Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Hazelnut Chocolate Molten Cakes from La Tartine Gourmande

When I received "La Tartine Gourmande" by Béatrice Peltre, (or actually, when I picked up my mail and saw that I had received it!), I had been walking around Edgartown and decided to settle in for a coffee and a browsing of this gorgeous cookbook. To be honest, I spent the next hour sipping on my Mocha Latte and reading this book. I was enthralled by her words and the colors, styling, and simply delicious food made me hungry for more than a coffee. 

Béatrice Peltre is the author of the award-winning blog, LaTartineGourmande.com and this cookbook is  living proof that we eat through our eyes. Béatrice captures the brightness in fruits and vegetables, with the earthy tones of whole grains, making you just want to reach into the book and have a bite!

As her contents read, her recipes are "to inspire", and as I flipped through, I left a post-it in every recipe I wanted to try. More than half I can assure you. So how was I going to narrow down a recipe to make for the blog? I asked my husband of course! Ultimately it came down to the Beet and Quinoa Tabouli (which you can check out the link and see how Brian from A Thought for Food did it!) and these Hazelnut Chocolate Molten Cakes. Yeah, the quinoa didn't really stand a chance against warm, unctuous chocolate.

With the permission of the folks over at Roost Books in Boston, I'm sharing this recipe with you below. I've already made it three times (small batches), and one of the times used Almond Meal instead of Hazelnut flour, and it still worked out beautifully! Scroll below the recipe and enter to win a copy of "La Tartine Gourmande!


Hazelnut Chocolate Molten Cakes with Fleur de Sel
Excerpted from LA TARTINE GOURMANDE by Béatrice Peltre, (c) 2012.  
Published by arrangement with Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.  

Makes 4 to 6 cakes, depending on the size
You will need: four ¾-cup ramekins or six 2/3-cup ramekins

6 tablespoons (85 g; 3 oz) unsalted butter, plus more for the molds
Flour of your choice, to dust the molds
4 oz (115 g) dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
¼ cup (50 g; 1 ¾ oz) blond cane sugar
½ teaspoon fleur de sel
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons (22 ½ g; ¾ oz) hazelnut or millet flour
1 oz (30 g) hazelnut-flavored chocolate, cut into 4 pieces
Confectioners’ sugar, to dust


Preheat the oven to 450ºF (230ºC). Butter the ramekins, then coat them with flour and tap the excess out. Melt the dark chocolate and butter in a bain-marie (see Basic Cooking Techniques, page 27, for instructions).

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs with the sugar and fleur de sel and beat until the batter has tripled in volume and is light and pale in color; this will take about 8 minutes. Add the vanilla and fold in the flour, then the melted chocolate-butter mixture, making sure to keep the batter light each time.

Divide three-quarters of the batter among the ramekins and add one piece of hazelnut chocolate at the center of each mold. Cover with the rest of the batter. At this point, if you want, you can refrigerate the cakes until you are ready to bake and serve them. If you do, bring them back to room temperature before baking.

Place the cakes in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes (if you bake 6 cakes, they tend to need 10 minutes only); remember that the less time you bake the cakes, the more gooey the inside will be. Remove from the oven and leave them to rest for 5 minutes. Flip them swiftly onto dessert plates or serve them directly in the ramekins. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve. A scoop of whipped cream or ice cream served with the cakes is a nice touch too.




"La Tartine Gourmande" by Beatrice Peltre Giveaway!
To enter, visit La Tartine Gourmande blog and leave a link to your favorite recipe there. The comment is the official entry, there is no purchase necessary, void where prohibited. One (1) winner will be chosen randomly. Prize will be shipped by publisher WORLDWIDE. The contest ends Sunday March 11th, 2012 at 11:59 pm Eastern. The winner will be announced on Monday March 12th.

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