It was the cake of the decade. In the 1990s, whether at Michelin-starred Manhattan eateries or the casual dining chains that dotted the United States, molten chocolate lava cake was king. This individual-sized chocolate cake was dusted with confectioner’s sugar and featured a rich, chocolatey, and liquified center. It went by many names, from Chocolate Valrhona Cake at hugely acclaimed French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s JoJo Restaurant in Manhattan to the Triple Chocolate Meltdown at Applebee’s.
While there’s no doubt that Vongerichten’s version is the one that made this cake famous stateside (just one iconic chocolate dish from a celebrity chef), the actual originator of this famous dessert is, like the gooey center of the cake, a bit sticky. Many believe it’s the celebrated Michelin-starred French chef Michel Bras who deserves the honor. In 1981, six years before Vongerichten accidentally came up with his version, Bras introduced his Biscuit de Chocolat Coulant at his restaurant Bras in Laguiole, France. He’d spent two long years perfecting the recipe that he first dreamed up after a ski trip with his kids. “I wanted to translate the emotion evoked by coming home to find a mug of hot chocolate after a day of skiing,” he told Thrillist in 2017. His version involved using a frozen ganache ball that, when baked in the cake, became its molten center. Still, it’s Vongerichten who gets credit (or blame) for the version that became a staple of casual chain restaurants like Chili’s, which still serves its Molten Chocolate Cake — a chain restaurant dessert worth saving room for.
Two different cakes with the same result
In 1987, Jean-Georges Vongerichten — before launching his own culinary empire — was baking 500 individual chocolate cakes for a private party at Manhattan’s Restaurant Lafayette, where he was executive chef. He was using his mother’s recipe and mistakenly undercooked the desserts. When cut into, they oozed chocolate, and they soon made a huge splash at his restaurant JoJo when he put them on the menu in 1991. His version is simpler — with only four ingredients, it only needs to be slightly undercooked to achieve the desired effect. The cake’s provenance seemed to be a sore spot with Vongerichten. In a 1991 article in The New York Times, when asked about the cakes, he answered: “They’re mine, they’re mine!”
Still, there are other pretenders to the molten lava cake crown. There’s French chef Michael Richard, who is sometimes credited with the cake’s invention. Then there’s home baker Ella Rita Helfrich, who won a Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966 with her Tunnel of Fudge cake. In 1991, renowned pastry chef and chocolatier Jacques Torres, owner of one of New York’s most popular bakeries, recalled coming across this cake years earlier when he worked in the south of France. But it’s Bras (pictured above) who deserves acclaim for the energy he put into his version of a molten chocolate cake. It may not have been the one that kicked off America’s decade-long love affair with the dessert, but it’s an exquisite example of culinary brilliance.
