All the Chocolate You Want!

What food carries a heavier burden of expectation and cliche than chocolate?

Every year chocolate is celebrated on Valentine’s Day for its sensual romantic symbolism, its power as an aphrodisiac to awaken slumbering passions. Its bittersweet complexity is as sharp and rewarding as love itself. But if an edible substitute for love is what you’re after, there are other foods that fill the void more easily and with less attendant baggage than chocolate.

Still, it’s easy to see where chocolate gets its reputation. Caffeine and sugar make it a stimulant rivaled by few other foods. It melts yieldingly at body temperature. Historically it’s been used to treat everything from poor appetite to mental fatigue, and heroes of children’s literature have self-medicated with the stuff to great effect. Harry Potter eats chocolate to ward off the chill caused by soul-sucking Dementors. Charlie Bucket drinks a nourishing draught from a warm chocolate river in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

Now it looks as if every fantasy of chocolate as a health food might be true. Marcel Desaulniers, known for gratuitously sexy, truly dark chocolate desserts with names like “Chocolate Bypass Cake,” refers in his latest book, “Death by Chocolate Cakes” (William Morrow, $35), to the heartening results of a Harvard study in which candy eaters lived an average of a year longer than non-candy eaters.

Even more promising was the news a few months ago that chocolate contains some of the same antioxidants responsible for giving red wine and green tea their heart-healthy reputation.

Maybe in the not-too-distant future we’ll be reading about the “Chocolate Paradox,” as scientists scramble to account for the fact that people who regularly consume chocolate (along with lots of butter, sugar, cream and eggs-hey, we can dream!) lead longer, happier lives.

Which means that now is the time to share a chocolate dessert with your valentine, before it loses its cachet and becomes as romantic as a bowl of oat bran.

There’s no better meeting place for forks and spoons than the cream-filled center of a chocolate baba-a tender, subtly chocolate brioche soaked with rum syrup-or some other decadent confection.

On second thought, as good as these are, you’d better plan on making two-sharing might be hazardous to your health.

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Chocolate Soufflee Cakes

Active Work Time: 20 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Chocolate Granita

Active Work and Total Preparation Time: 20 minutes plus 3 hours chilling

Poached Pears Filled With Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache

Active Work Time: 1 hour * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour 30 minutes plus 1 hour chilling

Chocolate Rum Babas

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour plus 2 hours 15 minutes rising

These cream-filled, rum-soaked chocolate brioche are baked in 6-ounce ramekins, which makes them larger than traditional babas. The babas can be baked a day ahead, but don’t soak or fill them until a few hours before serving.

BABAS

2 teaspoons dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces and softened

* Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and whisk in the eggs.

* Combine the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. When the dough starts to look crumbly but has not yet come together, add the butter, a few pieces at a time. Increase the speed to medium and beat about half a minute until the butter is incorporated into the dough. This is a soft, sticky dough that will stick to the sides of the bowl.

* Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured board and bring it together into a ball. Cover it loosely with plastic wrap, set it in a warm place and let it rise until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

* Grease 6 (6-ounce) ramekins with butter. Divide the dough into 6 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place each ball into a ramekin. Cover the ramekins with plastic wrap and let the dough rise about 45 minutes.

* Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the babas until the tops begin to darken, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove them from the ramekins and allow to cool completely.

RUM SYRUP

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon dark rum

* Cook the sugar in the water in a small saucepan over medium heat until it dissolves. Bring the syrup to a simmer and remove from the heat. Stir in the rum.

ASSEMBLY

3/4 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon sugar

Few drops vanilla extract

* Cut a 1-inch hole in the bottom of each baba and use your fingers to make a hollow in the center. Do this gently, or the babas will crack. While the syrup is still warm, dip the babas into the syrup, one at a time, turning each to saturate all sides and keeping each baba in the syrup for about 30 seconds. Place the babas on a rack and let them stand about 15 minutes to cool completely and absorb the syrup.

* Whip the cream to firm peaks with the sugar and vanilla. Spoon or pipe the cream into the center of the babas. The babas can be served immediately or refrigerated up to several hours and moistened with additional syrup just before serving.

6 babas. Each baba: 579 ccalories; 254 mmg sodium; 154 mmg cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 88 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 2.31 grams fiber.

Chocolate Soufflee Cakes

Active Work Time: 20 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 45 minutes

A chocolate souffle cake should be intensely chocolatey but not at all dense, offering only the slightest springy resistance to dueling forks. A little cake flour gives this one just enough body to keep it from collapsing as it cools.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided

2 egg whites

2 tablespoons cake flour

Powdered sugar, for dusting

* Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter 4 (6-ounce) ramekins and dust them with granulated sugar, tapping out the excess.

* Melt the butter and chocolate together in the top of a double boiler set over, but not touching, simmering water. Remove the chocolate from the heat when melted, but keep it warm.

* Whip the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of sugar at high speed until thick and pale yellow, 5 to 7 minutes. Fold the yolk mixture into the melted chocolate.

* Butter 4 (6-ounce) ramekins and dust them with granulated sugar, tapping out the excess.

* In a clean bowl with a clean whisk, whip the egg whites until frothy. Gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and whip until very soft peaks form. Stir about a third of the whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it. Then pour the remaining beaten egg whites over the top. Gently fold the egg whites and chocolate mixture together. Sift the cake flour over the batter and gently fold it in.

* Pour the batter into the ramekins and bake the cakes until the tops are puffed and set and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 20 to 22 minutes. Sprinkle each with powdered sugar and serve warm or at room temperature. The cakes will fall slightly as they start to cool.

4 cakes. Each cake: 413 ccalories; 124 mg sodium; 191 mg cholesterol; 32 grams fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0.84 gram fiber.

Chocolate Granita

Active Work and Total Preparation Time: 20 minutes plus 3 hours chilling

This is a creamy granita.

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups water

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 cup whipping cream or creme fraiche

* Heat the sugar, water and vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 10 minutes.

* Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the chocolate and cocoa, stirring until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the vanilla bean. Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish and freeze until solid, several hours or overnight.

* Whip the cream or creme fraiche to soft peaks. Spoon or scoop the granita into dessert or parfait glasses and top with whipped cream or creme fraiche.

4 to 6 servings. Each of 6 servings: 265 calories; 9 mg sodium; 27 mg cholesterol; 32 grams fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 1.19 grams fiber.

Poached Pears Filled With Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache

Active Work Time: 1 hour * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour 30 minutes plus 1 hour chilling

Reduced poaching liquid makes a sauce for the pears, which have a chocolate truffle-like center. You can poach the pears one or two days before you plan to serve them.

GANACHE

2 tablespoons hazelnuts, lightly toasted and skinned

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup whipping cream

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

* Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Toast the hazelnuts on a jellyroll pan until they’re fragrant, 10 to 15 minutes. Place them in a kitchen towel and rub them briskly to remove the skins. Finely grind the nuts with the sugar in a food processor.

* Heat the cream to a simmer in a saucepan and remove it from the heat. Add the chocolate, stirring until it’s melted and smooth. Stir in the nuts. Refrigerate the ganache, stirring occasionally, until it’s cool but not firm, about 45 minutes.

* Before filling the pears, whisk the ganache gently to aerate it until it thickens slightly and very soft peaks form.

PEARS

4 ripe but firm pears such as Anjou or Cornice

3 1/2 cups red wine

3 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

* * Peel the pears, leaving the stems intact. Trim a thin slice off the bottom of each pear to give it a flat surface for standing upright on a plate. Using a paring knife or a melon baller, cut into the bottom of each pear and remove the core. Scoop out a small cavity in the center of each pear for the ganache filling.

* * Combine the wine, water, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon stick and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan and bring them to a simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Add the pears and simmer gently until tender when pierced with a knife, 25 to 30 minutes. Allow the pears to cool in the poaching liquid, then refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.

* * Remove the pears from the liquid, reserving 2 cups for the sauce. Pat the pears dry with a paper towel and pipe or spoon the ganache into the center of the pears. Refrigerate the pears until the ganache is set, about 30 minutes.

* * Bring the 2 cups of reserved poaching liquid to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil until the liquid is reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 5 minutes. To serve, stand a pear upright on a dessert plate and spoon a little sauce over it.

4 pears. Each pear: 571 calories; 10 mg sodium; 27 mg cholesterol; 16 grams fat; 116 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 3.27 grams fiber.

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Plates from Williams-Sonoma stores and footed glass from Saks Fifth Avenue, Pasadena.