Lava Cakes with Kahlua Whipped Cream
Do you wish you could serve a restaurant-worthy dessert at home? These Chocolate Lava Cakes with Kahlua Whipped Cream are easy and incredibly delicious!
The sweet sugar crusts, the warm fudgy centers, and the dollops of sweet whipped cream make this Lava Cake Recipe an impressive dessert for any occasion!
Why You’ll Love this recipe for Chocolate Lava Cakes
- It’s a restaurant-worthy recipe you can make at home.
- This recipe makes 8 rich chocolate cakes that each ooze hot, fudgy lava after the first bites are removed.
- You can park these in the refrigerator after making them, then cook them after dinner. This makes them perfect for dinner parties!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Lava Cake?
Molten Lava Cakes are individual cakes with warm fudgy centers that ooze out like lava when cut into.
Are Lava Cakes Safe to Eat?
The middles of lava cakes are basically undercooked cake batter. Eggs that aren’t cooked to 160 degrees can harbor salmonella, which is a bacteria that can cause food poisoning. So use caution and don’t serve this dessert to the very young, elderly, or anyone who is immune suppressed.
Can You Make Lava Cakes Ahead of Time?
Yes! Just fill your ramekins with batter and park them in the refrigerator. Before you plan to bake them, bring them out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature.
Bake as directed. If your batter is still a little cool, you may need to add a couple of minutes to the baking time. Just pull them out when the top surface looks cooked except for the very center.
Can You Reheat Lava Cakes?
Yes, but gently reheat them in the microwave so the centers do not solidify.
What Can You Use Instead of Kahlua?
Kahlua is a coffee liqueur and coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate. If you don’t have Kahlua on hand, a second teaspoon of vanilla extract or just leaving it out is fine.
Culinary Term: To Fold
To fold is a technique in which a light, airy mixture is combined with a heavier mixture. Usually, the lighter mixture is added to the heavier mixture in a large bowl. A rubber spatula cuts down through both mixtures, is pulled across the bottom and up the other side. The bowl is rotated quarter turns after each circular stroke is completed until the mixtures are well combined.
How to Make Lava Cakes
- Prep ramekins as directed. In this recipe, they’re buttered and dusted with sugar.
- Melt chocolate and butter and set aside.
- Beat eggs, yolks, sugar until very light and voluminous.
- Gently fold about a third of the chocolate mixture into egg mixture, then fold in the remaining chocolate.
- Fold in flour.
- Divide batter evenly between ramekins.
- Bake as directed until the cakes are puffed but the very middles look underdone.
- Invert onto a dessert plate.
- Serve with whipped cream and garnish as desired.
Tips for Making Lava Cakes:
- When baking any dessert where chocolate is the star of the show, use the highest quality chocolate you can afford. Valrhona or Callebaut are recommended, but Ghirardelli bars are fine in a pinch.
- Look for a recipe with just a bit of flour. The flour will give your cakes some structure so they don’t totally collapse when unmolded.
- Not all ovens are created equally. Watch carefully while baking. You’ll want the centers of your cakes to look underbaked so you have that classic “lava” in the middle. Give your cakes the jiggle test at about 9 minutes…you’ll want the center inch to move slightly when shaken.
- Since these cakes are under-baked, please use pasteurized eggs if serving to the very young, elderly or immuno-compromised. Safest Choice is the brand I can find locally.
- PRO-Tip: An underdone center about the size of a dime ensures that you will have a molten center.
If you love chocolate, you’ll also adore this One Layer Fudge Cake, these Chocolate Lava Cookies, and these White Chocolate Lava Cakes! Plus make sure to check out all my Best Chocolate Recipes.
Lava Cakes with Kahlua Whipped Cream
Molten lava cakes served with a Kahlua spiked whipped cream
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons sugar, plus more for dusting ramekins
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, plus more for greasing ramekins
- 3 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons Kahlua, or other coffee liqueur
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Butter eight 3/4-cup capacity ramekins. Dust interiors with sugar. Set aside.
- Melt chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl, stopping to stir at 30-second intervals till melted and smooth. Set aside.
- Using a mixer, beat eggs, yolks, and sugar till thick and pale yellow, about 8 minutes.
- Gently fold about a third of the chocolate mixture into egg mixture, then fold in the remaining chocolate.
- Fold in flour.
- Divide batter evenly between ramekins.
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Place ramekins on a baking sheet.
- Bake until edges are puffed, but the center inch of the cakes look undercooked and will jiggle if shaken, 11-13 minutes.
- Invert ramekins to remove cakes, if desired.
- In a chilled bowl, whip cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and Kahlua till soft peaks form.
- Top with a dollop of Kahlua whipped cream.
Notes
Ramekins may be covered and held in the refrigerator overnight. Bring to room temperature before baking.
You may use any size of ramekins you have on hand. Watch carefully while baking and remove when the perimeter is set and just the very center looks underdone and jiggles.
Adapted from Bon Appetit
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1 ramekinAmount Per Serving: Calories: 351Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 173mgSodium: 42mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 2gSugar: 30gProtein: 6g
42 Comments on “Lava Cakes with Kahlua Whipped Cream”
LOVE these cakes! So elegant!
Oh, my! This is positively heavenly! Thank you for sharing on the Chocolate Party!
Lava cakes are our favorite… Crunchy and smooth inside… Yum!
Never tried lava cakes. Are they really easy to make?
Lizzy,
Gorgeous lava cake! Another one for my baking bucket list.
Annamaria
So I could potentially have dessert all week long – baking one off each night? I could get used to that.
Beautiful and elegant looking dessert. I bet the first cut is always exciting. 🙂
This looks amazing! I don’t know which part I like more – the chocolaty cake or the flavored whipped cream. I never thought to flavor my whipped cream and kahlua is a brilliant idea to go with the sweet chocolate.
Awesome tips, too. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Did your husband still like the dessert after he found out what was in the whipped cream?
I love these! I made some the other night and hadn’t set the timer right. I’m telling you that it’s okay to eat them with a spoon. VERY lava-y. 🙂
Wow! What a lovely looking lava cake! It’s not easy to get these right every time…I’ve had a few disasters initially. Thank you for sharing these tips!
A very beautiful lava cake, Liz. I love that kahlua whipped cream!!
OMG!!!
What a great idea, I love lava cakes but with coffee and Kahlua, Wowwy!
Such a decadent treat 🙂
I love lava cakes, but the Kahlua Whipped cream really puts it over the top!
Ahhh. This is a dish that will never go out of style. I bake them when there are only a couple of us and I don’t want leftovers. That way the damage is only done in one evening! My recipe is bit different than yours but I say they are all worthy of a try. Just for comparison’s sake, don’t you know? You can never have to much lava cake!
Bill doesn’t like mocha? You should do a blog post about all the things Bill won’t eat. Oh hang on, forget that – it would take too long to type up the list. I love these desserts where the filling oozes when cut into xx
This is great and thanks for the tips! I love that you can make the cakes ahead of time and then bake them. Beautiful as usual, Liz. =)
Liz…these look pretty awesome! I’ve been a chicken to try lava cakes because I’m afraid I’d sit down to eat them, poke them…and nothing would come out! I appreciate your great tips for baking these beauties! And the Kahlua whipped cream……I’d have licked the bowl clean before it made it to the cakes!
These look soooo good. Kahlua whipped cream?!?! Where has that been all my life??
OMG!!! This is so perfect!! I just love lava cakes! Nothing like an ooey gooey center and the Kahula whip cream, love it! Great recipe!!
I love lava cake, but yet have to try to bake…yours look awesome Liz, and the Kahlua whipped cream looks fantastic with the cake.
Thanks for the recipe and have a wonderful week 😀
I have no idea why I’ve never made these before, shame on me. How about I come to Indiana and I give you piping decorations and you make some of these. Deal???
DEAL!!!!
I love all kinds of molten cakes. Chocolate ones go first, no question about that, but I also love molten caramel cakes in all combos and variations.
The idea with the Kahlua cream is really making me drool over here.
Really nice.
Have a lovely week,
Miriam x.
This is one of my favorite desserts of all time, no question about it! Your lava cakes look so luscious, Liz. I love that you served them with raspberries and that decadent Kahlua whipped cream!
oohs and ahhas on the other side of the screen. Looks so good. I remember having this for the first time on our cruise every single day and 3 times a day. Fell in love with the gooey chocolatey center, you brought back some memories Liz, thanks.
OMY Lizzy these look amazing!! and nice shots of course!
Kahlua whipped cream… your’e killing me. Love it.
yum lava cakes 🙂 sounds delicicous!
Oh yes please to lava cakes with Kahlua whip – sounds like a dream! 🙂
Ohhhh lava cakes, how do I love thee? Let me count the wayyys
Did you know there are people who think lava cakes are “out of style” in dessert world? Just because they were popular for a while, and now they’re “cliche.” What a load of crap! Delicious food never stops being delicious! And lava cakes are hands-down my favorite dessert ever. Yours look mouth-watering>
oooh there’s nothing quite like a chocolate lava cake is there? Love the addition of Kahlua too! 😀
Did I hear Kahlua?? I’m a huge fan of both Baileys & Kahlua! Lava cake is one of my favourites too, but I heard it’s quite hard to bake. Few of my friends tried but haven’t been successful. Kudos to u, Liz!
Liz, my dear: This lava cake is a killer! Looking at its center makes me drool – literally!
This is one if my favourite desserts to serve. I use a recipe that has no flour so I can serve it to my gluten free friends, but it sure does make sense to use the flour for structural support.
Kahlua is such a winning combo with chocolate. So clever of you Liz to use coffee liqueur instead of the real stuff. Your tips, as always, are stellar. Thank you!
This lava cake sounds so yum! and kahlua whipped cream! Oh my!
Also, liking the chocolate party idea!
Mmmm… Lava cakes. Makes me wish I had one right now.
Yum! And easy enough for a guy to bake? Sounds like a winner:@)
Looks delicious. Have you ever had a Lava Cake from Roy’s Restaurant? My favorite. This looks just as amazing.
Lava cakes are heavenly with that oozing chocolate. The pairing of kahlua whipped cream sounds fantastic with these.
Delectable!! I love a good lava cake, and the whipped cream already sounds dreamy 🙂