Chocolate Lava Cake

Chocolate Lava Cake
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Chocolate lava cake — also known as molten chocolate cake — is a restaurant favorite dessert that oozes a liquidy chocolate center when it's cut into. It is decadent and delicious. But you don't have to wait until your next meal out to make these treats. With just five ingredients, this easy recipe makes two perfect servings (though you can certainly double it). If you want more guidance, check out our guide on how to make the perfect decadent chocolate lava cake from scratch with step-by-step photos and instructions.Recipe by Angela Carlos for The Daily Meal
Prep Time
10
minutes
Cook Time
15
minutes
Servings
2
servings
Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe - The Daily Meal
Total time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
  • nonstick cooking spray
  • 2 tablespoon sugar, plus a pinch more for ramekins
  • 4 ounce semi-sweet chocolate
  • 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • pinch of salt
  • berries, whipped cream and/or ice cream to serve with the lava cake
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 425F. Generously spray the insides of 2 (6-ounce) ramekins with nonstock cooking spray. Sprinkle a small spoonful of sugar in the cups, move the cups around to coat the sides and bottom with the sugar. Flip the ramekins over to remove any excess sugar.
  2. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 4 ounces chocolate by heating on high at 30-second intervals, stirring in between to ensure the chocolate melts evenly and does not burn.
  3. Cut the 2 tablespoons room temperature butter into 1/4-inch cubes. Combine with 2 tablespoons sugar in a large mixing bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together using an electric mixer. The creamed butter will look like a smooth paste, free of lumps, when you are done.
  4. Add the 2 eggs, one at a time, beating with your electric mixer to incorporate. The batter should be smooth and foaming slightly.
  5. Add 2 tablespoons flour and pinch of salt. Beat with your electric mixer to combine the ingredients. Make sure there aren’t any pockets of flour in the batter. But do not overmix; once the flour is added, the gluten bonds that give the cake its structure will start to form so you want to be careful not to over mix this delicate cake or the final product might turn out tough.
  6. Temper the batter with the warm chocolate by adding just a third of the melted chocolate to start. Stir to incorporate the chocolate — it is OK is streaks are visible at this point.
  7. Add the remaining chocolate to the batter. Using your rubber spatula, gently fold the batter, starting at 12 o’clock, dragging your spatula down the center of batter, finally folding half the batter onto the other half. Repeat this step until there are no visible streaks.
  8. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared ramekins. The cups should be 3/4 full with batter.
  9. Place the cakes on the baking sheet and carefully transfer the cakes to the center rack of your pre-heated oven. Bake them until the edges just start to pull away from sides of the ramekin, about 10 minutes.
  10. Let the chocolate lava cakes sit in their ramekins for another 5 minutes after they are removed from the oven to finish cooking. Then, flip the molds over onto your serving plate in one motion. Tap the bottom of the mold with your hand to encourage the cakes to release from the ramekins.
  11. Garnish your unmolded lava cake with fresh berries, whipped cream, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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