About a month ago, I got an e-mail from our local SuperU supermarket telling me that they were holding a birthday gift package for me at their customer service desk. The next time you come to the store, it said, stop at the desk, present your carte de fidélité, and we'll give your your present. So I did just that. I didn't know what to expect.
Well, the package contained a box of cake mix, a bag of chocolate chips (« chunks » — a term that might perturb the Académie Française), and a couple of other little things, including an edible Joyeux Anniversaire label made of sugar. The cake mix was labeled as a bio product. That means biologique — "organic" in English. Les chunks, which I tossed into the cake batter, were not organic, but never mind...
Yesterday, I finally decided to make the cake. It's called a moelleux au chocolat [mwah-leuh-o-cho-co-`lah], which is a molten, lava, or volcano cake — something like that. I don't generally crave chocolate, but I think this cake is pretty good. It tastes like brownies to me. Merci, SuperU.
All I had to add to the mix was a good quantity of melted butter and three eggs. It came together very quickly. I wasn't sure how to bake it to keep it soft and melty inside, but firm enough to tip out of the pan in cake form. Basically, it all worked out. Trial and error saved the day.
The recipe on the box said to bake the cake in a high-sided cake pan, so I chose to use a soufflé dish that CHM gave me a few years ago. I use it all the time. In this case, I'm not sure why the pan needed high sides, because the cake didn't really rise as it cooked. It is definitely molten inside.
Happy belated birthday Ken! The cake looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm now nearly one month into my 71st year. Unreal.
DeleteIt’s 7:40am here and that cake looks like a good breakfast!
ReplyDeleteThat would be a rich breakfast, but why not.
DeleteDommage que nous n'ayons pas de Super U à côté de chez nous ! Contente que vous vous soyez régalés 😋
ReplyDeleteYears ago, a French friend gave me a French recipe for a moelleux. I tried to figure out conversions, and made it... it was like a rock LOL. I have never gotten a chance to eat one, but it was my impression that it's supposed to turn out a lot like a moist brownie, so that's what I've always told my students. Thanks for confirming!
ReplyDeleteYes, that's confirmation. And it's good.
DeleteHappy Belated Birthday, Ken! This looks good.
ReplyDeleteMerci.
DeleteWow! What a creative gift from the supermarket. I do enjoy chocolate lava cake although I have never made one.
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence that last week on my shopping spree for the first time in many years I purchased a packaged box for making brownies. Unfortunately, the chocolate chips I had purchased the same day are long gone! Previously, both my mother and I had always added some chocolate chips to improve the flavor of the boxed mixes. They never came out like lava cake, though! Thanks for showing the instructions. Enfournez has now been added to my vocabulary. Obvious, but new, nevertheless!
Mary in Oregon
It's not easy to do it, but I think you just need to cook brownies at high temperature for a short amount of time so that the edges are done but the middle is soft and even runny. Good luck.
DeleteThis post makes me want to make some brownies soon! I have a mix so I'm good to go.
ReplyDelete