Individual Fallen Chocolate Cakes

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease eight 6-ounce ramekins and dust with flour or cocoa. Arrange ramekins on rimmed baking sheet. Melt butter and chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth. Remove from heat.
2. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip eggs, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, and salt on high speed until volume nearly triples, color is very light, and mixture drops from beaters in smooth, thick stream, about 5 minutes.
3. Scrape egg mixture over chocolate mixture, then sprinkle flour on top. Gently fold egg mixture and flour into chocolate until mixture is uniformly colored. Ladle or pour batter into prepared ramekins. (Unbaked cakes can be refrigerated for up to 8 hours. Return to room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.)
4. Bake until cakes have puffed about 1⁄2 inch above rims of ramekins, have thin crust on top, and jiggle slightly at center when ramekins are shaken very gently, 12 to 13 minutes. Run knife around inside edges of ramekins to loosen cakes, invert onto individual serving plates, and let sit until cakes release themselves from ramekins, about 1 minute. Lift off ramekins, dust with confectioners’ sugar, if using, and/or dollop with whipped cream, if using, and serve.

ORANGE FALLEN CHOCOLATE CAKES
Fold 1 tablespoon grated orange zest and 2 tablespoons orange liqueur into beaten egg and melted chocolate mixture with flour in step 3.

FALLEN CHOCOLATE CAKE
One large fallen chocolate cake can be prepared in a springform pan. Do not use a regular cake pan, as the cake will be impossible to remove once baked. Though the cake is best when served warm (within about 30 minutes of being unmolded), it can be held in the pan for up to 2 hours before serving.
Substitute greased 8- or 9-inch springform pan for ramekins. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake until cake looks puffed, thin top crust has formed, and center jiggles slightly when pan is shaken gently, 22 to 25 minutes for 9-inch pan or 27 to 30 minutes for 8-inch pan. Let cake cool for 15 minutes, then run thin knife between cake and sides of pan and remove sides of pan. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar, if using, and/or dollop with whipped cream, if using, and serve.