Love is in the air, and is always in the chocolate.  Today, Lily said to me when I handed her toast with butter on it, "Thank you, Mommy.  This is delicious!  Happy Valentine's Day, my best cutie girl!"  It was pretty adorable considering it was the simplest food I could have possibly made for her.  She's all about a good snuggle, so I should have known that Valentine's Day would be the one holiday that could get her mind off of Christmas (though she does still sing carols and watch Rudolph on a regular basis).

I baked these little cakes that I found on Cooking Light over the weekend because they are chocolate and gooey, but made with egg whites, so not as completely unhealthy as they might otherwise be.  Even with my uneven oven making some of the cakes go a little over, they were still fairly moist and definitely rich.  The other nice thing about little individual cakes is that you don't have to slice them, so serving is 100x easier and cleaner.  And when you're making dessert for Valentine's Day, you'd rather spend the evening playing kissy face than cleaning up a cake mess, amiright?

Hot Chocolate Fudge Cakes

3/4 cup all-purpose flour 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 5 teaspoons instant espresso or coffee powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 2/3 cup granulated sugar 2/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup egg whites 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/3 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, or other dark chocolate finely chopped 2 tablespoons powdered sugar Whipped cream for topping

Sift together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt.

Place the butter and sugars  in a large bowl or stand mixer, and beat at medium speed until they are well blended (a few minutes). Add the egg whites and vanilla, beating until well blended. Lower the speed and slowly add in the flour mixture.  Fold in the chocolate. Divide the batter evenly into 4 ounce ramekins (for me it makes about 8).  Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours up to 2 days.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Let the ramekins stand at room temperature 10 minutes. Uncover and bake at for about 21 minutes or until cakes are puffy and slightly crusty on top. Keep an eye on them, as different ovens cook differently and you don't want to over bake them.  Sprinkle evenly with powdered sugar, add a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream, and serve immediately.

Source: Adapted very slightly from Cooking Light