This Chocolate Lava Cake recipe is a quick and easy recipe for people who want to bake something indulgent but also want to make something that is quick. The chocolate Lava Cake is delicious it has a gooey rich chocolate center and is great for dinner parties, date nights, or just a sleepover.
There is a bit of confusion when it comes to who invented the Chocolate Lava Cake, the first name that appears is Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, an American chef based in New York who invented the chocolate lava cake in 1987. Another claim was made by French Chef, Jacques Torres who said that the chocolate lava cake was invented in France many years back.
How the Chocolate Lava Cake originated when a chocolate sponge cake was pulled out before its cooking time and the outside of the cake was cooked while the insides were still gooey. The cake was delicious and is now one of the most popular desserts in the world.
The reason they are loved so much is that they are cakey and soft from the outside and more gooey from the insides, the melted chocolate just oozes out from the center of this Chocolate Lava Cake when you dig in with your spoon. Eating a Chocolate Lava Cake is an experience and I am here to make the process of baking this beauty easy for you.
Why should you make a Chocolate Lava Cake?
Easy: Making this chocolate lava cake is easy. You can prepare the batter and bake it for 30 minutes straight. Simple ingredients go into making this chocolate lava cake and I promise you, it will become your favorite dessert very soon.
Impress Your Guests: Your guests will be impressed with this recipe and they will think you have spent hours in the kitchen preparing this dessert for them. It’s great for a crowd.
Chocolate: What’s not to love in this recipe, It is all chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate. This recipe is a dream for chocolate lovers and the cakey outside and the fudgy gooey insides of this cake make everyone smile with joy. This Chocolate Lava Cake is an amazing recipe to make and if you are a chocolate lover then dive in.
Toppings: the best thing about this chocolate lava cake is the topping you can go wild with them, either go the traditional way a lovely light cloud of sweetened whipped cream or a dusting of powdered sugar and if you want to indulge a bit more a nice fat squeeze of chocolate fudge sauce or a scoop of delicious vanilla ice cream placed on the hot chocolate lava cake, dig in as the ice cream melts and the gooey sauce from the inside of the lava cake turns into a delicious pool of mmmmm. Yum! do I need to say anything more 😊
What tools do you need to make a Chocolate Lava Cake?
Ramakins
Hand Mixer or a Stand Mixer.
Ingredients you will need in Chocolate Lava Cake
Chocolate: I used Amul 75 % in a chocolate lava cake the quality of the chocolate matters a lot as that’s what forms the gooey insides of the cake. The chocolate if good quality will make the inside of the lava cake smooth, silky, and decadent. So use good quality chocolate.
Butter: I use salted butter because I feel the salt in the butter makes the chocolate in the cake pop. That’s right I feel the salted butter yields a salted flavour to the chocolate because of which the chocolate is more flavourful. But if you don’t want the salt replace it with unsalted butter.
Eggs: you will need two eggs and two egg yolks. Make sure the eggs are room temperature as they will mix well in the batter if they are room temperature.
Sugar: Yes! you need a little sugar to make it sweet because just the chocolate would not sweeten it enough.
All Purpose Flour: purpose flour has been used to give structure to the chocolate lava cake, if there is too little flour the cake will not hold up with the gooey center once turned upside down, and if used too much the chocolate lava cake will be too cakey and the inside of the chocolate lava cake would not be gooey. So don’t miss adding the flour and weigh it accurately.
Vanilla: this needs vanilla essence as you wouldn’t want your chocolate lava cake to be eggy so use it, a good quality vanilla goes a long way.
Garnish for the Chocolate Lava Cake
Whipped cream
Shaved Chocolate
Icing sugar sprinkled on the Chocolate Lava Cake.
Vanilla Icecream
Fruits raspberry, strawberry etc
Chocolate Fudge Sauce
Whatever your heart desires.
How to make Chocolate Lava Cake?
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius and butter the ramakins from inside really well. Keep aside.
Melt the butter and the chocolate really well until smooth. Be gentle with it and do it over a double boiler.
Now whisk the eggs, yolks, salt, and sugar in a separate bowl till it is nice and voluminous, a pale yellow and frothy.
Add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture and very lightly mix it.
Now add the flour mixture and mix well with a spatula. The batter will be thick.
Spoon the batter now in the ramekins place them in a preheated oven on a baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the sides appear solid and firm and the middle is soft.
Let it sit for 6 minutes to cool down and then invert it. Garnish with whipped cream or shaved chocolate berries sifted icing sugar fudge sauce or ice cream. Enjoy!
Tips and Tricks
- Preheating the oven is very important as that ensures that the outside of the cake bakes before the center which is important for that gooey center.
- Sift the dry ingredients well as it will add air to your batter.
- Melt the chocolate and butter gently on the double boiler and make sure it doesn’t overheat as that could split the chocolate.
- Use good quality ingredients because that makes all the difference.
- You can use a muffin pan if you don’t have ramekins but remember to butter them and use coco powder to dust them before you spoon your batter in them, your oven time may vary from 5 – to 6 minutes.
- Keep an eye on those lava cakes as they bake fast and you definitely don’t want to overbake them. The center should be jiggly and the outside should be firmly cooked.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the other name for chocolate lava cake?
Chocolate Lava cake is also called molten chocolate cake and both of them are the same. There is no difference between them.
Can you make Lava Cake in the microwave?
Yes ! on convection mode.
What are the different variations of the lava cake?
Lemon Lava Cake, White chocolate lava cake, caramel, biscoff, Nutella etc
Is the filling of the lava cake cooked?
Yes, it’s safe to eat as it is baked at high temperature and eggs are safe to eat at 160 degrees c.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius and butter the ramakins from inside really well. Keep aside. Now it’s a good idea to really make your ramekins well buttered as that’s the reason the lava cake pops out easily when inverted. Do not leave this step out.
- Take the butter and cube it into small squares if using chocolate callets throw them in with the butter. If using a block of chocolate please cut the chocolate into small pieces. Place the chocolate and butter on a double boiler and let the butter and the chocolate melt really well until smooth. Be gentle with it.
- Now whisk the eggs, yolks, salt, and sugar in a separate bowl till it is nice and voluminous, a pale yellow and frothy.
- Add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture and very lightly mix it.
- Now add the flour mixture and mix well with a spatula. The batter will be thick.
- Spoon the batter now in the ramekins place them in a preheated oven on the baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the sides appear solid and firm and the middle is soft. If you feel that the top is wet keep it back inside the oven and let it bake for a further 5 minutes till it’s firm on top and not wet.
- Let it sit for 6 minutes to cool down and then invert it. Garnish with whipped cream shaved chocolate or berries sifted icing sugar fudge sauce or ice cream. Enjoy!
