Rich and decadent molten lava cakes filled with a silky gooey chocolate filling. These lave cakes are super easy to make with just 5 ingredients in under 30 minutes. They make a delicious dessert or Valentine’s day treat!
Molten lava cakes are the king of chocolate desserts. We like to make them on special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, and especially Valentine’s day. You can’t go wrong with a rich and chocolate dessert that’s loaded with a gooey molten lava center. It’s a favorite of both kids and adults and will be sure to impress your guests and loved ones.
I’m going to show you how to make the BEST and EASIEST molten lava cakes and once you get the hang of it, I promise you’ll be able to make them in a snap. This recipe only requires 5-6 basic ingredients that you probably already have in your fridge and pantry.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE MOLTEN LAVA CAKES
You will only need 5 basic ingredients to make these lava cakes and 2 optional flavors that can be added to add depth. To make chocolate molten lava cakes you will need:
Baking Chocolate: For the lava cakes we like to use 60% bittersweet chocolate. It’s perfect because it has a deep chocolate flavor and is not as sweet as semi-sweet chocolate. If you CAN NOT find the 60% bittersweet chocolate, feel free to use semi-sweet chocolate and reduce the sugar by 1/4th cup.
Butter: The butter is another essential ingredient in this decadent recipe so be sure to use the best butter you can find.
Eggs: no need to separate yolks and white for this recipe! Simply use whole eggs and be sure to beat them well.
Sugar: This recipe uses ½ cup of sugar for lava cakes that are not too sweet or too bitter. If you are making these lava cakes low carb, feel free to sub the sugar with a low carb sweetener with a 1:1 ratio.
Flour: No special flour necessary. All-purpose flour works perfectly If you are on a low-carb diet use almond flour instead with a 1:1 ratio.
Vanilla: This ingredient is optional but highly recommended!
Instant coffee or espresso powder: This is also an optional ingredient that adds a depth of flavor and enhances the lava cakes!
CAN I USE DIFFERENT SIZE RAMEKINS?
We like to use 4 oz ramekins for lava cakes because they make a perfect serving size of this incredibly rich dessert. This set from Amazon is perfect for these lava cakes at a super affordable price.
To use muffin cups: generously grease 6 muffin cups with butter and dust with coat or sugar (or both!). Divide mixture evenly into muffin tin and bake 10 minutes. This method is not the best because you will need to flip all the lava cakes at once so it requires some risk and patience.
To use 6 oz ramekins: divide the batter into 3 ramekins and bake 12-14 minutes.
To use 8 oz ramekins: divide the batter into 2 ramekins and bake 12-14 minutes.
CAN I FREEZE LAVA CAKES OR PREP AHEAD OF TIME?
Many people don’t think about this hack but yes, lava cakes are actually great prepared ahead of time and freeze well too.
To prepare the night before, make the recipe until the part where you place the batter into the ramekins then cover the ramekins and place in the fridge over-night. This should not affect the baking time.
To Freeze: Follow the recipe up to adding the batter into the ramekins then cover tightly and freeze up to 2 weeks. To bake, thaw ramekins for 30 minutes – 1 hour then bake as directed plus 5 minutes longer.
HOW TO SERVE LAVA CAKES
These delicious lava cakes are already good on their own and can simply be served with a light drizzle of cocoa powder or powdered sugar and a few berries.
If you would like to go the extra step, top them with vanilla ice-cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. The result is a warm lava cake with ice-cold ice cream that is out of this world!
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4.64 from 33 votes
Easy Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes
Rich and decadent molten lava cakes filed with a silky gooey chocolate filling. These lave cakes are super easy to make with just 5 ingredients in under 30 minutes. They make a delicious dessert or Valentine’s day treat!
Prep10 minutes mins
Cook12 minutes mins
Servings 5 people
Ingredients
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 4 oz butter
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon Instant coffee or espresso powder, optional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Generously butter and dust 5 (4 oz) ramekins with cocoa powder or sugar; set aside.
In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate and butter in 30-second increments.
In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Whisk in the melted chocolate along with the flour, vanilla, and instant coffee if desired.
Divide batter into ramekins and place them on a baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes or until the edges begin to pull away from the ramekins but the center is still jiggly.
Remove from oven and serve immediately with ice cream.
Video
Notes
To use semi-sweet chocolate: Increase the chocoalte to 6 oz and reduce sugar to 1/4th cup.
To make low-carb/Keto: Replace the sugar with powdered erythritol and replace the flour with almond flour.
To use different size ramekins: Divide batter into 2-3 (6-8 oz) ramekin sand bake 12-14 minutes or divide into 6 well greased muffin cups and bake 10-12 minutes.
To freeze or make overnight: make the recipe until the part where you place the batter into the ramekins then cover the ramekins and place in the fridge over-night. To freeze, cover the batter and freeze up to 2 weeks, thaw 30mins-1 hour then bake 5 minutes longer.
Nutrition
Serving: 1lava cake, Calories: 434kcal, Carbohydrates: 37g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 30g, Saturated Fat: 17g, Cholesterol: 148mg, Sodium: 202mg, Potassium: 165mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 29g, Vitamin A: 721IU, Calcium: 34mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Additional Info
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cakes, chocolate, desserts, lava, molten
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Categorized as: All Recipes, Dessert
