Happy Anniversary!

Three years ago (wow! THREE!) Tony and I got married on August 5, 2005. It was a spectacular day filled with amazing family, friends, dancing and food! followed by an even better marriage :) Our anniversary fell on a Tuesday this year- not the most exciting day of the week. So we decided to have a quiet dinner at home and get LOBSTERS! This has sort of become a tradition... encouraged by the really fun lobster tools and gadgets we were smart enough to register for and received as gifts! So our delicious anniversary menu included:

Champagne (Prosseco)

Steamed Lobster

Baked Potatoes with Chives and Sour Cream

Steamed Asparagus with Lemon Juice

Molten Chocolate Babycakes

Since we had to make dinner after both coming home from work that night, we kept the menu quite simple. The only recipe I used was for the Molten Chocolate Babycakes (I made these in exchange for Tony going to pick up the lobsters on his way home from work!). I was originally just going to get some strawberries and chocolate for dessert (keeping with the low maintenance menu) but I was at my friend Stephanie's house the night before and she was planning to make these cakes for her new boyfriend. She promised me they were simple to make and delicious and she even gave me two ramekins to make them in. With Tony standing there drooling as she described them, how could I say no?

Well.... I probably should have! The actual batter was very easy to prepare. The only problem was the execution. They took longer than I thought to bake and then these bad boys did NOT want to come out of the ramekins, resulting in a heaping pile of chocolate mess on the plate instead of a cute, dainty, individual cake. They were DELICIOUS! But definitely not pretty, and we certainly did not look pretty eating them! (hence the lack of photographic evidence). Anyway, here is the recipe, dare I ever try to make these again!:

Molten Chocolate Babycakes
(adapted from Nigella Lawson: How To Be A Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking)

Ingredients

(Serves 6, but I cut the recipe in half and made only 2)

¼ cup soft, unsalted butter (plus more for greasing)
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate
½ cup sugar
4 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° putting in a baking sheet at the same time
2. Trace custard cup on baking parchment, cut out 6 disks and press them into the base of the custard cups
3. Melt chocolate and let it cool slightly
4. Cream together the butter and sugar and gradually beat in the eggs, salt and then vanilla
5. Add the flour and when all is smoothly combined, scrape in the cooled chocolate, blending it to a smooth batter
6. Divide the batter between the 6 custard cups
7. Take baking sheet out of the oven, arrange the custard cups and replace it in oven
8. Cook for 10 (if you make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate it, bake for 12 minutes) (Cooking time for 2 was more like 15-20 minutes)
9. Tip the babycake onto a small plate or shallow bowl as soon as you take them out of the oven (GOOD LUCK!)
10. Serve with whipped cream, crème fraîche, custard or ice cream