a Sea of Molten Lava Chocolate in a Volcano Cake Cup

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One last Valentine's Day Idea, but first, here's a quick recap of a couple of VERY easy (yet dramatic looking) V-D ideas...

Tuxedo
Clad
Chocolate
Covered
Strawberries!

Heart

Shaped 

Pizza

From 

Scratch

with 

Heart

Shaped

Pepperoni

OK, back to the deep rich Dark Chocolate Pudding nestled into that adorable little Chocolate Cake cup...

Shhh... This is a Julia Child, "Who's to Know" moment.  The presentation was supposed to be a Lava Cake.  You've probably seen them, little cakes, served warm.  When you slice into them the chocolate pours out like lava.  Fun, easy, dramatic and delicious!  The pudding is hot, the cake provides texture and the taste is deep rich and wonderful.

Well... Best laid plans and all that, my little cakes lost their tops when I tried to make the presentation.  The bottom of the cake (well top after you flip em) stuck to the bottom of my bowls, exposing my sea of chocolate.

I was bummed, irritated, pissed and greatly disappointed.  These were to be the capping dessert to a dinner party and I was looking forward to the dramatic lava cakes.

But then I looked at em...

If I ignored the idea of "What I wanted them to look like" and pondered what I actually had... They were PERFECT!

A sea of rich thick warm chocolate pudding (the Lava) resting comfortably inside the chocolaty volcano mountain.  No dramatic pouring out of the lava, but the entire volcano presentation.

I grew from having to live with it to actually loving this.  Easily converted to a Lava Cake, just be sure to spray the bottom of the bowls with non stick spray.  Easily one of my "Top Five" desserts!

Oh, and the presentation with the fork negative image in powdered sugar is very easy.  Only slight trick is to sprinkle small amounts at a time over a fork and carefully lifting the fork off the plate without disturbing the sugar.  Several small sprinkles instead of many large clumps.

OK... here's what I did...

4 ounces Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar (more for decoration)

2 whole Eggs

2 Egg Yolks

6 TBS Flour

DO NOT SPRAY THE BOTTOM OF A Mise en Place BOWL.  This way, the bottom of the bowl will force the chocolate cake to stick.  If you want the cakes to come out like traditional Lava Cakes, be sure to spray the bowls.

• Heat oven to 425 degrees
• Melt Chocolate squares and butter in the microwave on high for 1 minute, stir to combine (Add additional 15 second bursts if needed).
• Stir in sugar and slowly add eggs and egg yolks and flour, stir until well mixed.
• Pour into 4 1/2 cup Ramekins (I use the small Mise en Place Bowls).
• Bake for 12 minutes until the sides are firm.  Allow to rest for 1 minute, use a knife edge and loosen around the sides.
• Carefully invert onto a plate.  If need be, remove bits of the top to make an even mountains.  Serve warm!

Printable recipe...
For the time being...

Click the image to the left for a printable copy of this recipe. When the large image appears, right click the image and select "Copy Image". Then open a word document file, click paste and print. Prints on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper.

Soon, it will become a PDF file that you simply have to click and print.

Tuxedo Clad Chocolate Covered Strawberries

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HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY!

OOOOO... AAAAAAA... Give me 5 bucks.

That's the going rate for one of these little jewels.  Or just make a whole bunch for under $10 and they are MUCH easier than you would think.

About the only thing you might need is a small piping bag with a small tip to make the buttons and bow tie.  But actually, you can do the same thing with just a toothpick dipped in the chocolate.  Other than that, I temper my chocolate in a microwave, use the greens on the strawberries to hold onto them and a glass bowl to melt the chocolate in.

The "value" of these is more in the look and romance of the term, "Chocolate Covered Strawberries".  so really you can get just about the same effect if you use a regular Hersey Bar  for the chocolates.  Of course, if you are making these for a chocolate snob, you may want to spend a little more and get the good stuff.

Me, I compromised and bought 3 Ghiradelli chocolate bars.  They worked great for these.

3 bars at $2 each, a Box of a dozen strawberries on sale for $2.50.  Total cost for a dozen chocolate covered strawberries... $8.50... About 75 cents each!!!

A few tricks, first and most important, Temper your chocolate.  Chocolate is an emulsion.  Meaning it is a combination of ingredients that do not mix well.  Fortunately, if the chocolate you buy is kept under 90 degrees, the chocolate will melt without the butter fat separating.  If you have ever worked with chocolate and had a little pool of butter form around the edges, this is why.

Here's my illustrated tempering chocolate 101 tips...

TIP #1

Divide your chocolate into separate 1/4 of the chocolate you are going to melt.

Tip #2

Melt 3/4ths pf your chocolate slowly.  I prefer to melt mine in a microwave, bit if you go old school and melt in a double boiler, just be sure to NOT boil the water.  Ideally you will heat the chocolate to only @85 degrees or  slightly cooler.  I just break up my squares into a microwave safe bowl.  Set the timer to 30 seconds and the power level to 50% and stir.  Repeat until the chocolate is completely melted but not HOT.  the bowl will feel a tad warm, but never hot to the touch.

Tip #3

Chop the remaining 1/4 of the chocolate into small fine pieces.  Smaller the better.  The residual heat in the microwaved chocolate will melt the remaining amount.  It also cools the chocolate down a bit so that it will easily harden or set quickly when you start working.  Just stir in the remaining chocolate bits and keep stiring until the chocolate is melted.  It will feel noticeable thicker than the chocolate from the microwave.  It sets up pretty quick, so you will want to be ready to work.  If need be, a couple of seconds in the microwave (50% power) will soften the chocolate up.

OK, now that we have tempered chocolate, we are ready to work.  First thing is to make the white shirt of the tuxedo.  You do not need to coat the entire strawberry, just the front section.  Look closely at the photo below and you will see what I mean.

Before you dip the strawberries, it is important to dry them with a paper towel before dipping.

Also, there are a few people who like white chocolate, so I always dip a few all the way  and do not use any dark chocolate on them.  You can decorate those with just a quick flick of some melted chocolate on fork tips.  Or wait until you have the dark chocolate melted and flick a few lines of the other color...

And next, it's time to add the chocolate jacket to your tuxedo...

Once you have all of the white finished, temper the dark chocolate in the same way you did the white.

Not much trick, just be careful of how much white you cover up.  The white is the front, so dip the back of the strawberry first,  Angle the berry and roll to form a lapel over the white.  Then roll to the other side for the lapels.  They should form a V of white, surrounded by the dark.  You will also get nice straight lines.

If you have your chocolate tempered properly, the chocolate will set up pretty quick.  I hold mine for about a minute before resting them on parchment paper.  This way the strawberries have a hard crisp shell formed before I set them down.  This prevents the amateur looking glob of melted chocolate from forming after you set them down.

"I am only one man", meaning I was not able to photograph the button and bow tie accents while i was making these.  The chocolate can be added with a small piping bag and tip, or just as easily added a dot at a time with a toothpick.  It's easy, don't worry.

These are best if eaten within a day of when they are made.  Otherwise the strawberries start to shrink up inside and get mushy.

My white chocolate was stiffening up as I did the last one, but I thought it reminded me of my High School Prom with my ruffled shirt (back when disco was king!).

But i was able to get a nice plate full for my wife.  A few different looks for Chocolate Covered Strawberries... Each one under a dollar!

And always more appreciated when the love of your life knows they were hand made just for her!

Heart Shaped Pizza with Heart shaped Pepperoni

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If you need advice on making Home made... Dough or sauce or details about cooking time, temperature or any of the basics, take a look at PIZZA 101 (click the blue letters).

But here are the details for the Heart Shaped Pepperoni...

For Valentine's Day...

Keep scrolling down to see the EASY way to make heart shaped pepperoni...

Just that easy!