California has more than just beaches…
by Katya Simkhovich
I was browsing through the hundreds of pictures I took during my trip to California over the summer and when I came across this beauty, I just had to share this miraculous creation with the world. The night I experienced this miracle of a dessert, we were having a delightful dinner at a sea-side restaurant named Moonshadows near Los Angeles. Now, I must compose myself before I go into the description of this dessert because of all these sensory memories that are bombarding me right now.
Okay, thank you for giving me a moment to compose myself. Now let me begin: When it arrives at the table it looks like your typical molten chocolate lava cake elegantly sprinkled with powdered sugar and decorated with an adorable sprig of mint. The scoop of coffee ice cream is melting off to the side, just begging you to dig in as soon as possible. The cake itself sits in diminutive pond of spiced coffee sauce that takes the luxurious flavor of coffee in this dessert to a whole other level (which you can barely see because I have devoured into near extinction). And when you just can’t seem to stare at the melting ice cream a moment longer you dig into the cake itself, unleashing a flood of hazelnut flavored cream mixed with a perfectly gooey chocolate center. Oh my lordy. What perfection. And the hazelnut cream, it’s no wimpy cream that barely tastes of hazelnuts. It’s an explosion of hazelnut flavor. In your mouth. It’s pretty awesome.
Well, now that I have revealed to you my desperate love for this dessert maybe one of you, yes you dear readers, will be inspired to try something similar instead of your ordinary molten chocolate lava cake (not to say that those aren’t amazing)? I know I am.
