Chocolate Lava Cakes have become a holiday tradition. The rich chocolate, sweet berries and individual servings make for an elegant dessert and are perfect for Christmas, Valentine’s Day or even après-ski to take the chill off.
Novel Procedure for these Chocolate Lava Cakes
I’ve made nearly a dozen different lava cake AKA molten lava cake recipes. Some in sugar crusted ramekins, others in buttered and floured ramekins, but these from Pam Anderson were to be made in muffin tins filled with extra large paper cupcake liners. The rationale was that it would ease the removal of these cakes from their baking vessel. I only made a half a batch (FYI, a half a beaten egg is approximately 1 1/2 tablespoon plus an 1/8 teaspoon) so I used 3/4 cup capacity ramekins instead of a tin. How would these compare to all the other versions???
A Dessert to Warm Your Body and Soul
Whether you’ve returned from a run down the slopes or are just enduring the frigid temperatures at home, a hot dessert is just what the doctor ordered. These molten lava cakes can be prepped ahead of time and popped in the fridge. Just bring them back to room temperature before baking and in minutes you will have a chocolate lovers’ dream before you!
The key to perfect lava cakes is timing. Bake too long and there’s no molten center. Too short and they will collapse. Both ends of the spectrum are still delectable, but watch for the perimeter to look firm and the center (less than the size of a quarter) to appear soft. This could take as little as 8 minutes or up to 12—all depending on the heat of your oven. Mine were perfect at 11 minutes. The rest of the recipe is easy. Melt the chocolate and butter, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla, then combine the two into one luscious batter. Divide and pour batter into either muffin tins or ramekins. These should have paper liners which have been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
Once these babies were baked, I carefully removed the paper liners and transfered to serving plates. I garnished these chocolate lava cakes with a sprig of mint and a few sweet raspberries. A dollop of whipped cream would be marvelous, too. And here were the comments from my family–brace yourself. “They complement the beer well.” “Thems good eats.” “Better than Arby’s.” Did you know Arby’s is now serving molten lava cakes? Me, neither! So if you don’t want to get carryout lava cakes from Arby’s, I recommend making these in a couple weeks for your Valentine or surprise your family any day of the year when they need to warm up from the inside out. This recipe is a winner!
Progressive Eats
Welcome to Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a progressive dinner party. This month’s theme is Weekend Ski Party and is hosted by Susan Pridmore who blogs at The Wimpy Vegetarian. Don’t consider yourself snowed in…consider it a party!
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats, a theme is chosen each month, members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party, and you can hop from blog to blog to check them out.
We have a core group of 12 bloggers, but we will always need substitutes and if there is enough interest would consider additional groups. To see our upcoming themes and how you can participate, please check out the schedule at Creative Culinary or contact Barb for more information.
Join Us for a Weekend Ski Party!
Appetizers
Drinks
Soup
Main Course
Bread
Veggies/Side Dishes
Desserts
Chocolate Lava Cakes
Classic Chocolate Lava Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 5 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 8 extra-large paper muffin cups
- Optional garnishes: Fresh raspberries, mint sprigs, sweetened whipped cream
Instructions
- Melt butter and chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; remove from heat. Beat eggs, sugar and a pinch of salt with a hand mixer in a medium bowl until sugar dissolves. Add vanilla. Beat egg mixture into chocolate until smooth. Beat in flour till just combined.
- Before serving dinner, adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 450º. Line a standard-size muffin tin (1/2 cup capacity) with 8 extra-large muffin papers or use ¾ cup capacity ramekins. Spray muffin papers with non-stick cooking spray. Divide batter among muffin cups.
- Bake until batter puffs but center is not set, 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully lift cakes from tin and set on a work surface. Pull papers away from cakes and transfer cakes to dessert plates.
- Serve with berries, mint and whipped cream if desired.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | |
| Amount Per Serving | As Served |
| Calories 604kcal Calories from fat 365 | |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 41g | 63% |
| Saturated Fat 22g | 110% |
| Transfat 1g | |
| Cholesterol 183mg | 61% |
| Sodium 347mg | 14% |
| Carbohydrate 56g | 19% |
| Dietary Fiber 3g | 12% |
| Sugars 28g | |
| Protein 9g | |
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | Less than | 65g |
| Sat Fat | Less than | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300mg |
| Sodium | Less than | 2,400mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 300g | |
| Dietary Fiber | 25g | |
I adore lava cakes. I wish real volcanoes would spew chocolate sauce…
These little cakes look so decadent and tempting! Love the combination of chocolate and raspberries so I’d be all over these. Lava cakes are always a favorite of mine. There’s nothing quite like sinking your fork into tender cake to reveal smooth, warm chocolate inside. Lovely!
Love the oozing middles!
drooling!
If there is a sight more beautiful than snow capped mountains, it is the sight of a well made chocolate Lava cake! Your cake looks fantastic, Liz.
This is probably my all time favorite dessert. I wish I could have one every day. I don’t know how good that would be for my body but it would do my soul a whole lot of good.
Better than Arby’s?! High praise–lol! These little guys are adorable, and perfect for warming up. What a great after-ski (or in my case, after sitting on the couch looking out the window watching other people ski) dessert!
Chocolate lava is my favorite, especially with loads of chocolate on the inside. I’m drooling over this, Liz.
There is something about a lava cake that I just cannot resist!
We love getting lava cakes when we’re eating out, but I haven’t tried them at home yet. I really need to bake these soon.
Perfect! What a great dessert for Valentine’s Day!!!
Liz, this looks wonderful…and I love chocolate! What a delicious dessert to treat your family with sweet love…thanks for sharing this recipe!
Oh that molten center looks divine, love these cakes Liz!
I remember the first time I had chocolate lava cake – it was such a treat! What a perfect dessert to end our Progressive dinner!
Oh this looks good! I’d like a couple of the ‘peno appys too:@)
You can never go wrong with a classic chocolate lava cake. These look so delicious Liz!
I loved reading your family’s comments! 😉 I have neither made nor eaten a molten lava cake, and I think that needs to be remedied. 🙂
Chocolate lava cakes are one of my most favorite desserts ever! I can’t imagine an occasion for which they would not be a perfect ending. Yum!
drooling over here!!!
I looooooooove lava cakes! This one looks flawless-so chocolatey and rich and yum!
These look delightful!!
Liz, don’t you just love Pam. No one handles meals for large crowds better and the idea to make these in paper cups is brilliant. Your cakes are stunning and I’m sure would be the world’s greatest Valentine’s Day treat. Thank you for creating the perfect ending for our progressive meal!!
Chocolate Lave Cakes are one of my all-time favorite desserts. I’m saving this to make for Valentines for my chocoholic husband 🙂
I make these fairy often. Not this recipe though! Everyone loves them and it is so nice to pop them in the oven after the dishes are done. Easy eating and easy clean up! Valentine’s Day is coming!
You truly are a tremendously gifted gourmet cook / baker / blogger lady, Liz! The timing on these chocolate babies do seem a bit tricky…And I’d take one of yours over Arby’s any day of the week! =)
Ahhhh, we were on the same lines yesterday. I was freezing and all floppy after yoga yesterday and starving and so squidgy warm chocolate cakes were the only thing to do that’s so quick and nourishing! Yours look totally tempting. Mine would have been better with raspberries though… and I heard it was National Chocolate Cake Day! Love how in the US you have celebrations all the time. Cheers, Liz!
I’ve never made lava cakes, but I’m intrigued with the process. I’ll have to try soon 🙂
I love molten lava cakes! They always remind me of when I first started dating my husband. Yours looks perfect! Drooling over that gorgeous oozing chocolate!
What a fun party! And as always, I feel like I gained 5 pounds reading this post. Love your method of using the muffin wrappers 🙂
It rains all day, It’s cold! All I want is chocolate! Your cake is ideal for me! Love the idea that these lava cakes can be prepped ahead of time and keep it in the fridge 🙂
Love the idea of making a small batch and even more I love the method of using muffin tins for individual servings…they look so beautiful and special. We could easily ‘sofa it’ together with these! 😉
Molten lava cakes are my favourite, your recipe looks perfect 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Lava cakes are on my list of must make baking recipes! They are so gorgeous with that hidden chocolate that just gushes out upon the first bite.
Lizzy,
I need to try lava cakes at home. My mouth is watering.
Annamaria
Hi Liz! I made these for my friend’s birthday tonight
and they were so easy and WONDERFUL! Perfectly
melty and such a deep chocolate flavor. I served them
with vanilla ice cream.
(one note the instructions mention salt, but there is no
salt listed on ingredients, so I used 1/2 teaspoon)
Love you!
Can you be my proofreader???? I’m so glad these were a hit. I’ve edited to add a “pinch” of salt 🙂 xoxo
P.S. We need to schedule a girls’ trip!!!