To me, molten chocolate cake has always had an air of mystery about it. How could it be both a cake and a pudding at the same time?

I never got around to investigating, so I simply chalked it up to magic.

A few days ago, however, the mythic pastry arrived at our doorstep. It had been prepared by our downstairs neighbor during the course of an hour, supposedly from this Bon Appetit recipe. I didn’t buy that explanation. The flavor was too rich, the texture too perfect to be made in a city apartment.

It had to be magic. That’s the only conclusion. Because if not, I would have to accept that molten chocolate cake is made by actual people and is not procured through a Wonka-esque process of tapping chocolate magma deep below the earth’s crust.

I won’t accept that.

I can’t.