finding my inner foodie: Hello, lava...cakes!!!!

Valentines day came early this year for me! One of the downfalls of working in the restaurant business is that you pretty much work any "major dating holiday!" So Erin and I decided to celebrate our day on Thursday. She was in charge of snacks/dinner and I took over desert duties!

She came up with an amazing spread of my faves:

-kashi crackers with hummus

-guiltless gourmet chips with salsa

-goat cheese (YUUUUMMMMM)

-trail mix

-fresh fruit

-champagne!

I think I had it much easier in my selection of desert because as well all must agree:Valentine's Day = Chocolate Goodness
When I received an email titled "hello lava" I knew it was talking right to me. (well as much as emails can actually talk to you...okay moving on). These Lava cakes are really simple. I will tell you up front...erin gave these a 10!!!!! I mean usually there is something to improve on, but on this one she was really impressed. YEAH!

The other nice thing is the recipe calls for parts of ingredients so when you purchase the fixins you have enough to do this one again! That might be a dangerous thing in our house :).

I started by prepping the liquid filling (that's actually solid of course when you make it) and placing those in the freezer for the alloted 25 mins. I thought about going through the process on the blog for this one...but it's much easier to just follow her directions, to a T! I got to use these great silicone ramkins that my friend Molly's Mom, who works at the amazing King Arthur Flour, picked up for me. I have been wanting to use these forever! The only potential heads up needed is that when they have baked in the oven for 15 mins. they don't look completely done like a normal cake. Due to the lava center they look shiny and almost under baked. I let them sit for about 15 mins out of the oven and they quickly looked done on their own!!!

We flipped these babies into a bowl and topped them with some Fat Free Whip Cream...HEAVEN. These were AMAZING. They were so light and moist with an amazing chocolate center. I also think this one has great potential for options. If you are a peanut butter fan, substitute peanut butter chips, butterscotch? white chocolate? the possibilities are endless!!!