Mini Gooey Chocolate Cakes - A Swedish Recipe

This recipe is a winner. Seriously.

It comes from  a Swedish chef called Leila Lindholm. She is funny, beautiful, and always smiling. And her recipes are awesome. Every. Single. One. I've. Tried.

I've been a fan of Swedish 'kladdkaka' ever since Bike Boy's sister baked it for us on a visit to his homeland. Translated, it means 'sticky cake', or 'gooey cake' which pretty much sums up the awesomeness.

It's a cake that is only partially baked - much like a brownie - but even more unctuous and delicious. In fact the first few times I tried to bake it I got caught out by my instincts, and cooked it too long. Still delicious, but not the real deal.

You can bake cupcake or muffin sized gooey treats, or a large cake from the same batter, to feed a crowd:

This one looks a bit hexagonal because I used one of these nifty cake pan liners.

I think somehow things always taste better in minature, so I've stuck with the mini version here.

By the way, did I tell you that they have sunken middles - which make them all the easier for topping with cream and berries? Yep. They do. Does awesomeness come in better packages than this?

Mini Gooey Chocolate Cakes

Makes 16 muffin sized cakes
2 eggs
160 g caster (fine) sugar
A few drops of vanilla essence

50 g butter

50 ml vegetable oil

100 ml golden syrup - you could also use corn syrup or similar

100 g wheat flour

50 g best quality cocoa power

1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

100 g good quality dark chocolate - at least 70% cocoa if possible

For the topping:

250 ml whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tsp sugar

A few cups of fresh berries

Preheat the oven to 175 °C, and prepare your muffin pan with some paper liners.

Whisk the eggs and sugar until very light and airy.

Place the butter, vegetable oil and syrup in a small pan and heat gently, stirring until melted and thoroughly mixed. Add the vanilla essence and stir in.
         

Allow the melted mixture to cool slightly, and then mix it into the egg and sugar mixture.

Place the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and use a whisk to mix together and break up any clumps.

Carefully, and using a metal spoon, fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture.

Chop the chocolate into small pieces, and melt in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Mix the melted chocolate into the batter.

Fill your prepared muffin cases to about 2/3 full.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 12 minutes - and no longer! They will have risen during cooking, but will sink in the middle when taken out of the oven.  This is how they should be.

Just out of the oven - risen and domed...

After 10 minutes - decidedly sunken - but delicious!

Defy your instinct to demolish test one immediately, and let them cool while you prepare the cream (in fact, a night in the fridge before serving does these little beauties no harm).

Whip the cream until softly peaked, and stir in the sugar and vanilla essence.

Serve the cakes with a dollop of cream and a few berries. Serve extra berries and cream on the side to make a fantastic dessert.