November 4th was a day for double celebration. Hope in the form of a new President-elect, Barack Obama, and a renewed sense of confidence in my country were in abundance yesterday evening. Another noteworthy celebration was Andrew’s birthday. About 15 of his friends and I gathered at a bar that blanketed us with the election happenings on screens that covered entire walls of the place. Once Ohio was taken by Obama, we knew, and the celebrating started in earnest.

The lava-cake became a sweet compliment for an already sweet night. Hope has won.

In the spirit of the election and eating as art, I ask you: what do you think hope taste like?

The Birthday-Election-Lava-Magnificence-Cake
Step one: Make the Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
8oz. really good semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Warm the cream and put the chopped chocolate in; stir until melted. Remove from heat and put into another bowl to cool. Stir occasionally as it cools

Step two: Make the Devil’s Food Cake
I perused the internet for this recipe since I am always trying to find an even better recipe of what I have already tried. This one was pretty good though, I must say.

1/2 cup butter
3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease and flour one 9×13 inch pan or two 9 inch round pans.
2. In a small pan melt the butter or margarine with the unsweetened chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Cream together the sugar and the eggs until light in color. Add the chocolate mixture to the eggs and temper mixture by beating well (so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs!) Add 1 cup boiled water (still warm) and blend well. Mixture will be very liquid.
4. Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture to the chocolate mixture and blend well.
5. Mix together the vinegar and the milk and stir into the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan(s).
6. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cake divides well for filling with mousse, or ganache, or black forest fillings.
   
7. Let cool on racks completely.

Step 3: Make the Chocolate Anglaise found here

3 cups whole milk

1. In a 3- to 4-quart pan over medium heat, cook milk, cream, and sugar, stirring often, until mixture begins to steam and bubble around edges of pan, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Put egg yolks in a bowl and whisk in about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture, then pour egg mixture back into pan and whisk to blend. Cook, stirring with a flexible, heatproof spatula over medium-low heat until custard reaches 160° on an instant-read thermometer and thickens noticeably, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla.

3. Pour through a fine strainer set over a bowl. Set the bowl of custard in a larger bowl of ice and water for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until mixture cools. Cover with a layer of plastic wrap pressed against surface of custard. Chill at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

Other crème anglaise uses. Use this versatile custard in any number of desserts. Some of our favorite options:

In a tart: Pour into a baked pastry shell and top with raspberries.

In a layer cake: Spread the sauce between each layer, then frost with your favorite icing.

In chocolate cream pie: Pour into a prepared cookie-crumb crust and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

In a parfait: Layer the sauce with vanilla crème anglaise (or vanilla pudding), almonds, and crushed meringues or shortbread cookies.

As a pudding: Simply serve as is, with a bit of whipped cream.

Step 4: putting the Lava-Cakes together

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and fill a rectangular pan(s) with water. Place into the
preheating oven.
2. Crumble up one, or both of the cake rounds
3. Combine with the Chocolate Anglaise, mix well so the cake is not chunky but thick as a batter
4. Put into ramikins, place the ramikins into the water bath preparation in the oven
5. Scoop a tablespoon of the ganache into the centers of the ramikins, cover with cake/anglaise
batter.
6. Bake for about 20 mins until they puff up a bit.
7. Voi la, Election-Birthday-Lava-Magnificense.

If you only used one cake round like I did, you can use the left overs to make a one layer cake. I sliced the layer in half, used up the rest of the Anglaise in the middle, then frosted it with the rest of the Ganache. Yum!