Molten chocolate cake? I think not.

Have you ever had a really great molten chocolate cake? If you have, then you know that it is typically a moist, individually-portioned cake that is deliberately underbaked so that the middle gets hot and gooey but doesn't set. Thus, when you cut into it, the "molten" chocolate in the center oozes out, mixing with the cake into a rich, tasty feast.

When I ordered a molten chocolate cake at Bugaboo Creek Steak House, I didn't expect it to be great, but I did expect it to be decent. Unfortunately, the dessert failed to live up to even this modest expectation. Rather than a rich cake with a gooey center, I received a dry cake with little taste, topped with hot fudge sauce and accompanied by a scoop of ice cream with fake vanilla flavor. The fudge sauce actually wasn't bad, and if there had been more of it, it might have better masked the lousy cake, but there wasn't enough sauce to get a decent sauce-to-cake ratio in each bite.

This is the third time I've had a disappointing dessert at Bugaboo Creek, so it's probably the last time. If it weren't conveniently located halfway between our house and that of our friends with small children, I'm not even sure I'd go back.

Oreo and peppermint frappe

For those who aren't from the Boston area, I should mention that what the rest of the U.S. calls a milkshake, we call a frappe. (Here, a milkshake is milk and syrup, blended or shaken until frothy.)

Anyway, at the local ice cream shop, Colleen's, they have Brigham's ice cream (a local brand that's quite good for packaged ice cream). Two of my favorite flavors are Oreo and Peppermint Stick. Since chocolate and peppermint go together nicely, I decided one day to try the two flavors together in a frappe. Since then, if I'm at Colleen's and in the mood for a frappe, it's the one I always order. Rich, creamy, chocolaty-minty goodness that you can drink with a straw (though sometimes chunks of Oreo block it up). Summertime refreshment at its best.

Molten Chocolate at Finale

It's hard to believe I've had The Dessert Blog for so long and haven't yet mentioned Finale. For those not in the Boston area, Finale is a dessert restaurant with a few locations in and around the city. It's very high end, with $10 "plated desserts" and a large selection of dessert wines, dessert martinis, etc. There are also a few appetizers and such, in case you're too hungry for just a dessert, but really the focus is on the sweets.

Last night, I went there with my wife and a couple friends, and I ordered one of my favorites: Molten Chocolate. I've seen (and tasted) this basic idea of a chocolate cake with a warm liquid/gooey chocolate center in many restaurants, but this is by far the best version I've had. High quality chocolate, exactly the right consistency inside and out, a Valhrona chocolate sauce, and a small but high-quality scoop of gelato (coffee by default, but I substituted vanilla). Combine that with a nice glass of sherry, and you really have yourself a treat. A treat that costs $20+, mind you, but a treat nonetheless.