Sweet recipes in a mini-casserole: Chocolate lava cake and a delicious mug cake!

We’re bringing out the heavy artillery today! With a delicious, decadent chocolate coulant, or with a recipe as easy and quick as mug cakes, you’re sure to be a hit in everyday life... or when you have guests over! These are two very easy but super impressive recipes you can prepare in the lovely mini-cocottes from Le Creuset.

You can see how to make them on our YouTube channel (here's the video).

Chocolate coulant

Ingredients (for 6 mini-cocottes)

• 120gr of chocolate for melting (Nestlé Desserts)
• 140gr of butter
• 3 eggs
• 70gr of flour
• 60gr of sugar

Preparation

1. Start by greasing the mini-cocottes with a little melted butter using a brush. Let dry. Put flour in the mini-casserole to coat the entire inside and sides, and shake to remove the excess flour.

2. Melt the chocolate with the butter over a bain-marie or in the microwave.

3. Beat the eggs with a hand mixer until they have at least tripled in volume (Sabayon).

4. Next, add the melted chocolate to the sabayon with a spatula, folding gently until you get a smooth batter.

5. Gradually add the sifted flour and sugar to the batter.

6. Fill the mini cocottes three-quarters full with chocolate batter and let rest for 20 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

7. After 20 minutes, take the mini-cocottes out of the fridge and bake the chocolate coulants for about 10 minutes at 180ºc, then remove from the oven and serve.

You can serve the coulant with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or simply dusted with powdered sugar.

Note: The coulant should be cooked on the outside and liquid on the inside.

Chocolate cream mug cake

A mug cake is a quick cake that has become very popular in recent times. It simply consists of putting the ingredients into a small container or cup, and cooking it in the microwave in record time, in 1 to 3 minutes. Usually, as its name suggests, it is made in mugs, but we have chosen to make it in mini-cocottes, given their beautiful presentation.

Ingredients (for 4 mugs or mini-cocottes):

• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons chocolate spread (like Nutella or Nocilla)
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Melt the butter in the microwave.

Now it's time to start adding all the ingredients, to mix them and put the preparation in the microwave. You can do this by dividing the proportional amount into each mug or mini-casserole, which is in fact the usual way when you make a mug cake, and mix it directly there, or as we have done, add the ingredients to a bowl and mix everything, then fill each of the mugs or mini-casseroles.

2. In a bowl, put the melted butter with the egg, beat well with a fork and add the sugar and chocolate spread.

3. Add the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Mix again.

4. Finally, pour in the milk with the cream and the vanilla extract.

5. Stir well until you get a smooth, creamy texture.

6. Fill the mini-cocottes three-quarters full and cook one at a time in the microwave on full power for 1 minute and a half.

7. Take the mug cake out of the microwave and decorate with a little powdered sugar sifted on top.

8. Let cool slightly and serve the delicious mug cake.

You can also make these mug cakes in their more traditional form, in cups or mugs.

I must confess that the coulant was spectacular, and these chocolate mug cakes were addictive too. I definitely invite you to try them at home. Enjoy!

Recipes made with Stéphane Poussardin, in his Atélier