CHOCOLATE

Well, it's official, I've made my first recipe and luckily it was pretty simple. I also got good reviews from the fam. They're my official taste testers so it's probably good that I've started out on a high note so I haven't scared them off from trying my treats. I used a recipe from the book How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson which is my current baking bible. I also had the supervision of my mother who I drive insane but constantly asking does this look right? I also have the help of my mothers kitchen/ pantry/ fridge which is much more stocked than mine. The other day I asked my mom to pick a number between 1 and 300 to figure out what recipe I was going to make first, she decided on 179 which was mini molten chocolate cakes. I was missing a few things to make the recipe, mostly the chocolate and little custard cups to bake the cakes in. I finally gathered everything and since tonight was family dinner I decided to go ahead and try it. I figured out how to make a double boiler to melt the chocolate, thanks google, and foraged on. I went ahead and made the batter and stuck it in the fridge because you have to serve the cakes right out of the oven to keep the molten part molten. Earlier we had noticed that we only had four custard cups and the recipe makes 6 and there were five of us at dinner. Therefore we used a little bowl and put the batter for two cups in one and decided that my sisters boy friend, who has a large appetite, could have the big one. I just popped the big one in the over for a few minutes longer than the others. I was super proud of my problem solving skills. I make this decision sound easy but I was totally all over the place and panicking.  I preheated the oven but had to get up in the middle of dinner to put the cakes in, because the only cook for 12 minutes. The hard part came after I got the cakes out of the oven. How to get these cakes out of the glass cups into a bowl right after they've come out of a 400 degree oven. Answer: a lot of creativity and with some helping hands. I finally got them all served and even though they were SUPER RICH (thanks 12 oz of bittersweet chocolate) they were good. Everyone in the fam liked them although they were a little hard to finish thanks to the richness. It was basically a brownie you don't cook all the way through. Overall a pretty easy recipe and a good first try.

Right outta the oven and after the difficult flip into the bowl

With some cool whip and partially eaten so you can see the molten center.

High points:
- Learning how to create/ use a double boiler
- Having my family like the cakes

Low points:
- Panic and over analysis (story of my life)
- Getting the damn cakes out of the custard cups

Remember for next time:
- Vanilla ice cream!
- Take some better pictures