Carefully place the dish in the center of your preheated oven. Now, set a timer for 45 minutes, but start checking at 40. The baking time can vary slightly based on your dish and oven. You’re looking for a dramatic transformation: the edges will be set and pulling away slightly, the center will have a slight, beautiful jiggle (not a liquid wobble), and the top will be crackled and set. A toothpick inserted will not come out clean—it will have moist crumbs attached, and that’s perfect. The aroma filling your kitchen will be almost unbearable in its chocolatey goodness. When you pull it out, let it rest for at least 15-20 minutes. It needs this time to settle from a molten state into a gloriously gooey one.
Pro Tips for Best Results
I tested the butter drizzle three different ways: melted and poured, cold cubes dotted on top, and mixed into the batter. Melted and poured evenly over the top gave by far the best result—a perfectly crisp, golden-brown, buttery top layer. The cold cubes didn’t distribute well, and mixing it in made the cake greasy. Trust me, the drizzle is the way.
Here’s what I learned the hard way about doneness: this cake deceives you. If you wait for the center to look completely solid like a brownie, you’ve overbaked it and lost the signature “gooey.” You must embrace the jiggle. When the edges are firm and the center jiggles just slightly when you gently shake the pan, it’s done. It will continue to set as it cools.
For an even richer flavor, add one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to the milk before mixing, or stir a pinch of instant espresso powder into the dry mixes. The espresso doesn’t make it taste like coffee; it just deepens and amplifies the chocolate flavor in a way that makes people wonder what your secret is.(See the next page below to continue…)