Easy Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

Everyone’s favorite Easy Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes for your Wednesday (or Valentine’s Day!) baking. A simple and easy homemade cake, made with rich dark chocolate, a splash of vanilla, and stuffed with a super easy two-ingredient chocolate ganache, then baked to perfection. So simple and oh so delicious. This recipe is pretty much foolproof! How? Well, that simple step of stuffing the cakes with ganache is our secret to a perfect lava cake every time! Gooey, chocolate-y, and melty. Each cake is finished with Chantilly Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, a light dusting of powdered sugar, or even cocoa powder to ensure a cake that’s sweet, rich, and dangerously delicious. Every bite of cake is moist and smooth, but soft and truly gooey in the center. There’s nothing not to love about these sweet chocolate lava cakes!

About The Recipe

It’s officially the week of Valentine’s Day and I, for one, am very excited. Valentine’s tends to be a holiday that often gets overlooked. It seems that almost everyone has the mentality of…if i don’t have a significant other, why celebrate? Well, to that, all I have to say is bah! Valentine’s Day is a day about love. Why not give that little extra love to your friends and family?

Even when I was little, I would always make a card for my mom and brother on Valentine’s. Even to this day, to me, Valentine’s is about making the people you love smile and happy. So, I might not may glittery maker cards anymore, but I still try to do something.

So, this year, my mom and I decided on making our very first lava cake!

I can’t really tell you if I’ve ever had a lava cake, but I know they’re really special to my mom. So, with Valentine’s quickly approaching, I suggested we make some! She loved the idea. So, we sat down and planned it out.

We thought about a traditional lava cake, where the batter is the actual gooey center, but that can truly be so unpredictable. We wanted a foolproof/never-fail/best-lava-cake-ever. Hm. Chocolate ganache filling it is!

The ganache ensures that you will always have a molten center that’s gooey, delicious, and irresistibly delicious.

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And, if you’ve never made ganache, don’t worry! The recipe is honestly so easy. All you have to do is melt the chocolate in some cream, let it cool in the fridge, scoop it out into small spheres, and then let the set in the fridge again. It’s approachable, easy, but tastes like something that came from a five star restaurant.

Trust me, if you’re looking for an easy Valentine’s dessert (or just want something fancy for the weekend), this molten chocolate lava cake is for you!

Equipment Needed

• Mixing Bowls
• Rubber Spatula
• Whisk
• Small Cookie Scoop
• Sheet Pan
• Small Ramekins
• Large Cookie Scoop

Ingredients

For The Ganache:

• Dark Chocolate
• Heavy Whipping Cream

For The Cake:

• Dark Chocolate
• Salted Butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla
• All-Purpose Flour

Instructions

Combine cream and chocolate in glass bowl. Place in the microwave and set for 1 minute. Stop half way through and stir the chocolate with a rubber spatula. The mixture should be smooth and completely melted.

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Pour the ganache into a glass baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set. About 1-2 hours.

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Scoop the ganache with a small cookie scoop or a spoon and place on a line sheet pan. Put back in the fridge until firm.

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In a medium sized glass bowl, combine butter and chocolate for the cake. Place in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring well after each. It should take about 1 minute 30 seconds.

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Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl.

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Stir in the melted chocolate.

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Carefully stir in the flour. Do not beat!

Using a large cookie scoop, scoop the batter into a greased ramekin. Place one chocolate in the center. Cover with another scoop of cake batter. Repeat until no more batter remains.

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Bake at 350 for 12 minutes, or until the cakes are pulling away slightly from the ramekins.

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Turn the cakes out immediately and serve!

What Type of Chocolate To Use

For this recipe, like almost all the chocolate recipes on our blog, we used a dark chocolate. This is what we like best as it’s sweet without being too sweet. That being said, if you aren’t a fan of darker chocolates, feel free to use a milk chocolate. The recipe will be sweeter so, keep this in mind!

Also, don’t use baking chips to make the ganache or the cake! They won’t melt right. Use a baking bar, such as Bakers or Ghirardelli. You can generally find them in the grocery store by the chocolate chips.

Topping Ideas

Is a dessert ever truly finished if you don’t have a topping? I don’t think so! These cakes are so delicious on their own, but they can be a real showstopper if you serve them with any one of these toppings!

• Chantilly Cream
• Dried Rose Petals
• Cocoa Powder
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Caramel Sauce
• Chocolate Curls

How To Store

If all the lava cakes aren’t going to be eaten immediately, keep them in their ramekins, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge. This is going to be the best way to store them because once you taken them out of the ramekin, they’re very fragile!

Expert Tips

• You can leave the ganache in the fridge overnight.
• Use a high quality chocolate for this recipe.
• Don’t over mix the batter!
• If you leave the cakes to cool slightly in the ramekins and they stuck, use a thin knife and gently push down in the gap between the cake and the ramekin. Try and keep the knife as close to the ramekin as possible because you don’t want to poke the cake! Also, don’t slide the knife around the ramekin. Gently poke around the edges until the cake is loose.
• These cakes are very fragile! Once you turn them out, try not to move them.
• If you don’t have ramekins, you can bake these cakes in coffee mugs or mini cocottes!

When you make these Easy Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes, leave a comment down below! We love hearing from you and answering any questions you might have! Also, be sure to tag us on social media and hashtag it #BakersTable.