I’m a sucker for recipe contests.  I love coming up with my own recipes and this one presented the perfect challenge:   “A Chile & A Spoon” recipe contest. by Marx Foods.

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The rules:  1. Create an original recipe using at least one of the six types of chilie’s provided by Marx Foods.  2.  It must be a dish that requires a spoon to eat.

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The first recipe that came to mind was of course Chili.  Then I thought how I’ve wanted to incorporate heat with sweet. But what could I make that was sweet which required a spoon?  Pudding? Mousse? Custard?…or CAKE!  Lava cake!

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This recipe “introduces” a small tingle of pepper in the cake then, when taking a spoon full of the runny, delicious “lava” filling, the burst of sweet heat presents itself as the Grande Finale. 

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6 Servings

Filling

  • 2 oz Semi Sweet chocolate
  • 1/2 tsp *depending on how hot you want it, Aji Amarillo chilies – or equivalent “hot” dried chile, ground
  • 1 TBS sugar
  • zest from one medium orange
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Cake

  • 6 oz Semi Sweet chocolate
  • 1/2 cup butter, unsalted
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp De Arbol Chile (similar to cayenne), ground
  • 1/4 cup + 2 TBS all purpose flour

Directions:

First, prepare your dried chilies. I ground them in a mini food processor.  I wore gloves when handling them.  Sliced the ends off with a knife and discarded the seeds and ends. Place the pepper in the processor and use the finest grounds in your recipe.

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To make the filling, melt 2 oz of the chocolate in a double boiler.  When the chocolate has melted, add the cream, sugar, orange zest and ground chili. 

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Mix to blend.   Put in the fridge for 3 – 4 hours and let set.

About 15 minutes before you’re ready to put the cakes into the oven, separate the filling into 6 individual servings, about 1/2 TBS or so each.  Put them on wax paper, on a paper plate and put into the freezer.  This will let them set a little firmer.

To make the cakes, preheat the oven to 400 F.  Spray 6 ramekins with non-stick baking spray (the kind with flour). 

Melt 6 oz of the chocolate in the double boiler with the 1/2 cup butter (1 stick).   Meanwhile, in a glass bowl, beat the eggs, yolks, and sugar for about 4 – 6 minutes until it becomes light in color and thickens.  Gently fold in the chocolate, the chile

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and then the flour. 

Spoon some of the cake batter into the ramekins, about 1/2 full. 

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Now remove your “lava”  filling from the freezer and add each of the 6 servings into the middle of each ramekin.

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Cover with the remaining cake batter.

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Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until cake is slightly firm to the touch.  Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes. 

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Using a knife, insert it carefully into the side of the ramekin just to loosen the cake.  Put a plate on top of the cake and flip over to serve.

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If you used a lot of the chili, or you used a really HOT chili, the heat is nicely offset by a big scoop of ice cream or whip cream.

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You can see the orange zest oozing out of the lusciously moist cake with the spicy, liquid lava.

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The hardest part of this recipe is trying not to eat more than one!

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For more information on chilies, check out these links from MarxFood:

Chile Heat Scale

Dried Chile Varieties

Chile Recipes & Techniques

Joanne

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