Valentine's Day Part 5: Molten Lava Cakes with Chocolate Ganache, Raspberry Coulis and Whipped Cream

You CANNOT have Valentine's Day without chocolate. Yummy chocolate is a necessity on Valentine's Day! When planning our meal, I knew exactly what our ending note would be.

I started with the base of a molten lava cake. This recipe can be found at epicurious.com:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Molten-Chocolate-Cakes-102177

These cakes were very easy to make. I made the batter the day before and placed them in the little souffle cups. I then placed the cups on a plate, covered them loosely with saran wrap and kept them in the fridge. When we were ready for dessert, I took them out of the fridge while the oven reached the desired temperature. Then they went into the oven while I poured us each a small glass of brandy and whipped the cream and prepared the ganache. After they came out they were allowed to cool for a few moments and were drizzled with the toppings.

Ganache, I discovered, is ridiculously easy. It is one part chocolate to two parts heavy cream. Put it in a sauce pan on low and let it do its own work. It thickens into a beautiful chocolate sauce. I used a bittersweet chocolate with great results.

Whipped cream I have been making for years. Heavy whipping cream, covered stand mixer, a tiny bit of powdered sugar (I don't like it too sweet!), a tiny bit of vanilla and you let it go to town.

The Raspberry Coulis was also a new one. This one was easy and would make a great topping for a variety of desserts (mmmm...I am thinking a lemon cheesecake....). It was also easy enough to make the day before and stick in the fridge. I suspect it would have lasted a few more days, so if you want to make it very early, it is seems very possible. This recipe was also from Epicurious and can be found here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Raspberry-Coulis-104664

Straining the Raspberry Coulis

Here is the finished product:

Drool!!

Side View!

This dessert was wonderful. The molten cake was good, but nothing special in and of itself. The sauces really made it. Awesome Sauce found that the sauces overpowered the molten cake. However, as desserts go, he really liked this one.

These desserts were ridiculous! Tasty, but over the top! Actually, this whole dinner was quite ridiculous and there is a reason why Awesome Sauce and I do not eat like this every day. We do enjoy indulging ourselves on holidays and special occasions. I really enjoyed cooking this meal for him and tried to make sure he would enjoy every last bite. I am so glad that we stayed in and I cooked this year. It is really nice to personalize your meal to your partner and was my way of showing Awesome Sauce how much I love and appreciate him. For your next occasion, I highly recommend using your kitchen prowess to show your partner that you care.


Ratings for Overall Dessert:
The Clumsy Gourmet: 8
Awesome Sauce: 9

Valentine's Day Course 2: White Onion Soup with Chive Truffle Oil

For our second course on Valentine's Day, I decided to make White Onion Soup with Chive Truffle Oil. This recipe was also found on Epicurious. Here is the recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/White-Onion-Soup-with-Chive-Oil-15102

I made this soup and the chive oil the day before and kept them in the fridge. When we were ready for our second course, I heated up some soup, shaved some Parmesan cheese on the soup and drizzled some of that beautiful chive oil on the soup.

This soup was very boring. The only interesting part was the chive oil (I MUST find another use for this delightful culinary treat!) and the Parmesan. This soup was so boring, we never finished it!! The rest of the soup went into the garbage! (This is a lot from us, Awesome Sauce is usually quite the bottomless pit and will eat even some of our biggest culinary disasters just to not waste it!). I wasn't impressed.

Here are pictures of the process and the finished product:

The white onions are in my soup pot slowly cooking down.

The finished product!! Yeah...I added a lot of shaved Parmesan and Chive Oil to attempt to make it tasty...

Ratings:

The Clumsy Gourmet: 3
Awesome Sauce: 4

Valentine's Day Course 1: Mini Crab Cakes with a Garlic Aioli on a Bed of Mixed Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette

So, as a new resident of Maryland, I have been searching for the perfect Maryland Crab cake recipe to impress visiting family and friends. Awesome Sauce and I met at the University of Maryland and in tribute, I decided that the first course in our Valentine's Day meal, I would make us Mini Crab cakes with a Garlic Aioli on a Bed of Mixed Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette. Yum!

I found the recipe on Epicurious. Here is the link:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Crab-Cakes-and-Baby-Greens-with-Lemon-Vinaigrette-5762

Here is the link to the Garlic Aioli:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Aioli-107026

I wanted to make sure that this was easy to do, so I prepared the mixture the day before. I looked to the comments and used some of their suggestions. I used panko instead of regular bread crumbs. I also added Old Bay seasoning to taste. I also prepared the Lemon Vinaigrette and Garlic Aioli ahead of time and kept them in the fridge.

On Valentine's Day, I formed little crab cakes and fried them in a small skillet. While they were cooking, I took some of the lemon vinaigrette and tossed it with the mixed greens. I was a bit disappointed to find the lemon vinaigrette had turned into a thick paste. However, as it warmed up and mixed with the greens, it turned into a lovely, refreshing vinaigrette. It became the perfect background for the crab cakes.

The garlic aioli was wonderful! It was a great complement to the crab cakes and I strongly recommend it if you choose to make this recipe.

These crab cakes were incredibly simple to make. I loved that I could mix them the day before and then merely fry them the day of. With slightly larger crab cakes, this would make a great and impressive entree for an elegant dinner party. I strongly recommend using the panko and the old bay seasoning. This was great advice.

Crab Cake mix ready to go in the fridge. I used jumbo lump Weis-brand crab from a can. Not the freshest, but it was simply wonderful. The seasoning for this dish is incredibly well balanced.

Frying the crab cake in some oil. (yes, I see the spill on the side, I spill many things...this is one reason why I am The Clumsy Gourmet!)

Beautifully fried mini crab cakes.

First course plated and ready to go!!!

The crab cakes are ready for their close-up!

The crab cakes were WONDERFUL!! We paired them with a light, fresh pinot grigio. Awesome Sauce, who is not a huge fan of crab cakes absolutely loved these. The next day, we even turned the left over crab cakes into a wonderful breakfast. We re-heated the crab cakes and put them on toasted whole wheat bread, added poached eggs and hollandaise sauce and enjoyed Eggs Chesapeake.


Ratings
The Clumsy Gourmet: 10
Awesome Sauce: 9-9.5

We really enjoyed them!!

UPDATE: Using our Eggs Chesapeake recipe, we fed both my mother and sister. Both LOVED the crabcakes and really enjoyed the brunch we prepared for them. Two more fans of this amazing recipe!