Chocolate Sea Salt Molten Cakes

Rarely do I get so excited about food that I forget to take pictures. I can even say that truthfully as I sit here 5 months pregnant writing this.

You'd kind of think you'd see the "Molten" part of these cakes right? You'd think. Well, I pulled these out of the oven about an hour or two before the Husband got home. Big mistake on my part. Did taking a picture cross my mind once? Nope. Did I think maybe it wouldn't stay "molten" forever? Haha. Did the fact that we have a food blog and I'd want to do a post on these occur to me? Not a chance.  One bite of these delicious little bites of Heaven and all was lost to me (I blame Pregnancy Brain). Thankfully, when the Husband arrived he thought to take a picture or two. Unfortunately, the "molten" wasn't as liquidy any more, but the taste was just as divine.

 

In all seriousness though, I really can't speak highly enough of these gems. They were beyond easy and quick to make. And the result? Rich, dense and fudge-like cakes. The sea salt mixed into the batter amplifies the chocolate to the max. And the sea salt sprinkled on top of each cake adds an out of this world crunch and saltiness that plays so well with the sweetness of the chocolate.

For the sea salt in the batter I used a regular fine grain sea salt. For the salt on top of the cakes, I used a very coarse Kona sea salt that my parents brought back from Hawaii for the Husband.

As for the recipe, it comes from the same blog, SugarLaws  that the Husband found his recipe for Whole Wheat Pasta. 

A few notes:

- I didn't actually "butter" the muffin pan, I used non-stick spray.  I did still dust with sugar. 

- Watch these very carefully. The recipe says bake 9-10 minutes, but I pulled these out at 8 1/2 minutes and I think if I had pulled them out at 8 they might have stayed "molten" longer.

-  If you don't have a bottle of Kahlua on hand, don't get out and buy a regular sized bottle if you aren't a Kahlua drinker. A mini bottle/airplane bottle will more than do the trick.

Chocolate Sea Salt Molten Cakes

9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

6 tbsp butter, softened

3 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp Kahlua

1/8 tsp sea salt, plus additional for the tops of the cakes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter 12 muffin tins, and dust the insides with sugar.

On a double-boiler, melt chocolate until smooth, stirring to ensure everything melts. Set aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, and Kahlua. Add the eggs, one at a time, until all of them are incorporated. Beat in the chocolate and flour and pour the batter into the muffin tins, about 3/4 full. Sprinkle sea salt over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 9-10 minutes, allow to cool, and turn cakes out onto serving plates. Serve.

Makes twelve mini cakes.