Sunday 4 December 2005
Cooking solutions for busy students - Delicious ONE minute molten chocolate muffins
From Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess (page 179)
I am a busy student, but i like to eat fresh food and not ready-made-full-of-fat food. Am i the only one? I guess not.
So here i am starting a new series for busy people who don’t have time to cook but love to eat good food.
I had this idea about a month ago because of two people i deeply love :
1. David, my lovely boyfriend always asks me for some quick but good thing to cook. Recently he made super-easy vol-au-vent and the post is on its way.
2. Anna-Sarah, a great friend of mine that i can’t see often anymore but still adores her. Last week or so she told me she was going to eat (shall i tell you or not?) canned chili con carne (i’m not blamming her at all as it really proves WE don’t have time to cook - i even eat ready cooked chicken wings…).
So now let’s come to today’s solution.
I have been craving for moist chocolate cakes for weeks, but sadly i don’t have an oven so i thought “no baking till xmas…”.
But then i recalled that carrot cake recipe that must be made in a microwave. And thought : if a carrot cake can be made in a microwave, why other cakes couldn’t.
And i thought of that recipe Nigella gave for a “seven minute steamed chocolate pudding” in How to Eat. I tried it and throw it to the bin. It was dry and not chocolatey enough.
But today i decided all cakes can be made in a microwave so i tried Nigella’s Molten chocolate baby cakes from How to be a domestic goddess and the result was just stunning!
I baked them in muffin paper cases to prevent them from sticking as i noticed that microwave cooked cakes tends to stick.
Just a short note : don’t bake the muffins in classic muffin tins as they rise (even if they don’t have any baking powder in the dough).
I advise you to put the mufin liners in mugs and then to fill them to the top of the muffin cases.
Then cook for just ONE minute and that’s it.
Delicious ONE minute molten chocolate muffins
makes 8 to 10 muffins
80g soft unsalted butter (fanny: the recipe uses 50g but as microwave ovens tends to dry the food, i think that a little more fat helps the muffins staying moist)
350g best dark chocolate
150g caster sugar
4 large eggs
50g plain flour (fanny: i used a little more - 70g)
Melt the chocolate in the microwave and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar (tip: if your butter isn’t soft enough, a quick turn in the micrwave does miracles). Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Now add the flour and when all is smoothly combined scrape in the cooled chocolate, blending it to a smooth batter.
Divide between the 8 muffin cases each in one mug and put in the microwave.
“Bake” for one minute on high.










Sunday 4 December 2005
Fanny-you never cease to amaze me. What a wonderful idea–especially when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen–like summer in Arizona. These look wonderful! I have made some bread puddings in the microwave with success.Thanks.
e. said something sweet:Monday 5 December 2005
Creative. I like it!
Nic said something sweet:Monday 5 December 2005
Wow - that is easy, Fanny. Great thinking!
joey said something sweet:Tuesday 6 December 2005
Great idea Fanny :) Sweet and revolutionary ;) The muffin looks really moist!
Fanny said something sweet:Wednesday 7 December 2005
Hi Fran - i’d be so happy if you gave me the recipe for microwave bread puddings…
Hi e.a - simply thank you.
Hi Nic - yeah it’s so easy and ,trust me, so delicious.
Joey - and they are indeed. Actually they don’t taste like muffins : more like chocolate fondant. A true treat !
xoxo
Anonymous said something sweet:Thanx again
Fanny
Wednesday 7 December 2005
Ca a l’air MEGA BIG BON !!!Je sens l’odeur jusqu’ici !
Petite soeur de fanny
plum said something sweet:Sunday 11 December 2005
That’s amazing Fanny. I was just flicking through Barbara Kafka’s Microwave Gourmet yesterday and couldn’t believe all the things she does in a microwave and here you are thinking up all these things!
One quick question - do you cook each cake on its own for one minute?
Fanny said something sweet:Sunday 11 December 2005
Hi Plum,
actually when i bake myself some muffins i cook them one at the time as i’m living alone and can’t eat a dozen of muffins in one go. But i’m sure you can bake them all in one batch for 1 minute…
xoxo
Fanny