recipe – New England's Narrow Road

Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes in Ramekins Perfect Recipe Adjustments

These days a search for popular foods will bring up hundreds of similar recipes, and truthfully they are not all good.
I just tried to make Chocolate Lava Cake, or Molten Lava Cake, or add all those words together – whatever. The recipe I followed was wrong, saying to bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.
My cakes had no runny chocolate middle because they were over done! So I have searched other similar recipes to see what they say.

baked chocolate molten lava cakes in ramekins — Chocolate lava cakes, baked

Recently I purchased little ramekins for baking just this type of thing. My Emile Henry (blue dishes) and Staub baking dishes are all 8 ounces in size and I think it is the perfect size since the batter puffed up to the top.

I won’t link to the inaccurate recipe, but found another that may work better at Very Best Baking. But they don’t say what size ramekin to use! They should “hold 4 oz of batter” – not really helpful when the batter will be expanding. As I said above, I used 8 ounce size bowls.

I have not tried this new recipe, but the fact that they say “bake for 7-8 minutes” makes me hopeful. Still they ask that the oven be set at 450 degrees and that seems high. Also they call for 4oz. of chocolate and I used 6oz., which seemed fine. The more chocolate the better, right?

In my Gordon Ramsey Makes it Easy cookbook, he also lists a Hot Chocolate Fondant, which is basically this chocolate cake, with a few changes, but his recipe is for 2 servings. He wants the oven set at 325 degrees and bake for 12 minutes, which in comparison, sounds good.

The cake is delicious even without the molten middle, so I will definitely try them again. This time I will follow Gordon’s recipe and baking time. After all, is Gordon ever wrong?
And I will update this page with my results.

Online recipes are not always to be believed. Too many food sites make things up and never try baking the recipes themselves. We have to be careful and sensible when using online recipes, and sometimes they just need a minor adjustment to be good. Sometimes just reading the comments from people who have already adjusted for the mistakes is very helpful.

Indian Pudding

This post brought back memories of my grandmother’s cooking skills.

A Taste of Morning

Indian Pudding is a traditional New England dessert which can be traced back to the 18th century. I developed a fondness for it when I lived in the Boston area. For some reason, though, it is relatively unknown outside of New England.

Here is a brief history of the dish …

When British settlers moved to this country they brought their Hasty Pudding recipes with them. I’ve never had Hasty Pudding, but apparently it is a dish made from wheat cooked in water or milk until it develops the consistency of a porridge. Wheat was in short supply in New England, so the settlers adapted to the new world by substituting corn meal – which they called Indian flour. Being along a trade route with plentiful molasses and spices, they embellished the dish with these flavorful additions as well as with dried fruits and sometimes nuts … and thankfully, the…

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Make the Winter Birds Happy With Homemade Suet

homemade suet in a foil pan — My Homemade Suet

Just about this freezing time of year, I usually begin to make up batches of homemade suet to feed my backyard birds. I bought some beef suet at the local grocery store and stuck it in the freezer for winter feeding and now that it’s January and finally getting quite cold, it’s time to give the birds a treat.

My recipe includes adding peanut butter and stale crackers, cornmeal and just about any other thing the birds might like to the store bought beef fat. I usually add some old bread (kept in the freezer too) and flour to hold it all together and then cool it in a large, foil pan.

Personally, I don’t like to add seeds. I keep the seeds in separate feeders.

Once it’s firm, it can be cut to size to fit your suet feeder or placed in a mesh bag. I only put one piece out at a time and freeze the rest, just in case some animal comes and takes it in the night. I had a fox eyeing the feeder one year.

Just a word of warning – your birds will love this and eat it up quickly! The squirrels will like it too, of course.

Making Cheese With Flowers

Nasturtium flower — My Red / Orange (& edible) Nasturtium

I will tell you right away that I have never done this, but I visited one of my favorite bloggers (and she is so much more) only to find an amazing post that included fresh picked flowers and yogurt.

Sharon Lovejoy is an author of many books and writes the most interesting posts on her blog along with some excellent photos of her quaint and lovely home in California – and the one in Maine when she is there. I honestly don’t get around to reading the blogs I have linked to as much as I’d like because my work takes up most of my day, but I truly love to visit a great blog. As busy and popular as Sharon is, she still takes time to read my piddly little blog and leave a comment here and there. Does that tell you the kind of sweet person she is?

Actually, she reminds me very much of my grandmother (and I don’t mean to say that she is old). My Nana always had a good thing to say. She was positive and open-minded and encouraging and sharing. I don’t know Sharon personally, but I imagine that she is just as she comes across in her blog posts – and that is how she comes across.

Please view her amazing post –Stir Gently and Add Friends -about making cheese from yogurt and flowers. I learned something new today and I have to buy a strainer.