Eating Key West & Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe: Lucy Burdette

Once again my worlds of mystery and chocolate collide. Today I welcome mystery author Lucy Burdette, aka Roberta Isleib.

Lucy Burdette is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries, including AN APPETITE FOR MURDER and DEATH IN FOUR COURSES (coming in September.) Her short story, “The Itinerary” (written as Roberta Isleib), has been nominated for an Agatha award.

Eating Key West by Lucy Burdette:

While researching the Key West food critic mystery series (AKA procrastinating,) I came across this fascinating tidbit of information: The state of Massachusetts has a state bean (navy), a state dessert (Boston cream pie), a state cookie (chocolate chip), and a state donut (Boston cream.) My own home state—Connecticut—turned out to be a great disappointment, with no state foods whatsoever. No state fruit, no state vegetable, no state dessert. Nothing. Luckily Florida, the setting for my new series, came through with an official state pie. Key lime, of course.

As I’ve gone about eating my way through Key West (also in the name of research), I’ve tried any number of Key lime pies, cheesecakes, ice creams, and yogurts. Here’s one of my favorites, the fabulous pie served with a little raspberry sauce at Louie’s Backyard. (The view from the dining area is terrific too!)

But I’ve also come across some other amazing desserts. One of my favorites bears no relationship to the official state pie—the bread pudding at Santiago’s Bodega—served with blueberries and a dollop of vanilla ice cream. (I don’t even like bread pudding and I’m crazy for this dish.)

On special days, I satisfy my hankerings with one of the sweet crepes at La Creperie on Petronia Street. There, French pastry chefs Yolande and Sylvie dish up desserts like this red velvet crepe, made with raspberry chocolate ganache, English custard ice cream, and raspberry coulis.

But if I develop a yearning for sheer chocolate madness, I make my way through the streets of Old Town Key West to Michael’s Restaurant. There, as the waiter takes down your dinner preferences, he will warn you that if you’d like a chocolate lava cake for dessert, you’d best put your order in now. And we always do.

Chocolate Lava Cake (adapted from Epicurious)

6 oz. bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup unsalted butter, diced
3 large eggs and 3 egg yolks
6 TBSP sugar
1/8 tsp salt
6 TBSP all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter six 3/4 cup custard or soufflé cups. Stir chocolate and butter together in heavy saucepan over medium-low heat until melted and smooth. Cool to lukewarm. With a mixer, beat the eggs, the yolks, the sugar, and salt until pale yellow and thick (about 5 minutes.) Fold the cooled chocolate into this mixture and sift the flour over the top. Fold in. Divide the batter into the prepared cups and place them on a baking sheet. Bake until set but the centers are still soft. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Eric Wolitzky's Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake

I really enjoyed Top Chef Just Desserts, and although I was thrilled that Yigit Pura, a local boy, won, I admired Eric Wolitzky, a baker, for his ambition and great recipes. Competing against pastry chefs must have been daunting, but he became better and better with presentation as the series went on. It's not all about the flavor, we learned in this show, but a lot about presentation. However, I had no doubts that Eric Woltizky, pastry chef at New York City's Baked, was a fabulous baker! One of the tough things for the viewer is not tasting the creations. With shows like Project Runway, I know what I like, and what works, but with cooking shows, I have to take the word of the judges on taste.

This month Eric Wolitzky's recipe for Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake appeared in  Food & Wine Magazine. Now's your chance to give it a taste. It's not a difficult cake, and I adore bundt cakes! The fudge glaze makes it beautiful, but you can leave it off if you don't have time. The cake is great by itself. The original recipe uses Godiva Dark Chocolate Callets. It was a Godiva challenge. If you don't have Godiva, you can always substitute the dark chocolate you do have on hand. Just make sure it's the highest quality! No counting calories on this one, and forget cholesterol.

ERIC WOLITZKY'S GODIVA CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE

Ingredients
4 ounces Godiva Dark Chocolate Callets
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon espresso powder
1 cup sour cream
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups pecans (finely chopped or ground in food processor)
1 teaspoon salt
1- 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder
(plus more for dusting pan)
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla
2- 1/4 sticks butter
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bundt pan and dust with cocoa powder.

In a medium bowl, pour boiling water over Godiva Dark Chocolate Callets and espresso powder and whisk until smooth. Whisk in sour cream and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together flour, ground pecans, confectioners' sugar, cocoa and salt.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat granulated sugar, brown sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 mins). Turn mixer to low and add eggs, yolks and vanilla slowly, scraping down the bowl as necessary until well combined.

Add the dry mixture in three additions alternating with two additions of the chocolate sour cream mixture.

Scrape batter into prepared pan, smooth batter and bake for no longer than 45 mins. The edges should start to pull away from sides of pan and the top will looked cracked. A cake tester placed in center will be very wet. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 1½ hrs. Invert onto serving plate and let cool, about 2 hrs. Pour fudge glaze over top of cake and let set for 10 mins.

Fudge Glaze (optional for me!)

2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons espresso powder
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 tablespoon honey
4 ounces Godiva Dark Chocolate callets
1 or 2 tablespoons Godiva Mocha Liqueur (optional)
1/4 cup Godiva White Chocolate callets

In a medium saucepan combine cream, cocoa powder, espresso powder, corn syrup and honey. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and add the chocolate callets. Whisk and continue cooking for 2 minutes until mixture is bubbling. Take off heat and let cool completely. Pour glaze over top of cake and let set for at least 10 minutes. Melt white chocolate callets and drizzle over cake before serving.

Photo: Food & Wine Magazine