fondente al cioccolato

Literally, "melting to the chocolate," this recipe for delicious little chocolate cakes.  I'm not a huge dessert fan, but I highly enjoyed this.  Here's what you'll need:

For the creme:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar

For the cakes:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 7 oz. bittersweet chocolate (preferably 70% cacao, cut into small pieces)
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• Cocoa powder for dusting

To make the creme, heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles appear along the edges.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.  Meanwhile in a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow (5 minutes or so, doubles as a killer forearm exercise).  Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture and continue stirring.  Next, pour the contents back into the saucepan and place over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, or about 5-10 minutes.  Pour the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and add the vanilla extract.  Put some plastic wrap directly on the surface of the mixture and place in the refrigerator to cool.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Grease up a muffin pan (this makes about 6-8 muffin-sized cakes) and flour generously, tapping out the excess flour.

To make the cakes, combine the heavy cream and chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over (not touching!) barely simmering water, and heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate melts and the mixture is uniform.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow (same as before).  Pour in the chocolate mixture while whisking constantly (you'll need all four hands for this part).

Divide the mixture into the muffin cups and bake until the top of each cake is firm to the touch (10-15 minutes).  The center of each cake will still be liquid.  Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.

To serve, simply place the cakes on a plate and spoon some of the creme alongside each cake.  Done, and done.