There are inventions destined to change people's futures forever, like the telephone, the light bulb, or the automobile. And then there are others that, without any revolutionary ambition, enter people's lives and never leave. This also happens in the world of gastronomy, where dozens and dozens of dishes have managed to sneak onto the menus of any restaurant, pizzeria, pub, trattoria, or even the small diner down the street. And the reason likely lies in a combination of factors: perhaps because they're easy to make, simple to interpret, or because they're made with ingredients that satisfy everyone's palate, young and old, American, French, Mexican, or Chinese.
Just to give a few examples – the first that come to mind – think of pizza, lasagna, tiramisu, burgers, cookies: traditional dishes that have been exported abroad. And since we care so much about the paternity of certain recipes, we must be ready to accept the fact that another dish so beloved – and not only by us – and which is served in every place in the world authorized to serve food, can be defined as a poor copy – or, at least, a more pop-oriented one – of a dessert born in 1981. We are talking about the chocolate lava cake with a soft (or warm, if you prefer) center: a dessert created by the mind of one of the greatest French chefs, Michel Bras, for years in charge of his 3 Michelin Star (now 2) Le Suquet.
The Coulant au Chocolat by Michel Bras
No, throwing that frozen treat in the oven hoping for a miraculous flow when you cut it doesn't mean you're cooking a star-studded dessert. Because the original cake invented by Bras isn't exactly like the one we eat today—that sort of slightly deflated muffin from which a small, incandescent cascade of semi-raw batter emerges, which, in all honesty, we don't mind. Its French ancestor is more of a biscuit cylinder with a warm, liquid (here, really) chocolate center, and the story behind its creation seems to fit its unique characteristics perfectly, almost as if it were invented solely to explain its origins.
It's the early 1980s: the Bras family, returning from a ski trip, decides to warm their palates and souls with a delicious hot chocolate. We needn't explain the pleasant sensation this drink instills on a cold winter's day. A sensation so intense that Bras decided to recreate it in a dessert: brilliant, yes, but how? It took two years of trial, error, and experimentation to arrive at what was dubbed coulant au chocolat, or "chocolate fondant." As reported on the official Michelin Guide website, Bras stated that his desire was to create a dessert "that offers the sensation of the sweetness of homemade chocolate and evokes the feeling of returning from a family ski trip."
What the First Real Chocolate Lava Cake in History Was Like
If we say that the chocolate lava cake is a poor copy, it's not just because we're not Michelin-starred chefs, but also because the original version isn't exactly like what we're used to today. Bras's dessert is made with a biscuit dough and a frozen cube of chocolate ganache, and what happens when it's baked is easy to imagine: while the dough solidifies, like a biscuit, the chocolate inside melts. The result? A splendid biscuit shell in the shape of a little tower from which a small flow of pure nectar of the gods emerges.
Over the years, Sébastien Bras, Michel's son, has created several unique versions as a tribute to his father's invention. Heading the kitchen at the two-starred Le Suquet —a restaurant that earned its three stars in 1999 and maintained them until 2017, when Sébastien asked the Guide to withdraw the recognition so he could work more calmly—Bras's heir has created variations with coffee, caramel, berries, apricots, blueberries, and even a savory asparagus version. Some interesting versions—such as the one with toasted vanilla—can also be found at Halle aux Grains, a Parisian restaurant where the two Bras brothers, father and son, are in charge.
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