Mes amis,

The days of Nivôse have proven to be fairly difficult to pair with food. We’ve skipped over coal, bitumen (asphalt tar), sulfur and dog. Which brings us to lava, 6 Nivôse. To celebrate the 8 new acres of land created by lava flows in Hawaii and the swarms of earthquakes at Mt. Saint Helen’s, I present: molten lava cakes.

Individual Lava Cakes 

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

6 tbs butter

1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder, sifted

4 large egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

2 tablespoons sugar

Heat oven to 400. First, start beating the egg whites and cream of tartar in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. While the eggs are beating, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan. Once melted, add the chocolate and heat until just melted. Mix in the cocoa powder. To the egg whites, add the sugar gradually. While the chocolate mixture cools, butter and sugar six ramekins or a muffin pan. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and then pour into the prepared ramekens. Cook for 7 to 8 minutes and then remove from oven and let cool for 3 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and invert onto a serving plate. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.