Sexy Desserts: Chocolate Bouchons

Really, "bouchons" is just a fancy word for what turns out to be tiny cakes... Tiny cakes full of DELICIOUS!

My sisters Tweets and Abs sent me a lovely birthday present:

So I decided to try my new kitchen tools out and make these:

Both the bouchon silicone mold and the pastry gun worked perfectly - I totally recommend them!

I just followed the recipe on the back of the Williams Sonoma bouchon box, but then used the pastry gun to add a little shot of whipped cream on the inside - see?  I think these would go really great with a bit of sipping brandy on the side.

So basically, I made ho-hos.  Really addictive ho-hos.  I made twelve, and I ate six of them myself. !!

Here's how I did it:

Chocolate Bouchons

*From Williams Sonoma

INGREDIENTS:

• 5T unsalted butter
• 3oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3T cocoa powder
• 1/2tsp baking powder
• 1/8tsp salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• Confectioners' sugar for serving
• Penny's Addition: Whipped cream for filling (homemade or store-bought if you're feeling lazy like I was)
• Penny's Addition: Raspberries for serving

*You'll also need something like a pastry gun to fill the bouchons with whatever filling you'd like (I used whipped cream because it's fluffy) and a bouchon mold on a baking sheet.  However, I'm sure you could use a mini cupcake pan just as easily.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.  Set the bouchon mold on a baking sheet.

Melt the butter and chocolate.  You can microwave it, but I don't recommend this method - too easily burned.  Also, I am superstitious about mysterious microwave radiation.  :)  Stir occasionally, and then let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

 In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg and vanilla until combined.  Set aside.  NOTE: Yellow food in yellow bowls make for confusing photos.

Add the chocolate mixture to the eggy mixture until incorporated, then whisk in the flour mixture til it's all combined and fingerlicking-worthy.

 Scoop 2T of the batter into the mold.  DO NOT overfill the molds like I did.  In order for the chocolate to bake in a corky shape, you don't want the tops to overflow.  After you turn out the bouchons, you will be sifting sugar on the "bottom".  The tops of the mold becomes the bottom; the bottoms become the top.  Got it?  Good.

Once the wells are filled with NOT-TOO-MUCH batter (!!!) then put the bouchon mold - still on the baking sheet - into the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes.  Veer towards slightly underdone, rather than overdone.  You want the cakes to be moist, not dry like a brownie top.  You should be able to insert a toothpick and have it come out mostly clean with just a few crumbs.

After baking, let your cakes cool for at least 15 minutes.  I let mine cool for 30, because 15 wasn't long enough... they were still too warm to turn out in one piece.  Once the cakes are cooled and turned out, poke holes in their booties to fill them with whipped cream.  Then put the holey side plate-down and sift a little confectioners sugar on top to make them Sexy Cakes.  Add berries on the side and serve!

Comments

[Steve]

Um, nom! You really need to invite us over when you bake. :)

[kimberly michelle]

Bouchons are seriously the bestest brownie treat one could hope to eat! And filled with creme... that just sounds wonderful!
I'm not afraid to admit I've driven 45 minutes to go buy some from the Bouchon Bakery, and eaten them all before I made it home. Sad but true.

[Amanda]

I had bouchons at the Bouchon Bakery, and they were delicious I'd love to make them at home, but they look so complicated. Yours came out amazing.

[Katie]

Those look so fun and so yummy!

[Anni]

Those look delicious!
I would just like to say... the pastry bag works equally well for frosting cupcakes. Too well, in fact.

[Tweets]

Yum! I'm so impressed!

[serena @bigapplenosh]

Umm, YUM! I'd be all over these!