About this cake and its variants

This is one of my favorite recipes:

• The effort is very low and the result is amazing
• It is gluten free so it can accommodate guests that have trouble with it
• It can even be made lactose-free if butter is replaced with lactose-free butter or margarine and all the white chocolate is replaced by dark chocolate.

How to melt chocolate and butter

Bain-marie

Bain-marie is my favorite way to melt chocolate for most recipes as it makes it close to impossible to burn chocolate. Moreover this only requires a stove, water, a bowl and a small pot.

The process is the following: put some water (not too much) in a pot on the stove and find a bowl that is big enough to not fall in the pot or touch the water. Put the stuff that needs melting in the pot and set the hob to high-heat.

The steam condensing on the bottom of the bowl will guarantee that the temperature never goes above 100°C and that it doesn’t reach that temperature too quickly.

This process also allows you to stir and mix to make it easy to see when it is ready.

Note that if you don’t have a bowl big enough to not fall into your smallest pot you can always use a colander or some chopsticks to achieve the same result.

Microwave

Burning chocolate in the microwave is very easy and butter can easily splash around if this is not done properly.

The best way I have found is to set the microwave on high (usually 800-1000W) and put the non metallic bowl with the stuff you need to melt in it for 15 seconds. Then take it out, stir, and give it another 15’. Continue until mix is liquid. DO NOT put the spoon you used to stir in the microwave if it is a metallic or plastic spoon.

When is the cake ready?

This cake should form a nice crunchy crust and stay soft in the inside. This happens usually when at least 30’ have passed and there are cracks on the top that are both close to the sides and in the center. If you have a good sense of smell another hint is that you should start smelling a vague scent of burning, but the cake is not yet getting darker (the side will have a hint of burnt taste, this is intended).