41 thoughts on “Problems and Questions: Gooey Chocolate Cakes”
This isn’t a problem or a question, just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve moved my blog to http://www.mzkitchen.com. Would someone be kind enough to update my link in the TWD blogroll? Thank you!
i made mine last night, but i made them in mini muffin tins so i’d have enough to bring to work. the chocolate didn’t sink down too much, so it was oozing out the bottom, but nonetheless, everyone LOVED them and they truly are delicious. Take Dorie’s advice though, and get some ice cream to eat with these!!!
Mini muffin tins… what a great idea!
No P or Q here (yet) I just came by to gloat because I won (part of) the contest over at Baking Delights!
Wooo! Another Dorie book for me!
Ok. Gloat over. ;-)
I made mine in smaller tins as well but I think I cooked them too long – they were gooey but not melting
Mine came out tasty but for some reason kind of overflowed over the top…not truly overflowed…but came out looking a little muffin-y. I did not overcook so I’m not sure why that happened but at least they tasted good!
I am making them tonight, kinda nervous!
I made mine last night and they came out GREAT!! This was an awesome recipe~ THANKS!!
I was sad that I had no ice cream, that is my only regret…
I made mine last night, but messed up. I forgot to flour the muffin tins. The cakes were delicious, but didn’t have a gooey center. I think that was because of the missing flour from the tins. So I will try again tonight.
BTW, I made some cake batter ice cream to go with the cakes. So good!
I’ll be making mine tomorrow with my five year old niece! Should be quite interesting. This will be my first attempt baking with a 5 yr. old. Any suggestions? :)
Make sure to take a peek at my post for this week, there will probably be some great shots of a flour covered child! I may also catch her sneaking a taste of butter (for some reason she loves the stuff). :)
lorib00 – Set up all the ingredients pre-measured/chopped/separated beforehand in little prep or salad bowls. Then, let her do a lot of the mixing or adding as you read off the steps to her. While 5 year olds can be wicked smart, her attention span and reading skills might not be up to the task of all the measuring, etc.
Made mine last night with the help of my sister, it was nice to have the extra set of hands. They were delicious, but not gooey/molten at all. The center was cooked through. Not sure what I did wrong, maybe the muffin cups weren’t deep enough? Either way they tasted delicious. Just had another for breakfast, lol! I’m interested to see if anyone gets the gooey center effect.
Did anyone make the batter ahead of time and then bake them later? I’d like to get it all ready now and bake them at a friend’s house later on tonight. Any thoughts?
Thanks Katrina!
Okay so I just made mine and while they taste awesome and I followed the recipe to the letter, I didnt get the gooey center that I wanted. Will try again tmw or Monday.
Okay so I ended up baking them in the afternoon. But mine are super gooey and I’m paranoid that they aren’t cooked enough, because everyone else is saying theirs aren’t gooey.
I know my egg yolk wasn’t at room temp, I accidentally killed the warm one when transferring it to the bowl and had to get a new one from the fridge right away. Maybe that affected gooeyness? Or maybe 13 minutes was too long to bake it? I wish there was a picture in the cookbook so I had an idea of what it is “supposed” to look like.
I just made mine tonight when we had my parents over for dinner. I popped them in the oven as soon as we were finished eating and served them with our coffee!
I used a blackberry sauce rather than ice cream. It was a nice compliment!
They were certainly gooey and delicious and I do believe everyone loved them!
Just another success with Dorie story… ;-)
I made my cakes today and they turned out great! Very easy. Don’t expect them to turn out like a lava cake, but they are very gooey and great with ice cream!
I’m making these today. Just got back from a vacation of way too much eating. I think this will be my last hurrah before I start eating healthy again.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I just tried the recipe for the second time. I remembered to flour the muffin tins. I even cut 2 minutes off of the baking time. Still no gooey chocolate, but the cake was very moist just as the first time.
I made the cakes twice – the first time I cooked for 13 minutes, and they were definitely not gooey. The second time I cut a minute off of the baking time, and they were much better – gooey, although not runny.
Carmella, do you have an oven thermometer? Maybe your oven’s thermostat is off. That’s all I can think of.
Maybe that’s what it is. They taste excellent as they are. I just want to see the goo! lol.
Yeah our oven definitely cooks hot, I need to measure it with a thermometer, I estimate it’s about 25 degrees off, but maybe it’s more than that! In her description of the cakes she calls it both “molten” and “lava”, so that’s what I think it’s supposed to look like. I’m excited to see if anyone got that effect!
My cakes were *very* gooey. It took a couple tries, though.
I baked mine in ramekins. I used one ramekin as a “test.” Nine minutes (four minutes less than the listed time) was perfect: the outside has just barely crusted and the inside was, well, gooey like a lava cake.
Also, instead of sprinkling chocolate on top, I bunched a pile of chopped chocolate on the batter, then pushed it in slightly (not all the way).
Even if your oven temperature isn’t actually off, it might cycle widely, and that could cause problems. I recently discovered that my oven varies as much as 50 degrees over the course of a cycle, which explained a lot of the baking problems I was having. Since then, I’ve been knocking the temperature back by 25-50 degrees when I’m baking (I don’t usually bother when I’m cooking), and everything seems to be coming out a lot better. My cakes were gooey and delicious!
I made mine tonight and they were fabulous! They weren’t runny like a lava cake, but absolutely gooey in the middle. I actually prefer that, so I was beyond thrilled with the outcome! Definitely perfect with ice cream :)
I made mine tonight. I’m not a chocolate fan so I didn’t like them, but husband LOVED them. I think he had them all eaten within a couple hours.
They weren’t anything like I expected. It was just a chocolate cake to me. Maybe I’ll give them another try one day and shorten the cooking time.
I am curious if anyone knows the type of chocolate powder that Dorie uses…either regular cocoa, or Dutched Processed? Thanks!
good question KN on the use of dutch processed or regular (like Hershey’s)!
i’m also curious to hear if anyone used 6 cups of a 12-cup muffin tin and had trouble getting the cakes out in one piece. i’m debating between using that or 6 individual 4oz ceramic ramekins.
thoughts?
KN and smellslikehome – I used Hersheys cocoa and a silicone muffin tin (it holds 6) and everything turned out great…just my thoughts.
I used 6 cups in a 12 muffin tin and had no problem getting them out. Popped right out for me.
I used 6 cups of a regular tin also, no problem either!
I slacked off. Well actually I didnt. It was 66 out here today, so I spent a good bit of the afternoon outside with the kids. Ill get to it tonight after hockey or tomorrow am.
I know it’s last minute, but maybe my tips will help another TWD’er out there. I baked mine in tall, 6 oz ramekins because I read the comments and wondered if shallow muffin tins were responsible for the cooked interiors. I also took a minute off my baking time, and they turned out perfect, with a lava-like middle sandwiched by the cake. Also, if you spray and dust with flour as recommended in the recipe, the cakes will fly out of the dish and it was impossible to transfer it to a pretty plate for pictures. (I ate it off the wax paper!) So, for the next one, I had to overturn the ramekin directly onto the plate I used for pictures. Good luck!
well, um, i totally broke all the rules making mine just now…forgot to flour the pan…cut the recipe in half and …drum roll please….used m&ms as the chocolate!! I didn’t feel like going out in the rain to get chocolate, so I used what I had! they just came out of the oven and look fun, so we’ll see. Dorie did say to use what I like…don’t know if she meant m&ms, though!
I just finished mine. One word: choco-licious!
just finished mine and they came out delicious. i have an oven thermometer and it was at 400 but thirteen minutes was too long. it was soft inside, but not gooey lava. next time, i’d do only ten minutes, max.
I made mine last night. It’s an easy recipe to throw together at the last minute. We loved them.
Thanks, Sarah—good to know that the natural cocoa works fine.
I tried the cakes for a third time and finally got the gooey center. I lowered the temp to 375 and baked them for about 9 minutes. I posted the results on my blog.
Tuesdays with Dorie 
This isn’t a problem or a question, just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve moved my blog to http://www.mzkitchen.com. Would someone be kind enough to update my link in the TWD blogroll? Thank you!
i made mine last night, but i made them in mini muffin tins so i’d have enough to bring to work. the chocolate didn’t sink down too much, so it was oozing out the bottom, but nonetheless, everyone LOVED them and they truly are delicious. Take Dorie’s advice though, and get some ice cream to eat with these!!!
Mini muffin tins… what a great idea!
No P or Q here (yet) I just came by to gloat because I won (part of) the contest over at Baking Delights!
Wooo! Another Dorie book for me!
Ok. Gloat over. ;-)
I made mine in smaller tins as well but I think I cooked them too long – they were gooey but not melting
Mine came out tasty but for some reason kind of overflowed over the top…not truly overflowed…but came out looking a little muffin-y. I did not overcook so I’m not sure why that happened but at least they tasted good!
I am making them tonight, kinda nervous!
I made mine last night and they came out GREAT!! This was an awesome recipe~ THANKS!!
I was sad that I had no ice cream, that is my only regret…
I made mine last night, but messed up. I forgot to flour the muffin tins. The cakes were delicious, but didn’t have a gooey center. I think that was because of the missing flour from the tins. So I will try again tonight.
BTW, I made some cake batter ice cream to go with the cakes. So good!
I’ll be making mine tomorrow with my five year old niece! Should be quite interesting. This will be my first attempt baking with a 5 yr. old. Any suggestions? :)
Make sure to take a peek at my post for this week, there will probably be some great shots of a flour covered child! I may also catch her sneaking a taste of butter (for some reason she loves the stuff). :)
lorib00 – Set up all the ingredients pre-measured/chopped/separated beforehand in little prep or salad bowls. Then, let her do a lot of the mixing or adding as you read off the steps to her. While 5 year olds can be wicked smart, her attention span and reading skills might not be up to the task of all the measuring, etc.
Made mine last night with the help of my sister, it was nice to have the extra set of hands. They were delicious, but not gooey/molten at all. The center was cooked through. Not sure what I did wrong, maybe the muffin cups weren’t deep enough? Either way they tasted delicious. Just had another for breakfast, lol! I’m interested to see if anyone gets the gooey center effect.
Did anyone make the batter ahead of time and then bake them later? I’d like to get it all ready now and bake them at a friend’s house later on tonight. Any thoughts?
Thanks Katrina!
Okay so I just made mine and while they taste awesome and I followed the recipe to the letter, I didnt get the gooey center that I wanted. Will try again tmw or Monday.
Okay so I ended up baking them in the afternoon. But mine are super gooey and I’m paranoid that they aren’t cooked enough, because everyone else is saying theirs aren’t gooey.
I know my egg yolk wasn’t at room temp, I accidentally killed the warm one when transferring it to the bowl and had to get a new one from the fridge right away. Maybe that affected gooeyness? Or maybe 13 minutes was too long to bake it? I wish there was a picture in the cookbook so I had an idea of what it is “supposed” to look like.
I just made mine tonight when we had my parents over for dinner. I popped them in the oven as soon as we were finished eating and served them with our coffee!
I used a blackberry sauce rather than ice cream. It was a nice compliment!
They were certainly gooey and delicious and I do believe everyone loved them!
Just another success with Dorie story… ;-)
I made my cakes today and they turned out great! Very easy. Don’t expect them to turn out like a lava cake, but they are very gooey and great with ice cream!
I’m making these today. Just got back from a vacation of way too much eating. I think this will be my last hurrah before I start eating healthy again.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I just tried the recipe for the second time. I remembered to flour the muffin tins. I even cut 2 minutes off of the baking time. Still no gooey chocolate, but the cake was very moist just as the first time.
I made the cakes twice – the first time I cooked for 13 minutes, and they were definitely not gooey. The second time I cut a minute off of the baking time, and they were much better – gooey, although not runny.
Carmella, do you have an oven thermometer? Maybe your oven’s thermostat is off. That’s all I can think of.
Maybe that’s what it is. They taste excellent as they are. I just want to see the goo! lol.
Yeah our oven definitely cooks hot, I need to measure it with a thermometer, I estimate it’s about 25 degrees off, but maybe it’s more than that! In her description of the cakes she calls it both “molten” and “lava”, so that’s what I think it’s supposed to look like. I’m excited to see if anyone got that effect!
My cakes were *very* gooey. It took a couple tries, though.
I baked mine in ramekins. I used one ramekin as a “test.” Nine minutes (four minutes less than the listed time) was perfect: the outside has just barely crusted and the inside was, well, gooey like a lava cake.
Also, instead of sprinkling chocolate on top, I bunched a pile of chopped chocolate on the batter, then pushed it in slightly (not all the way).
Even if your oven temperature isn’t actually off, it might cycle widely, and that could cause problems. I recently discovered that my oven varies as much as 50 degrees over the course of a cycle, which explained a lot of the baking problems I was having. Since then, I’ve been knocking the temperature back by 25-50 degrees when I’m baking (I don’t usually bother when I’m cooking), and everything seems to be coming out a lot better. My cakes were gooey and delicious!
I made mine tonight and they were fabulous! They weren’t runny like a lava cake, but absolutely gooey in the middle. I actually prefer that, so I was beyond thrilled with the outcome! Definitely perfect with ice cream :)
I made mine tonight. I’m not a chocolate fan so I didn’t like them, but husband LOVED them. I think he had them all eaten within a couple hours.
They weren’t anything like I expected. It was just a chocolate cake to me. Maybe I’ll give them another try one day and shorten the cooking time.
I am curious if anyone knows the type of chocolate powder that Dorie uses…either regular cocoa, or Dutched Processed? Thanks!
good question KN on the use of dutch processed or regular (like Hershey’s)!
i’m also curious to hear if anyone used 6 cups of a 12-cup muffin tin and had trouble getting the cakes out in one piece. i’m debating between using that or 6 individual 4oz ceramic ramekins.
thoughts?
KN and smellslikehome – I used Hersheys cocoa and a silicone muffin tin (it holds 6) and everything turned out great…just my thoughts.
I used 6 cups in a 12 muffin tin and had no problem getting them out. Popped right out for me.
I used 6 cups of a regular tin also, no problem either!
I slacked off. Well actually I didnt. It was 66 out here today, so I spent a good bit of the afternoon outside with the kids. Ill get to it tonight after hockey or tomorrow am.
I know it’s last minute, but maybe my tips will help another TWD’er out there. I baked mine in tall, 6 oz ramekins because I read the comments and wondered if shallow muffin tins were responsible for the cooked interiors. I also took a minute off my baking time, and they turned out perfect, with a lava-like middle sandwiched by the cake. Also, if you spray and dust with flour as recommended in the recipe, the cakes will fly out of the dish and it was impossible to transfer it to a pretty plate for pictures. (I ate it off the wax paper!) So, for the next one, I had to overturn the ramekin directly onto the plate I used for pictures. Good luck!
well, um, i totally broke all the rules making mine just now…forgot to flour the pan…cut the recipe in half and …drum roll please….used m&ms as the chocolate!! I didn’t feel like going out in the rain to get chocolate, so I used what I had! they just came out of the oven and look fun, so we’ll see. Dorie did say to use what I like…don’t know if she meant m&ms, though!
I just finished mine. One word: choco-licious!
just finished mine and they came out delicious. i have an oven thermometer and it was at 400 but thirteen minutes was too long. it was soft inside, but not gooey lava. next time, i’d do only ten minutes, max.
I made mine last night. It’s an easy recipe to throw together at the last minute. We loved them.
Thanks, Sarah—good to know that the natural cocoa works fine.
I tried the cakes for a third time and finally got the gooey center. I lowered the temp to 375 and baked them for about 9 minutes. I posted the results on my blog.