Molten chocolate cakes in a salted caramel sauce

For a lighter version, you can make a fruit caramel sauce instead, using honey and grapefruit juice. Reduce that down until it’s sticky. You can also replace the mascarpone with light crème fraiche.

Cakes

½ cup	Vegetable oil
250 ml	Cream
50 ml	Espresso coffee
1 cup	Water, boiling
1 tsp	Vanilla essence
2	Eggs, beaten
2 cups	Sugar
1 tsp	Salt
2 tsp	Baking soda
⅔ cup	Cocoa powder (Main)
1 ¾ cups	Plain flour
½ cup	Almonds, natural
½ cup	Walnut pieces
½ cup	Dried blueberries
300 ml	Mascarpone

Salted caramel sauce

1 cup	Caster sugar
100 g	Butter, cut into small cubes
150 ml	Cream
1 tsp	Salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Lightly spray a 6-hole Texas muffin tray.
3. Place oil in a large mixing bowl and, stirring with a whisk, add the next 8 ingredients, one at a time in the order listed, until combined.
4. Sift together cocoa and flour and add to the wet mix. Whisk well to combine (the mixture should be quite runny).
5. Divide evenly between the muffin tins and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool in the tins, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
7. Place the cakes in a large casserole dish, or baking tray (stove-top safe) with high sides.
8. For the salted caramel sauce, pour the sugar into a heavy pan and allow to melt over a low heat. When melted, turn up the heat and allow to bubble until you achieve a nut brown caramel colour. Carefully whisk in the butter a bit at a time. Now, whisk in the cream and return to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, add salt to taste.
9. To serve, pour the salted caramel sauce around the cakes and top with almonds, walnut pieces and dried blueberries. Place the dish on the stovetop and heat until the sauce boils. Keep sauce boiling for a couple of minutes, then take off heat.Serve cakes with ample sauce and a dollop of mascarpone.