Flourless Molten Chocolate-Orange Cakes – Recipe!

Swensen’s was an ice cream store that was started in San Francisco, and expanded across America, Asia and Canada, and it just so happened to be in my town when I was a kid.  My sister worked there for a few years, so we would frequent the place as much as we could to enjoy a scoop of ice cream.  Swensen’s made a flavor called Swiss Orange Chip that was a combination of chocolate and orange, a rich chocolaty cream with a hint of deep citrus – we all loved it.  They are no longer in Southern California and I believe focus much of their business in Asia today.  However, I was reminiscing about the flavors of this chocolate and orange ice cream a few days ago, and I thought it would be fun to create an easy dessert with these two ingredients.

Gluten-Free cakes are sometimes tricky to make because flour with gluten, gives a cake structure.  However, if you are creating a flourless molten cake, loose and gooey is what you are aiming for anyway.  A couple of tablespoons of almond flour is added to the batter to give these molten cakes just enough texture to hold-on to the spoon, and a shaving of orange zest and a squeeze of juice adds a nice citrus taste.

These cakes can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator until ready for baking, which makes them great for dinner parties because you can bake-them-off right before it’s time to enjoy dessert.  The soften center with firmer sides is what makes these cakes different from a traditional layer cake or pudding – they fall somewhere in the middle, the best of both worlds.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons coconut oil + more for ramekins

1 cup dark chocolate chunks

zest of 1 orange, divided

2 tablespoons orange juice

4 tablespoons almond flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

(Serves 4)

To Prepare:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease four – 1 cup ramekins or oven safe cups with coconut oil.  Set aside.
2. In a large microwave safe bowl, add chocolate and coconut oil and heat on high for 1 minute.  Stir and heat again for 45 seconds, remove and stir until smooth.
3. Add three-quarters of zest, juice, almond flour and salt to chocolate and stir until smooth.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time until chocolate is lighter in color and creamy.  Spoon batter equally into prepared cups and place cups in a casserole dish.  Put dish in refrigerator for 20 minutes, up to overnight.
5. When ready to bake, place dish in oven and fill with hot water to reach halfway up sides of ramekins.  Bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven and water bath.  Sprinkle with remaining zest and serve immediately.  Enjoy!