Once again, another recipe from the Cook's Illustrated magazine/website.
These are very rich cakes. The outside of the cake is somewhat like a brownie. The interior of the cake is gooey and molten (hence why it's called a "lava" or "volcano" cake). If you overbake this cake, you'll just end up with a chocolate cake. The whole point is to have a warm semi-liquid center. It's great to serve this with a small scoop of ice cream.
One serving is more than sufficient for Terry. For the Yi family, one serving might be sufficient for 2-3 people. This recipe makes eight servings. If you don't need that many servings, you can tightly wrap the ramekin (filled with unbaked batter), with plastic wrap and freeze them. When you want to make more servings, just unwrap and pop them into a preheated oven.
Preheat oven to 375 . Place rack in upper-middle position.
Spray the interiors of eight 4 oz. ramekins with a no-stick spray (such as Pam for Baking). Or, lightly coat the ramekins with butter and then coat with granulated sugar. Personally, I find that the no-stick spray to be essential for removing the cakes from the ramkeins. Place ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet.
Melt the 2 chocolates and butter in a double boiler (or make your own by placing a medium bowl over a medium saucepan that has simmering water). Stir until chocolate is smooth.
In a large bowl, whisk sugar and cornstarch together. Add chocolate mixture and stir well. Then add eggs, egg yolk, Grand Marnier and whish 'til thoroughly combined.
Place 1/2 C. of batter into each ramekin. Place ramekins on rimmed baking sheet and bake until tops have set (shiny crust and beginning to crack...kinda the way a brownie looks) about 16-20 minutes.
Remove ramekins to a cooling rack (off pan) and cool for about 2 minutes. Run paring knife around edge of cake. Using a towel, pick up ramekin and invert onto a small plate. Then immediately invert again onto individual serving plated (I actually skip this step). Dust with powdered sugar. Serve immediately, since the whole point is to have a warm cake with molten center.