Can a cake be romantic? This one is. It delivers a hefty dose of chocolate, which doesn’t hurt. It’s loyal: it won’t fail you, like a collapsed soufflé. And it’s so easy, it barely counts as baking. You can count on this one.

Inspired by Swedish kladd kaka, this “Sticky” Chocolate Cake has a gooey texture somewhere between a brownie and a chocolate lava cake (with a fraction of the effort required for either one). Whatever your Valentine’s Day plans this year, make this elegant one-bowl cake to impress a date or savor as a personal treat.

First, a cocoa comparison

You might notice as you peruse the brief ingredient list—salted butter, cocoa powder, brown sugar, eggs, salt, all-purpose flour and chocolate chips—that this recipe doesn’t specify which type of cocoa to use. There’s a reason for that! The two most common types of cocoa called for in baking recipes are Dutched (or Dutch processed) and natural, and the distinction has to do with pH. Baking soda is alkaline, so cakes leavened with it are usually balanced with acidic natural cocoa (it’s fruitier, citrusy and a little bitter). Baking powder contains both basic and acidic elements, so you don't need to provide a source of acid. Thus, Dutch processed cocoa is often the choice to go with baking powder: It’s cocoa that’s been alkalized to the point of being pH-neutral, so the two are a natural pairing. It’s richer, darker and earthy. Recipes that use both leaveners will usually tell you which type of cocoa to use.

For this cake, the type of cocoa you use doesn’t matter, as there aren't any chemical leavening agents in this recipe (which helps achieve the gooey final texture). Feel free to use whatever you have on hand. Tip: When I have it around, I swap 10% of Dutch processed cocoa with black cocoa, the deep, intense, inky black cocoa powder that gives Oreos their signature color. A little goes a long way—I don’t recommend a full swap of the powders (it’s ultra-Dutch processed and fatless, so black cocoa can dry out baked goods).

Brown your butter

This step only takes a couple of minutes, but adds so much flavor to your final product. To brown butter, melt it and cook until the milk solids caramelize and brown. This intensifies its toasty flavor and nutty aroma. Browning happens quickly, often in under five minutes, so don’t walk away from your saucepan. And use a dish with higher sides than you think you need; butter can sizzle and spit as it browns.

About those chocolate chips

The first time I came across this recipe, I was surprised to see chocolate chips in something so... elegant. But they work. Chocolate chips have: 1) less cocoa butter and 2) added stabilizers, which is why they hold their shape when baked into cookies or loaves—they don’t melt and harden into pools quite as much. In this cake, whole chocolate chips create little pockets of gooey texture within the soft cake, which adds interest. Just find the best quality chocolate chips you can.

If you really want to use an equivalent of baking chocolate, look for something with 60 to 70% cacao and cut it on the diagonal with a large knife, so the bar chips and splinters into shards.

How to get clean slices

The most confounding thing about this gooey cake is how to get clean slices—otherwise, why not just make a pudding or a trifle? Milk Street TV has the solution. Have a bowl of warm water nearby to dunk your knife into between every cut. Neat slices achieved.

Finish with some tang

I like a little acid to balance out the amount of rich chocolate flavor this dessert packs. Whipped cream spiked with yogurt, sour cream, liqueur and the like offers the perfect relief. My addition of choice is a tablespoon or two of crème fraîche or pulverized freeze-dried raspberries. (The latter is a little extra work, but the swoop of pink is a sweet nod to Valentine’s Day.)

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Priyanka Shahane