Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe

Fudgy Lava Cakes

Lava cakes are individual chocolate cake desserts with a hidden surprise: a lava flow of warm dark chocolate. Who wouldn’t love that? A volcano of chocolate! I’m a sucker for chocolate desserts and lava cakes ring all the bells for me.

Chocolate lava cakes are fun, impressive, and feel a little decadent, maybe even a lot decadent. (You may know them as molten cakes.) Lava cakes can be dressed up with whipped cream and fresh fruit, or simply served with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

By the way, if you love chocolate, be sure to take a look at my list of 20 Easy Chocolate Desserts! You’ll want to try all of them. If you’re looking for individual desserts that are a bit healthier, my popular mini mocha cheesecakes are made with cottage cheese instead of cream cheese.

About Lava Cakes

Lava cakes are surprisingly easy to make! This is a 5 ingredient dessert recipe. I bet you have everything you need in your pantry and fridge. Maybe you’ve noticed that lava cakes are on many restaurant menus, from upscale restaurants to take-out pizza places. Homemade lava cakes are so much better tasting, way less expensive, and they are so easy to make.

No fancy equipment. You’ll use a bowl and a whisk. That’s it! You don’t have to get your mixer out or anything. The only “special” equipment you need is four oven-proof ramekins. If you don’t happen to have a set of those, you can use cupcake tins instead. (You may just want to go ahead and order a set of those ramekins though. I have a feeling you’ll be wanting to make these lava cakes frequently.)

Ingredient Notes

• Chocolate: You’ll need 6 ounces of sweetened dark chocolate. The better your chocolate bar is, the better your lava cakes will be. I found that good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips work well, too. Some baking chocolate is unsweetened; that type of chocolate will not work for this recipe.
• Butter: Choose unsalted butter. You don’t want to add unnecessary salt to this recipe.
• Eggs: Buy large eggs. You’ll be using 4 eggs total: 2 eggs plus the yolks of 2 more eggs. It’s best if they are at room temperature so take them out of the refrigerator an hour in advance.
• Sugar: A small amount of regular granulated white sugar is all you need to sweeten these cakes, just a quarter cup.
• Flour: There’s also very little flour in these cakes, just a few tablespoons. Use all-purpose flour.
• Optional Garnishes: A light sprinkling of powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar) is a simple garnish. For more topping ideas, keep reading.

How to make Lava Cakes

I hope you’re ready for some volcanic action. There won’t be any explosions, I promise, unless it’s explosions of delight when you serve these desserts.

Preheat the oven. It’s important that the oven is fully preheated to 450℉ before you put the lava cakes in the oven to bake. Be sure to read the Make Ahead Tip below if you don’t want to serve the lava cakes right away.

Prep the ramekins. Butter four ramekins and dust the insides with cocoa powder or flour. Not sure how to do that? Put a teaspoon of flour or cocoa powder inside a ramekin and just gently tap the sides on the counter, tilting it as you go, so that the entire inside surface is coated. Tap the ramekin upside down a couple of times to remove excess cocoa.

Set the prepared ramekins on a sturdy baking pan so you can easily transfer them in and out of the oven.

Melt the chocolate. Now let’s move on to melting the chocolate. If you have a whole bar, chop it into small pieces. Put the chocolate and butter into a microwave safe bowl or large measuring cup.

Microwave on high power for thirty seconds and stir thoroughly. Continue to microwave in 10 second increments, stirring thoroughly each time, just until the butter and chocolate are melted. You should be able to blend them together into a smooth mixture but you don’t want to overheat it.

If you don’t have a microwave, you can melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler or in a heat-safe bowl set over simmering water.

Cool the chocolate. Set the bowl aside to cool for five to ten minutes. If the chocolate mixture is too hot, it will cook the eggs and turn them into scrambled eggs.

Mix up the cake batter. Break two of the eggs into a medium size bowl. Separate the other two eggs. You’ll only be needing the yolks of these two eggs; save the whites for another use. To summarize: You’ll need 2 whole eggs, plus 2 egg yolks.

Incidentally, cold eggs separate more easily than warm eggs so you may want to do that as soon as you remove the eggs from the fridge.

Whisk the two eggs and two egg yolks together with the sugar until the mixture is frothy.

Gradually whisk in the chocolate/butter mixture until it’s completely blended into the egg/sugar mix.

Add the flour all at once. Quickly whisk it in until it’s just combined.

Pour the batter into the ramekins. Try to divide the mixture as evenly as possible between the four ramekins. Wipe up any drips or spills on the baking pan.

Bake. Put the baking sheet with the ramekins into the preheated oven. Bake the lava cakes for ten minutes. Remove them from the oven.

Flip. Let them cool for one minute, then flip each one over on serving plates. Wait 10 seconds, then carefully lift off the ramekin. It should release easily. If it doesn’t, wait a couple more seconds.

Serve. Lava cakes are best served warm. I like to serve them with a dusting of powdered sugar. Take a look below for more garnish and topping ideas.

Dig in and watch the warm fudgy lava flow. You’re going to enjoy every spoonful of this dessert!

Recipe Variations

Two servings: You may want to make lava cakes for two (you’re showing admirable restraint if you only make 2 lava cakes). It’s simple to cut the recipe in half. You’ll see measurements on the recipe card. I did the math for you to make it really easy

Eight servings: Alternatively, if you want eight lava cakes, go ahead and double the recipe, as long as you have enough ramekins.

More individual dessert ideas: Try no-bake mini cheesecakes or lemon berry cheesecake parfaits.

Garnishes

A scoop of vanilla bean ice cream is pretty much amazing. Top it with hot fudge, chocolate syrup, or caramel sauce with crunchy spiced pecans or candied walnuts. Try fresh berries, such as red raspberries or strawberries. Whipped cream is perfect, too, especially if you top it with a few berries.

Make-Ahead

Chocolate lava cake is best served warm. The wonderful thing about this recipe is that you can make the batter ahead, put it into ramekins, and refrigerate it. Bake the desserts right before dinner or even during dinner.

How to do it: Make the lava cake batter ahead of time. It can be refrigerated overnight, either in the ramekins or the mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Remove batter from the refrigerator at least one hour ahead of time so it can come to room temperature before baking.

Storage & Reheating

Refrigerate/freeze: Baked lava cakes can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to 3 months. Allow them to cool completely before wrapping in plastic wrap. If you plan on freezing them, place them on a plate or tray and freeze until firm before placing them into a freezer safe container or bag. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.

Reheating: Unwrap the lava cakes and place them on a baking pan. Preheat the oven (or toaster oven) to 350℉ and bake the cakes for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately. You can also reheat them in your air fryer, set at 350℉ for 5 minutes. Baked lava cakes can be reheated in the microwave but don’t turn out as well.