BudgetFood: Chocolate Lava Cake (with Cayenne and Sea Salt)

Skipping ahead to dessert, here is a great way to finish off a home-cooked meal for your date. If a home-cooked meal is the bases loaded of dating, a chocolate lava cake is the walk-off grand-slam. Add the pink peppercorn whipped cream, and you've pitched a perfect game.

Not entirely sure why I'm using baseball metaphors - I'm a football guy. Oh well... GO PIRATES!

Chocolate Lava Cake (with Cayenne and Sea Salt)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients (3-4 people):
For the cake:
6 oz. Dark or semi-sweet chocolate
6 oz. Unsalted butter (diced, room temperature) + 1 oz for ramekins or cupcake cups
3 Eggs
1/3 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp good sea salt

For the whipped cream:
Heavy cream
Vanilla extract
Sweetener (sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave, etc...)
Pink peppercorn (ground)

Equipment:

4 ramekins or 6 cupcake cups/muffin tray

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F
1. Melt chocolate in microwave, using 3 to 4 30-second bursts, stirring after each burst. When melted, remove and
2. Stir in diced butter, until melted
3. While microwaving, in another bowl, beat eggs and sugar until it starts to get frothy and whiten.
4. Gently stir in melted chocolate, and then the flour.
5. Butter 4 ramekins or, for smaller portions, 6 cupcake cups, and pour in chocolate batter until not quite full.
6. Bake for about 9-10 minutes for cups, 10-12 minutes for ramekins. Check often in the final minutes to avoid overcooking.
7. Run a knife gentle around the edge of the ramekins/cups.
8. Gently turn container upside down onto dessert plates or rack and serve immediately.

BudgetDate: Hot Chocolate Festival at City Bakery

Need a quick, simple "coffee" style date, but hate Starbucks? Well, for the month of February (yes, that leaves you 8 days), New York City residents are in luck, because City Bakery is having their annual Hot Chocolate Festival, featuring a different flavor of hot chocolate every day, in addition to their regular, super-thick-and-rich variety.

A single $5 cup is usually too much for most people's sweet teeth (not mine, unfortunately), but they do have smaller 1/3 cup shots for $2.50. This is perfect, as you can get one of the special flavor and one of the regular for the price of a single cup, and both you and your companion can then get a nice sample of each without going into diabetic shock.

Speaking of which, you can also get a home-made marshmallow in your cup. Now, I've been told by some people that this makes the whole thing way too sweet. These people are dead inside.

If your date doesn't want to share a cup or shots... well, after all, first dates are for weeding out the crazies, right?

Grab a muffin or biscuit ($2.50-$4.00) to go along with your chocolate delight, get some water to cleanse the palate between sips and all's good with the world.

If you don't live in NYC, I'm sure your town has some cafe or restaurant that can boast a really good cup of hot chocolate. In Philadelphia, for example, I'm told of an Argentinean restaurant that has one of the best cups in the world (We shall see.... oh yes, we shall see). Regardless, it makes for a nice, little destination event to meet someone and get to know them, whether it's for the first time, or a familiar lover who you want to see smile over a steaming cup of cocoa.

Enjoy!

(The old cups were even BIGGER.... sigh...)