Mocha Molten Lava Cake with Riesling Poached Pear
By: Joelle B. - Chicago, IL - 2017 Recipe Contest Submission
"This recipe was inspired to a recent trip to the food capital of the world, Italy! My best friend and I were fortunate to spend a day in the kitchen with a chef at his country home in Tuscany. The butter from his farm is forever impressed on my heart!"
This is a Door County Coffee Fan recipe. It was not made in the kitchens of the Door County Coffee Café.
Ingredients
Featured ingredient: Elite Espresso Coffee 10 oz. Bag Ground
Cake:
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- Non-stick baking spray, for spraying ramekins
- 1 stick butter
- 1/4 c bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 c semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 c powdered sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- 4 Tbsp. brewed Door County Espresso
- 1/2 c all-purpose flour, sifted
Pear Topping:
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- 2 ripened Bosc pears, halved, seeded and peeled
- 1/4 bottle of Riesling
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
*Note: Prepare pear topping first. While pear syrup is cooking, prep cake ingredients and gather cooking utensils.
Pear Topping:
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- In a large saucepan, add Riesling, water, sugar, vanilla extract over medium-high heat. Allow mixture to come to a boil, dissolving the sugar.
- Add the pear halves to the pot and reduce heat to medium
- Simmer about 5 minutes, or until pears fork easily inserts into pear
- Remove pears from pot, and allow them to cool on a large plate
- With liquids remaining in the pot, increase heat to high allowing mixture to form syrup, about 10-12 minutes then remove saucepan from heat
- Once pears are cooled, dice pears into bite-sized chunks
Cake:
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- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
- Generously spray 4 ramekins with non-stick spray
- In a large microwave proof bowl, place both butter and chocolate in dish. Place in microwave on high until butter is melted, 45-60 seconds
- Remove bowl from microwave and stir with spatula. Return to microwave for 10-15 seconds
- Remove bowl from microwave, all morsels should melted. Combine mixture using whisk
- Using spatula, add sugar to mixture, combining thoroughly
- Add both whole eggs, egg yolks, extracts and espresso
- Grab whisk one last time and combine mixture
- Lastly, add flour (final ingredient) and stir with spatula
- Use ice cream scoop to evenly add batter to each of the 4 ramekins and bake for 10-12 minutes
- The cakes will rise with the sides of the cake becoming firm but you want to achieve a soft, wobbly center
- Allow to cool 1-2 minutes
- Use butter knife to gently separate edges of cakes from ramekins and flip cakes onto plates
- Top with chopped pear and syrup
- Serve immediately and enjoy