I was sifting through Youtube in search of some inspiring dessert ideas when it dawned on me that 10,000 years ago, I spent a whole year learning how the tricks of a confectioner. However, when I changed my eating habits, I kind of lost the need for this knowledge and sort of forgot about it. Now that I’m wiser I can blend the worlds of health and dessert to create deviant treats.
In order to create the lava cake you need a great, healthy brownie foundation:
I adapted this one from chocolatecoveredkatie.com:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups black beans (1 15-oz can, drained and rinsed very well) (250g after draining)
2 tbsp cocoa powder (10g)
1/2 cup quick oats (40g) (See nutrition link below for substitutions)
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup pure maple syrup or agave or honey, I love honey (75g)
2 tbsp sugar (or omit and increase maple syrup to 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup coconut or vegetable oil (40g) (See nutrition link for substitution notes)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup chocolate chips (115-140g) (Not optional. Omit at your own risk.)
optional: more chips, for presentation
Instructions
Black Bean Brownies Recipe: Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients except chips in a good food processor, and blend until completely smooth. Really blend well. (A blender can work if you absolutely must, but the texture—and even the taste—will be much better in a food processor.) Stir in the chips, then pour into a greased 8x8 pan. Optional: sprinkle extra chocolate chips over the top. Cook the black bean brownies 15-18 minutes (I let mine go for a little longer about 20-25 minutes), then let cool at least 10 minutes before trying to cut. If they still look a bit undercooked, you can place them in the fridge overnight and they will magically firm up! Makes 9-12 brownies.
After preparing them you want to allow them to cool before you proceed. Find something circular like the bottom of a container or a large rimmed glass that you can use to trace out your cake disk with a knife. After you’ve done this, reserve them for later. You can eat the scraps of brownie or put them in the freezer to be used with something else.
Next you want to work on the top melting disk. This is probably the most difficult part especially if you haven’t worked with chocolate much. You want to temper about half a cup of dark chocolate chips. You only need to temper if you are using “real chocolate” [it will say cocoa butter in the ingredients]. This tastes the best. There are many ways to temper chocolate. Three that really work:
1. Tabling- is where the chocolate is melted to a certain extent and poured onto a flat surface and scraped back and forth allow the molecular structure of the chocolate to get back to its original form. It’s really effective and will give a shiny chocolate with a nice snap.
2. Double boiler – this method I like least because it’s easy to allow the chocolate to burn and it really requires the use of a candy thermometer to prevent that from happening.
3. Microwave- The easiest method is to use the microwave on high and place the chocolate into a microwave safe plastic bowl (glass and ceramic will maintain too much heat and possibly allow the chocolate to burn) on an initial 30 second burst.
After the first thirty seconds remove the bowl and stir the chocolate until it stops melting. If there are still chunks place the bowl back in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Take it out and stir again. If all the chocolate has melted, you now want to add in a few solid chocolate chips. This is to lower the temperature of the melted chocolate. Keep stirring, keep stirring, and keep stirring. Test the temperature of the chocolate with a sensitive spot on your hand. I have heard of the wrist but I use the back of my pinky. The chocolate should feel just slightly warm. You can also check the temperature with a candy thermometer. Dark chocolate should read 114-118F or 46-48C.
Now that that’s done, spread the chocolate out onto the counter-top with foil or wax paper underneath. Create a thin layer with a flat spatula or butter knife then you can let it chill at room temperature. If it’s pretty warm in your kitchen as it often is in the South you can let it set in the fridge.
After it’s started to firm up SLIGHTLY, use the same shape that you used to cut the brownies to cut a couple chocolate disks. Now place another sheet of wax paper on top of the chocolate and place a book on top. This is because chocolate has a tendency to warp as it resets itself and you want flat disks. You’ll know that the chocolate has set completely when it has a gloss and it has a nice snap sound. Just test the outside pieces.
The last part is the gooey, creamy chocolate ganache. I used:
1 tablespoon regular coffee
¼ cup dark chocolate morsels
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
½ cup coconut cream (You can get this by buying a can of coconut milk and allowing it to cool some in the fridge and the cream or fatty part will firm up at the top. Shake the can before you buy it. If you hear some swishing around it’s a bad can and won’t work.)
You don’t have to worry about tempering just mix it all in a bowl and heat in the microwave for about 30 second it should all melt after you stir it some. If not, avoid burning the chocolate by doing only another 10 second interval in the microwave. You do want it warm enough to melt the chocolate disk.
Return to the chocolate disks you cut earlier and take an even smaller circular shape to cut out the center of the brownie.
Stack two cake disks on top of each other.
Pour a bit of the ganache in the center of the hole.
Place the hardened chocolate disk on top.
Pour the ganache on top of the disk.
Watch the magic happen!
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