Chocolate Melting Cakes

 There are a number of versions of this recipe with slightly different proportions.

Carnival Cruises are known for chocolate melting cakes, and here is a recipe I found shortly after being on a Carnival cruise in 2008:

Carnival Cruise Warm Chocoloate Melting Cake

• 8 oz semisweet chocolate
• 1 c butter
• 7 eggs
• 6 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 c flour

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 8 oven-safe ramekins. Melt the chocolate and butter together over very low heat. Cool 10 min. In a mixing bowl, whisk 4 of the eggs with the sugar. Add flour and whisk well again. Add the 3 remaining eggs and whisk well. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and mix well. Divide among the 8 ramekins. Bake for 15-20 min until just done.

I most recently made the version below, which makes a smaller batch (it also has proportionately more sugar- this could be adjusted). 

Carnival Cruise Warm Chocoloate Melting Cake, V2

• 3/4 c dark chocolate chips (I used semisweet)
• 3/4 c butter
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 c flour

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 4 7oz. oven-safe ramekins. Melt the chocolate and butter together over very low heat. Cool 10 min. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together, then add vanilla and flour and whisk until well mixed. Combine egg mixture into cooled chocolate mixture. Fill the 7oz ramekins about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 14 minutes. The cake should be cake spongy on the top but the middle of the cake should be gooey-the consistency of pudding, not too runny. Do not let it overcook.

Note: When I made this recently, I used 6 smaller-sized ramekins to get 6 servings. It's rich, so this serving size was satisfying.