Fauzia's Kitchen Fun

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

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Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

The molten chocolate lava cake is truly one of the most delicious and most romantic desserts. Is there anything more luscious than a moist warm chocolatey cake with a deliciously rich chocolate filling that spills out as you dip your spoon in? If you’ve never tasted this divine dish, then you are missing out!!
I love to serve this with vanilla or coffee ice-cream, the warm chocolate goes soo beautifully with the cool soothing flavour of ice-cream. It also goes well with softly whipped cream and fruits.
Servings 6 Lava Cakes

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 cup sugar 50gm
  • 1/2 cup butter at room temperature (113gm)
  • 2 large whole eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 tbsp. plain/all purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp. icing sugar sifted (30gm)
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp. half n half cream or whole milk at room temperature
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chopped (180gm)

Instructions
 

  • This makes 6 lava cakes. First, butter 6 ramekins very well to make sure the cakes don’t stick in them during baking, then dust them with a bit of flour or sugar. (I used 4 oz. ramekins, each is about half a cup in size. You can use a muffin pan if you do not have ramekins, just don’t use any liners and make sure you butter the pan very well)
    Chop the chocolate, put it in a heatproof bowl along with the butter, icing sugar and milk. Place over a double boiler and melt whilst stirring every now and then until you have a smooth mixture. You can even melt this in the microwave. Set aside and let this mixture cool.
    Put the eggs and egg yolks in another bowl, add the sugar, salt and vanilla and beat using a beater or whisk until the eggs turn light and lemony in color and ribbons form when you lift the beaters out of the mixture. Now gently add the melted chocolate mixture a little at a time, and using a whisk, briskly whisk together to combine. Keep adding the chocolate mixture until all is mixed into the egg mixture.
    Sift the flour over your batter and gently whisk it in until the mixture is well-combined. Very little flour is added in this recipe because the main purpose of the flour here is to help hold everything together, the dessert is mainly a rich chocolaty one.
    Now divide this batter amongst the prepared ramekins. Place them on a tray, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour, although you can refrigerate for up to 24 hours before baking.
  • When ready to bake, preheat the oven at 200 C and then place the ramekins on a tray and pop them into the center rack of your oven. The baking time ranges from around 10-15 minutes depending on different ovens and different tastes. What I did when I first made these is, I baked just one cake first and checked how it turned out. I have a fan-assisted oven and was satisfied with the results at exactly 12 minutes. You can try first with just one and see how it turns out, if you want it a bit more solid, bake the next batch for 1-2 minutes extra, if you want the center softer, bake for less time. Since these gorgeous cakes don’t take long to cook, it shouldn’t be hard finding the perfect baking time to suit your taste. You can’t go wrong, coz if baked less it still will taste fantastic and gooey and if baked too long, you still end up with a yummy moist chocolate cake. :))
    Once you get them out of the oven, place the ramekins on a wire rack to cool slightly, about 2-3mins. Then run a knife around each cake to make sure it isn’t stuck and carefully turn each one over on a plate. Dust with icing sugar. Serve with a scoop of ice-cream and enjoy the most decadent and ultra-delicious dessert ever!
    Enjoy!

Notes

If the batter is refrigerated for longer than 6 hours, it would be best to keep the ramekins out for about an hour before popping them into the preheated oven so they lose some of the chill before baking. They also will need a few minutes longer to bake. 🙂

Join the Conversation

  1. just made it, it is so goood, the only thing bad happened with me was when i turned it got a hole and all molten came out. then i jerked it and the rest of surrounding came out too. so my presentation was bad, thats why no pic, but the taste is out of this world

  2. AOA,
    Fauzia I tried this lava cake and it was awesome .I served it with ice cream .My children loved it too much and told me to make it for their friends party .just that i skipped cream but the result was equally good .next time i will try it with cream.is there any recipe to make this lava cake in vanilla flavour ,i want to serve it with chocolate ice cream .Thanks a lot for this recipe.

    1. W/Salaam, thank you Farzana for that lovely comment. I doubt it will be possible to get the same moist results with vanilla lava cake, but will look into that and see if we can come up with something close. Keep checking in! 🙂

  3. Ok thanks for such a quick response..one more question..is it necessary to refrigerate before baking?

  4. Aslm fauzia appi….
    i tried this but the molten part was eggy… it smelt slightly like egg and had a very distant egg taste too….. please let me know how i can avoid it….
    thankyou
    also if i use a muffin try, what temperature should the oven be? cz the temperature mentioned above causes it to turn out as moist brownies with no molten-ness in it…. let me know the time and temperature for baking in muffin tray…. thankyou appi

  5. W/Salaam, it shouldn’t smell eggy, did you use vanilla essence? And were the eggs completely fresh? The fresher the eggs the less the smell. As for baking temperature, that should remain THE SAME. Just adjust the time depending on the results you get. Reduce the time until you find the perfect time for how you prefer them to be. Good luck!

  6. hello Fauzia
    I made these
    taste was good
    lekin aik masla hua , they rose up aur jab nikala to bech may se beth gaye :(w

  7. salam
    wat do u mean by “don’t use any liners ” and can i mak a big cake instead of makin small ones

    1. W/Salaam, it means do not use cupcake liners. And no I would not recommend making a big cake, these are supposed to be small to retain the molten centers.

  8. what is half and half cream? and how should i make it? also, once i take the lava cakes out of the oven do they retain their texture for about an hour before i serve them?Thankyou

    1. It is just a light cream that is used in coffee and on desserts. And no, these are best baked and served right away.

  9. hi, how long can i keep this molten cake when i take it out of the oven. because im planning on baking this for a friend’s birthday and planning to surprise him when we’re out. so how long will it stay molten?

    1. Hi, unfortunately this is one dish that needs to be served immediately after baking, not longer than 15 minutes after the cakes come out of the oven.

  10. Hi!!

    If we pop the cake in the microwave again just to reheat it, will we get the achieve the same molten effect?

  11. hi fauzia – this seems like a great recipe. can chocolate chips be used instead of the semi sweet chocolate?

    1. Hi, if they are oven-safe then you can. Otherwise do not risk as they might shatter in the oven.

  12. asslam allikom how are you .
    asslam allikom how are you . can i make lava cake in tea mugs in peasre cookr ? pls reply i want to make it tomorrow its so yummy love your dishes take care

    1. W/Salaam, have never tried
      W/Salaam, have never tried the lava cake in a pressure cooker..cannot be sure on how the results will be.

  13. salams i want to try bt i
    salams i want to try bt i have only muffin tray can i do it with what precaution shd i take can u reply me soon i need to make this tomorrow its so tempting

    1. W/Salaam, yes you can use it
      W/Salaam, yes you can use it but grease it well for the cakes to come out. They will be very delicate coz of the molten center so be gentle when removing them. Also the timing may vary, do a test run to check how long you will need for them to be done to perfection.

  14. Asw , m planning to make this
    Asw , m planning to make this yummy dessert using my cup cake pan.can I use cup cake liners to make things easy ?? N how many servings are possible with this quantity ?? Hope to get a reply soon as it is a bit urgent.thank you !

    1. The cupcake liners might get
      The cupcake liners might get messy as the cake is not baked fully, the middle stays liquid/molten. Servings are mentioned on the right hand side of the recipe, under the pic.

    1. Grind the sugar then add 2
      Grind the sugar then add 2 tbsp cornflour in every cup of grinded sugar to get the right texture as icing sugar.

  15. are you referring to vanilla
    are you referring to vanilla essence here? and if not then can vanilla essence be used as an alternative?

  16. hi sir, I would like to ask u
    hi sir, I would like to ask u is there anyway to easy remove the cake from the mould? since I had used many method to remove the cake from the mould, I had tried to grease the metal-liked rameskin(I dont know what that called), sprinkle the coco powder over the rameskin, but failed in that second.

    Please advice, TQ!

    1. Hi, try to use glass ramekins
      Hi, try to use glass ramekins they are better. Also make sure to grease them well.

  17. Salam
    Salam

    Fauzia please tell me what is the size of the ramekin u used? If we use muffin mould what would be its size? I have cupcakes mould, is cupcake and muffin mould of same size? Can I use cupcake mould for lava cake?won’t b it too small?

  18. Asslamoaleikm I tried it, but
    Asslamoaleikm I tried it, but they didn’t turn out to be molten 🙁 and one other thing they rose up well but when I kept it to cool a bit it dropped in center, kindly tell what could be the mistake although I followed recipe completely

    1. W/Salaam, if they did not
      W/Salaam, if they did not turn out molten it means they got overbaked. Did you refrigerate before baking?

  19. Yes I refrigerated, but it
    Yes I refrigerated, but it didn’t maintain shape too. Does baking in muffin tray and baking in ramekins create difference because I baked in muffin tray.

    1. Baking in the muffin pan
      Baking in the muffin pan should not make a big difference. Did you test bake one first to see what time and temp works best for your oven?

  20. hi fauzia
    hi fauzia
    can i use diary milk chocolates instead of semi sweet cooking chocolates?? will it makes any tastes difference??if ys then should i reduce sugar quantity??
    thanks in advance

    1. Hi, yes you can use milk
      Hi, yes you can use milk chocolate, and yes reduce the sugar slightly, by half a tbsp or so.

  21. Fauzia can I make 3 lava
    Fauzia can I make 3 lava cakes and put the rest of the batter in the fridge and use it after one or two days?? Is that
    Ok?

  22. delicious recipie.Can we use
    delicious recipie.Can we use any type of glass cup for this in gas oven ?

  23. Seperated eggs r used? I mean
    Seperated eggs r used? I mean d white n yolks r sepearted? N oly d yolk is used?

    1. 2 eggs are used WHOLE, that
      2 eggs are used WHOLE, that means whites and yolks, and you will also need 2 extra YOLKS.

  24. In lava cake wat z vanilla???
    In lava cake wat z vanilla??? Vanilla essecenc? Or vanilla custard???

  25. Salaam
    Salaam
    your serving size is six, would it work if i halved every ingredient as there is only me and my husband, so if i half it then two for me n one for him lol.
    would it still work out if i half the ingredients? or since its very little batter for a serving of 6, would it become too difficult to work with for a serving of just 3?
    thanks

  26. Hi! just want to ask…does
    Hi! just want to ask…does this applicable like in baked without oven marble cake??? can i do this without the oven?

    1. Hi, am not sure how well it
      Hi, am not sure how well it would work using that method but you can try.

  27. Assalamualaikum . How are u?
    Assalamualaikum . How are u?
    I have milk choclate available n i dont have any dark choclate
    So how much sugar should i add if i make it with milk choclate . And i have hersheys coco powder (dark )it has no sugar . N its not sweet at all .so can i add hersheys coco powder . N just skip the sugar ? Or tell me what to do
    Please reply quick i wanna make it on wednesday

    1. W/Salaam, reduce the sugar by
      W/Salaam, reduce the sugar by about 2 tbsp. Or try with the same recipe and then see how you find the sweetness, that way you can adjust on the second attempt.

    1. The extra dry ingredient
      The extra dry ingredient might change the consistency of the batter. You can give it a try but it’s difficult to predict the outcome.

  28. Aoa Fauzia Auntie, I was
    Aoa Fauzia Auntie, I was going to try this recipe today but while reading the procedure I’m a bit confused that when after taking out from the refrigerator, do we have to immediately put it into the oven?? And while baking is there any step or trick which I am not getting l mean how does the the centre remains molten? I heard from a friend that first we bake it for few mins take it out, press it from the centre and then bake again. and that’s how it remains molten from the centre? I am not getting this. Can you please explain it to me. Thankyou.

    1. Yes straight from the fridge
      Yes straight from the fridge into the hot oven, that will create a molten centre.

  29. If I double the amount of
    If I double the amount of mixture…will the cakes end up same?..as I require 12.

    1. Yes they would, provided the
      Yes they would, provided the instructions are followed carefully. 🙂

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