Chocolate Bouchon

Sink your teeth into this delight! This rich, decadent chocolate confection is a cross between a cake and a brownie and is called a bouchon. This dense yet moist, chocolaty French dessert is to die for! I rummaged around to find a fabulous recipe to create this luscious delicacy and struck gold. The magnificent Chef Thomas Keller has a fantastic recipe for baking up bouchons to perfection. Follow his recipe for chocolate bouchons for a sweet Valentine’s Day or for your pleasure. Decorate with whipped cream, cocoa powder and chocolate shavings for tasty jubilation. Yum!

The following recipe is courtesy of Chef Thomas Keller from his book Bouchon:

Chocolate Bouchon Recipe

These small brownie-like cakes are named for their shape, which resembles a cork (bouchon). They are very rich and chocolaty, baked with the chocolate chips in the batter, and dusted with confectioners? sugar. Bouchon uses 2-ounce fleximolds and serves smaller bouchons. You can also use 3- ounce (2-inch to 2 1/2-inch diameter) timbale molds for larger cakes. Preheat the oven to 340 degrees F. Butter and flour 12 timbale molds. Set aside.

• Butter and flour for the timbale molds.
• 3 1/2 ounces (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 24 tablespoons (12 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and just slightly warm
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (Vahlrona or Scharffenberger or Lindt will do just fine), chopped into pieces the size of chocolate chips
• Confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour twelve timbale molds. Set aside.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a bowl; set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in another large bowl if using a handhels mixer, mix together the eggs and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until very pale in color. Mix in the vanilla. On low speed, add about one-third of the dry ingredients, then one-third of the butter, and continue alternating with the remaining flour and butter. Add the chocolate and mix to combine. (The batter can be refrigerated for up to a day.)

Put the timbale molds on a baking sheet. Place the batter in a pastry bag without a tip, or with a large plain tip, and fill each mold about two-thirds full. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. When the tops look shiny and set (like a brownie), test one cake with a wooden skewer or toothpick: It should come out clean but not dry (there may be some melted chocolate from the chopped chocolate). Transfer the bouchons to a cooling rack. After a couple of minutes, invert the timbale molds and let the bouchons cool upside down in the molds; then lift off the molds. (The bouchons are best eaten the day they are baked.)

TO SERVE: Invert the bouchons and dust them with confectioners' sugar. Serve with ice cream, if desire.

Recipe courtesy of Bouchon (2004) by Thomas Keller