Spiced Chocolate Cake

Paris-based pastry chef David Lebovitz serves up warm spiced chocolate cake. He was the former pastry chef at Chez Panisse and is the author of Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments and The Great Book of Chocolate. His latest book, Living the Sweet Life in Paris: Adventures of an American Pastry Chef, will be published in May 2009. To read about David's sweet life in Paris, visit his blog.

Warm Individual Spiced Chocolate Cakes

Makes 6 cakes

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

2. Butter six heatproof coffee or custard cups. Dust the insides with sugar and tap out any excess.

3. In a medium-sized bowl, melt the chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in half of the sugar, then the yolks. Then mix in the vanilla, brandy, and spices.

Music break: Girls and Boys in Love by the Rumble Strips