Little Lemon Lava Cakes

By vealam

Ingredients

• For the lemon curd:
• Juice of 3 lemons (about 1/2 cup/110 ml)
• 200 g (1 cup less 2 Tbsp.) white sugar
• 2 eggs
• A pinch of sea salt
• 50 g (3 1/2 Tbsp.) cold unsalted butter, cubed
• For the cakes:
• 100 g (7 Tbsp.) soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
• 80 g white sugar (5 Tbsp. + 1 tsp.), plus 1 tbsp for dusting
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. whole milk
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 100 g (3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp.) all-purpose flour

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from seasonsandsuppers.ca

Preparation

Step 1

Make the lemon curd: Place all the ingredients for the lemon curd except the butter in a medium saucepan on a medium-low heat. Heat, whisking continuously for 5-8 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. You don’t want the mixture to boil.

Once the mixture has thickened, reduce heat to low and whisk in the butter, cube by cube. Take off the heat once all the butter has completely melted. Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.

Make the cakes: Preheat the oven to 400° F. Butter six ramekins and dust them generously with some white sugar. Set on a baking sheet and set aside.

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Lightly beat the eggs, then gradually add them to the bowl, beating all the time. Add the milk and lemon zest. Add the flour into the mix and incorporate well.

(*Alternate filling method if you don’t have a piping bag – fill each ramekin about 1/3 full. Using a spoon, make a well in the middle by pushing the batter away from the middle to the sides. Place 1 Tbsp. or so of the chilled lemon curd in the well that you made, then gently cover the curd with more batter, until ramekin is 3/4 full.)

Divide the cake batter between the ramekins until each is just over half full.

Take your refrigerated lemon curd and place in to a piping bag, fitted with a plain tip. Insert the tip into the centre of each batter-filled ramekin. Gently pipe the curd into each one until the ramekins are two-thirds full. (*Make sure you don’t leave a hole in the batter after removing the piping tip. If so, use a spoon to gently cover it in.) Place filled ramekins on a baking tray.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and the cakes spring back when touched.

Immediately run a knife around the edges of the cakes before turning out from the ramekins on to plates. Serve straight away.