sugar

6 eggs, separated

DIRECTIONS:

Place some parchment paper on the bottom of a springform pan so it hangs over. Close the latch to hold the paper in place and secure the sides. You'll also want to spray the paper with some non-stick cooking spray just to be safe. After your pan is ready, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Separate 6 large eggs. Yolks in one bowl and egg whites in another. Set aside.Combine chocolate chips and 2 sticks of butter. Melt in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth. Whisk in 1 1/4 cups sugar until combined. Then add the six egg yolks to the chocolate and sugar mixture, one at a time, whisking after each addition. Now, in a medium bowl, beat the six egg whites on high with an electric mixer. Beat it for several minutes until stiff peaks form. Then, gently fold your egg white mixture into the melted chocolate mixture until combined. Pour it in your pan and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. It will rise pretty high in the oven, but when you take it out to cool, it will fall. And fall hard. Yay! Let it cool one hour on the counter and then for at least four hours in the refrigerator before you release it from the springform pan.

Surprise 30th Birthday!

Nothing says surprise quite like a three layer raspberry chocolate cake! This mack daddy is the birthday cake of a dear friend of mine who turned 30 today! Alternating layers of chocolate and raspberry preserves are covered in a homemade chocolate buttercream and chocolate ganache. Add some fresh raspberries and we've got ourselves a party!