Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

I have to confess that I'm not a super huge fan of lava cakes. Sure they look impressive and taste fabulous at the first bite, but for one they're not exactly cheap and after a while all that chocolate makes you start to feel like you'll descend into diabetic hell.

Nevertheless I was left home alone the other day, and in a moment of weakness I caved in and decided to try making one for breakfast (don't judge). I just wanted to see whether I had the necessary skills to do it, and so I got to work. I'll admit I thought it was insanely difficult and I'd probably end up having to eat some morphed half-baked monster cake (like that hasn't happened enough times before)

Out of the oven

I gotta say, the 10 minutes in the oven was the most nerve-wracking 10 minutes of my life. Plus another 1 minute waiting for it to cool. When it didn't rise, I panicked. When it did rise, I panicked. When it sank in the middle I was ready to just jump off a cliff and call it a day. However when I finally flipped it over, dusted some icing sugar and took a chunk out and watch a perfect sea of chocolate burst forth, that's when I realised that world peace was possible, no I'm not fat and no we're not going to die of global warming.

Oooh mama!

Here's the cool part. My pictures were taken with a plain old phone camera with less pixels than I care to mention, and it turned out perfect. Literally no filter I promise. No fancy DSLR effect here! Oh man. I'm never ordering lava cake out again when I can make one for a fraction of the cost. And really pretty much anyone can do it.

EASY MOLTEN CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE

1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 small egg, beaten
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Icing sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 200° C.

2. In the microwave (or a double-boiler) melt the chocolate chips, butter and milk.

3. Remove from heat, add the sugar and vanilla extract and whisk till combined.

4. Slowly add beaten egg.

5. Add flour, whisk until combined.

6. Pour into greased ramekin or oven-safe mold and bake for 10 mins.

7. Let cool for 1 min (you should see the cake releasing from the sides of the mold), overturn on a  

    serving plate and dust with icing sugar.

Notes :

-  I just broke off bits of a large cooking chocolate bar since I didn't have chocolate chips. Worked 

   anyway.

- You really do wanna try for a small egg. You'll notice that once the egg is added everything kinda 

   clumps together in an eggy, gooey mass. No worries. I'd recommend adding half the beaten egg, 

   then adding the flour and checking out the texture. If it seems a little too thick, then continue with 

   the egg. You're looking for a nice pancake batter-like texture. Remaining egg? Hello omelette :)

- I tried doing it in a friend's place and she didn't have any chocolate besides a milk chocolate bar 

   with almonds. Purists look away, but I just melted that, picked out the almonds and reduced the  

   sugar a little. Turned out fine. Even had almond bits in it.

So long story short, if you're craving for a gourmet-looking sweet dessert for one, this is the absolute Holy Grail of easy desserts. I'm pretty much the novice baker and I have my bad days, but this one plenty foolproof. And you can share it with a loved one as it's enough for two people. But for me, I'm having it all to myself.

Half gone!

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The Fact about Fasting

I haven't actually blogged for sometime. I realise that. Well actually the simple truth is I'm lazy. And I procrastinate. And it isn't easy finding things to blog about. Here's the thing, I'm naturally inquisitive and I spend most of my free time studying people and wondering how they behave how they do. Since I've come home for my sem break (insert a resounding 'yay' here) I've been pretty...well I find no other word other than 'flabbergasted' to describe how I feel about the many odd goings-on in my home country. And voila, here's a reason for a new blog post!

Okay for the uninitiated, if you're from another country, or if you're from Malaysia and basically living under a rock, Muslims all over the world celebrate their holy month of Ramadan by fasting from daybreak to sunset. In a country like Malaysia where more than half the population are Muslims, this should be common knowledge.

So what could possibly be the problem? Well there's been a lot of  publicized incidents where the most recent is when a school teacher allegedly told non-Muslim students to drink water in the school toilets and if they didn't have enough, drink their own urine. As if to make it better, a minister later claimed the remark was 'made in jest', and what the teacher actually said was to show respect by drinking their water in the toilets. Yeah that solves everything. A few years back another school set up tables in the toilets for non-Muslim students to have their lunch breaks during Ramadan. If you're wondering what are the limits of stupidity, here is stupid level = infinite.

All these distasteful incidents were viral on social media, and social media attracts keyboard warriors like Indians to a grand sale (don't even try to deny it, I'm one of them). Of all the nasty, foul-worded comments on the post there appeared to be specific categories. First were the Muslims who apologised to the non-Muslims for the incidents, angry non-Muslims who were disgusted by these incidents, and most weird, Muslims who supported the incidents, of which there were quite a number. I remember seeing one odd comment where a Facebook user asked, "why do you non-Muslims hate Prophet Muhammad so much?" at which I was left dumbfounded. Say what?

You see, there is a reason for fasting. Being a Catholic, during the season of Lent we're taught to fast and/or abstain from meat for a reason. Remembering the less fortunate. Perhaps on a religious level understanding the sacrifices made by Jesus or what have you. Bottom line is, the idea of fasting is to resist temptation. And how do you resist temptation when you ask it to get out of your way? 

There is absolutely no sense I can see in this. How does that even work? Hey you, get that sandwich out of my face because it's tempting me and I might just go buy one and burn in hell for all eternity? Dude, your water is calling to me like a grand sale calls Indians?  (Help I can't stop) Why does it become our responsibility to accommodate you? It should be our moral obligation, not a duty. And to impose it on young children?

Now on  a more humane level, which pea brain came up with the idea of the toilet? Of all the places in a school, the freaking toilet? Why couldn't have it been a classroom, or the school hall, or heck, the school cafeteria? Isn't it easier to ask the Muslim students to avoid the cafeteria? I have no wish to even begin to name all the pathogenic cocci and bacteria lurking in a school toilet. How despicable of you to show the world that you're fasting, and yet behave in such a manner?

People turn into atheists because they see incidents like these which further strengthen their convictions. I think the problem with religion isn't the religion itself but the people practising it have too much attention on rituals until they forget the root of all religion  is the basic values preached. And Lord knows we need those.

I studied in a college where I had 3 Muslim roommates. They were really nice people and I never objected to them praying, or listening to devotional songs, or doing anything religious. Frankly it wasn't actually a question of tolerance, but the truth is it never bothered me. In the same way they weren't bothered by the Bible I kept on my table. Or perhaps they tolerated it. And during the month of Ramadan even though I tried not to eat in front of them, they would still tell me to go ahead and eat as I don't sahur (pre-dawn meal). 

So who gives you the right to claim that we hate Muhammad? Wouldn't any objection to the incidents occurring be made on a human rights basis, not the fake assumption that non-Muslims have some beef with Muhammad?

With all that said, I'm going to appeal to all Muslims who think that these incidents are justified, think again. I'm greatly saddened to think that Malaysians, with all their advancement in the world are falling short when it comes to practising basic understanding and tolerance. Maybe a little more understanding of what a fast requires, and what it's supposed to achieve will help you out. Otherwise, it's going to be a never-ending battle. It's the little things that tear a country apart.

By the way, to all teachers, please do watch your words. I have had many nasty people who claim to be educators but make the most racist and politically incorrect statements under the sun. I even once had a teacher who said that Saddam Hussein was right all along, that's why the Americans got rid of him. Erm, nice thing to say, Miss Sunshine. 

Would all the people who can't communicate shut up?

~Tom Lehrer~