baking/recipes/sweets

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe

Posted April 25, 2017 by Stephanie

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

Is there anything better than molten chocolate lava cake? It has the reputation of being basic, but if basic tastes like rich chocolate cake with a liquid, melty center, well, call me basic! I don’t really know why people hate on lava cake so much. Yeah, it’s a little over played, but I love desserts that combine hot and cold and a warm from the oven lava cake with creamy cold ice cream is my idea of awesome.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

I made these for our friends at Collectively to celebrate their birthday and new site. Mike and I collaborate with the Collectively girls from time to time and they are super fun to work with.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

This was my first time making lava cake and I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it came together. I used a best of Bon Appetit recipe. Most lava cakes get the lava by under baking, but I chose this recipe because the lava is actually melty ganache. You make a ganache, chill it, then pop it into the middle of your cakes. When you bake, the center gets molten and bonus, you’re not eating under baked cake! The only thing I wish I did differently was making sure I had enough ganache in each cake. Initially I thought I would get 9 mini cakes out of the recipe (the original calls for 4 six ounce ramekins) but when I was portioning out, I realized that I would only have enough batter for 6. But, in my haste for warm chocolate cake, I under portioned the ganache.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

Sad face because these weren’t as molten as I wanted, but in the end I was pretty happy about these guys.

So, cheers Collectively! Here’s to a bright year ahead!

xoxo steph

PS – This post isn’t sponsored, lol.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe
makes 6 mini cakes or 4 regular size ones


  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces, divided
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for ramekins
  • demerara or raw sugar (for sprinkling)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

via Bon Appetit

In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat until it just comes to a simmer. Place 2 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl and pour the cream over, stirring until smooth and chocolate is completely melted. Place in the fridge for 1 hour, to firm up.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. You can either make 4 six ounce ramekins or 9 three and a half ounce ramekins. Lightly butter the ramekins and sprinkle with demerara sugar to create a light coating.

In a heatproof bowl, combine the remaining 5 ounces of chocolate along with the 6 tablespoons of butter. Set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, being careful not to let the water touch the underside of the bowl. Stir constantly until completely melted.

In a stand mixer, beat together the eggs and brown sugar until light, fluffy, and tripled in volume, about 4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and then gently fold in the chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour and salt until smooth.

Divide the half of the batter among the ramekins. About 1/3 cup for the 4 ounce ramekins, and 2 tablespoons for the 3.5 ounce ramekins. Place a tablespoon of chilled ganache into the center of each half-filled ramekin and top with the remaining batter.

Bake until the tops are firm, but the cakes are still wobbly when jiggled, 13-15 minutes for the 4 ounce and 9-12 for the small. Let cool for 30 seconds before tipping onto plates and serving immediately. Enjoy!

10 Comments

  1. Bryn Broussard says:

    Does the recipe as written have enough ganache or should I increase the amount? Thanks!

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi bryn,
      it definitely has enough, i just accidentally discarded the “extra,” ie, i didn’t divide it equally. just make sure you use all of the ganache!

      1. Bryn Broussard says:

        Thank you! I’m pretty “basic” so I’m definitely looking forward to these.

  2. i’m a perpetual overbaker of molten lava cakes, so i like the sound of using ganache inside. sounds like the best way to get guaranteed moltenness!

  3. I love lava cakes ? I will try this recipe out for sure!

  4. Have always meant to try a chocolate lava cake and never have, but this looks easy to make and…delicious :) Love that you use a ganache too.

  5. Andrew Brown says:

    Omg! Made these the other day, had to comment, they were absolutely delish. I had to replace the Chocolate with Marmite, (as i’m a vegan!) but you could hardly tell the difference! Certainly was a nice change, from the usual sticks and leaves that we normally eat. Yummers!

  6. madhurika says:

    Hey, Stephanie, your recipe on molten chocolate lava cake looks so mouth watering! I love chocolate so much it’s my all time favorite, like chocolate in any form, shape, size anything with chocolate is amazing !!! It’s really cool how you coated the muffin tray with brown sugar, I have never seen something like that before. I’m for sure going to try it some day! Thank you for providing an awesome recipe.

  7. Mélissa says:

    Looks awesome! Can I make it ahead and pop them in the oven when ready to cook?

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi,
      yes, you can make them ahead, assemble them, tightly wrap them and freeze. when you want to bake, let them sit out at room temp for 1 hour before baking. hope that helps!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

$(function(){ var trigger = $('.hamburger'), overlay = $('.overlay'), isClosed = false; trigger.click(function () { hamburger_cross(); }); function hamburger_cross() { if (isClosed == true) { overlay.hide(); trigger.removeClass('is-open'); trigger.addClass('is-closed'); isClosed = false; } else { overlay.show(); trigger.removeClass('is-closed'); trigger.addClass('is-open'); isClosed = true; } } $('[data-toggle="offcanvas"]').click(function () { $('#wrapper').toggleClass('toggled'); }); bindBehavior.subscribe(); });