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These rich, delicious Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes are sort of like a cross between a soufflé and a flourless chocolate cake, except way easier. They have a deep chocolate flavor with a molten, liquid inside that oozes out once you cut into each individually plated cake.
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5 from 8 votes

Molten Lava Cake Recipe

These rich, delicious Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes are sort of like a cross between a soufflé and a flourless chocolate cake, except much easier.  They have a deep chocolate flavor with a molten, liquid inside that oozes out once you cut into each individually plated cake.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time12 minutes
Total Time22 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 597kcal
Author: Amy Nash

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • ½ cup salted butter, cut into chunks (1 stick)
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 egg yolks

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray 4 ramekins with cooking spray and dust them with a little bit of cocoa powder so your cakes won't stick. Flour would work as well, but you might see it when the cakes are inverted and it will mar the effect of a perfect chocolate molten lava cake.
  • Place the chopped chocolate and butter into a large microwave-safe bowl and melt on high in the microwave in 10 second increments, stirring with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon between each increment, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. On my microwave, that is almost always between 70 and 90 seconds, but make sure you break up that cooking time with the increments so as not to burn the chocolate or have it seize during the melting process.
  • Whisk the flour and powdered sugar together and dump into the melted chocolate. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks together in the same bowl you used for the flour (why dirty a third bowl?) and add that to the chocolate as well, then gently stir all of the ingredients together with your rubber spatula or wooden spoon. If your batter is lumpy, use the whisk to gently get rid of them, but you don't want to go crazy whisking the batter if you can help it.
  • Divide the batter evenly between the prepared ramekins, then place them on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes until the sides appear to be set even if the top center of each cake still looks soft.
  • Remove from oven and let the cakes sit in the ramekins for 1 minute before carefully inverting each ramekin over a serving plate. Be sure to use oven mitts because the ramekins will be super hot. If the cakes don't release after a moment or two, try running a sharp paring knife around the inside edge of each cake and inverting again, but if you remembered to dust the ramekins with cocoa powder, they should just slide out.
  • Serve immediately with strawberries or raspberries, vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup.

Notes

Don't use semisweet chocolate chips in this recipe!  You won't end up with nearly as much "lava" inside your cakes because chocolate chips have different baking properties than higher quality semisweet chocolate.  I mean, you can if you are in an absolute pinch (I know I have), but the results just aren't the same.

Nutrition

Calories: 597kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 44g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 243mg | Sodium: 243mg | Potassium: 297mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 30g | Vitamin A: 979IU | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 4mg