Chocolate Lava Cake … warm chocolate oozing out decadence
My buddy Anemone showed me this yummy looking Chocolate Lava Cake recipe and we made a date to come over my place to make it. It was really fun for friends to cook together! I don’t normally have a sweet tooth, and I wasn’t really acquainted with this French dessert (see cooking note 1), but my friend convinced me that I will like it. She was right – it was really good! Not too sweet like most desserts are, and just the right amount of chocolatey-ness. Not just any chocolate, but warm & oozing runny chocolate goodness (hence the names chocolate lava cake/molten chocolate cake/chocolate fondant pudding).
Usually served with ice cream on the side, and some berries.
Both my friend and I agreed that it is a very simple recipe and we succeeded in making it to the right consistency on the first attempt (chocolate oozing out when cut in the middle). I think this is an excellent dessert to serve when entertaining guests – simply prepare everything in advance (see cooking note 2 below), and after your guests have finished their main course, just pop the ramekins into the oven for 10 minutes. Your guests will really be impressed with how effortless you whip up a warm and delicious dessert with no sweat and in no time at all – never mind the messy behind-the-scenes, you would have washed up before they arrived :wink:
Ingredients
(makes three 6-oz ramekin cakes)
- 100g dark chocolate (example, Cadbury Old Gold 70% cocoa), cut to small cubes
- 100g unsalted butter, cut to small cubes
- 2 eggs
- 50g caster sugar
- 20g self-raising flourTo decorate (optional)
- icing sugar and small sieve
- berries
- vanilla ice creamAdditional tools needed
- spatula
- electric whisk (hand-held)
- oven safe ramekins (6-8 oz)Directions
1. Melt dark chocolate and butter using either the microwave (see cooking note 3), a hot water bath or a double boiler (note: do not use direct stove heat or the ingredients will burn).
2. In a large bowl, use an electric whisk (you can whisk by hand too but it’s more tedious) to beat the eggs and sugar till the mixture turns pale and frothy. This will take a few minutes.
3. Pour melted chocolate/butter you prepared in step 1, into the egg mixture prepared in step 2. Stir in the flour. Use a spatula to mix everything evenly.
4. Grease your ramekins with some melted butter (so that the cake will come off cleanly when it is baked). Fill the ramekin almost 3/4 full with the chocolate mixture and bake in a preheated oven of 180C (356F) for about 10 minutes. Mine took exactly 11 minutes. The cake is deliberately slightly undercooked so as to achieve its ideal consistency which is runny in the middle (hence the name fondant/molten/chocolate lava) but if you over-bake it, you will get a super moist chocolate cake which is yummy too.
5. When it is baked, remove ramekin from oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes. Use a spoon to gently loosen the edges. Carefully invert the cake onto serving plate.
6. Serving suggestion: Use a sieve to dust icing sugar over the cake. Serve a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some berries at the side.
Cooking Notes:
1. The origins of this dessert is French though a US chef claimed to have discovered it in his New York kitchen when he under-baked the dessert (source: wiki).
2. If you are preparing the batter in advance, do not keep it in the fridge as the mixture will hardened and the time for baking it will be quite different. Prepare just a few hours in advance and keep at room temperature.
3. Check out my detailed step-by-step tutorials for melting chocolate and butter using a microwave oven:
- How to Melt Chocolate Using a Microwave Oven
- How to Melt Butter Using a Microwave Oven
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OMG! This chocolate lava cake with ice cream is perfect!! Absolutely ‘die die must have’ and I love the blue pastel theme for these pictures :up:
OH YUMMMMM one of my favorite chocolate desserts! :D
AHHHH! I’m throwing a fit here! I just *HAD* to see this at 10:30 pm, right before bed. :XO: :XO: Sounds delectable, and I also love the pastel color palette you used!
haha sorry ;) no viewing my blog after 10pm for you hehe
I keep waiting for this post the moment I saw the photos. Definitely have to try this one day! But I don’t have ramekins at home. You think I can substitute with muffin pans. :)
Yes u can! Like the original blogger suggested, if you use muffin tray reduce baking time to 8 mins or less. Hope you like it :)
Oh don’t tempt me with such delicious sweets when I’m on a diet, that’s another 30 minutes jog :)
Btw your blog was mentioned by a Malaysian blogger in his interview by Sin Chew Jit Poh :)
Isn’t it difficult to keep a food blog and diet all at the same time? ;)
Thanks for telling me about the article, was thrilled to read it :halo:
OMG! This is insanely rich chocolate dessert! Great clicks!
Help me! I’m dying …..need lava cakes pronto! Save me! Save me!
Wow…that sure looks very delicious, especially with the ice cream.
I don’t have a sweet tooth too but I’ll say yes to chocolate lava cake definitely, anytime. Whenever I order it from cafes here, I have to pre-order it in advance (giving them at least 20-30minutes) so that the dessert can be ready after the meal. I hate to have a waiting gap between main course and dessert. :O
haha I’m opposite. I like to eat slowly so I don’t mind the wait. It seems like chocolate lava cake is a dessert which those with no sweet tooth can accept :)
Oh lordy, that is sooooo sexy!!!
perfect perfect perfect!!
this has definitely gotta be one of my fav desserts, apart frm tiramisu, matcha anything and souffles! :) beautiful.
that’s a lot of favourites you have hehe
Hi, your choc lava cake looks awesome. There is an award for you to grab from my blog, hop over to get it, will you? ;)
Thank you very much for the award :)
Oh yeah.
NC, Molten Lava Cake is always the dessert that comes to mind whenever a chocolate craving hits, which is practically every day.
The warm chocolate ‘ooze’ always gets me.
This dessert is actually very easy to make, the timing is the most impt part I find. i like using valhrona choco. I haven’t blogged this as I find it very difficult to have a good picture.
Hope you get a good photo soon. I would love to see your version. Valhrona choc sounds nice & exotic!
LOVE it…..stunning presentation too!
Choc lava cake is a better name than molten cake or whatever, yours does more than justice to the name!
The oozing chocolate looks so tempting! And, the ice cream on the side is delicious.
How heavenly delicious! A chocoholic dream. :XO:
wow my imagination runs wild . . . . . . I can see those melting lava chocolate dripping into my mouth! awesome! :)
I would eat this when I dine out but if I were to bake this myself, the notion of underbaked baked goods will always be imprinted in my mind and I wont even dare to try it! But I might think differently now.
And I have those ramekins from Daiso too. There is a pink version too. I bet you have that too! We Daiso freaks!
yes, of course I have the pink one! I am a Daiso freak and proud of it hahaha
You guys make me wanna go Daiso!
These are definitely one of my favorite things. I haven’t made them in ages, but I need to. Soon. Great pictures too!
I’ve never had chocolate lava cake before. I’ve always been intimidated because it seems so difficult to make. Now, I’m dying to try it.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. The photography looks PERFECT as well.
Not only does it looks delicious with the chocolate oozing out of the center – but also love the idea that you can make it ahead of time!
owh YUM! I love molten chocolate lava. this is absolutely lovely!
hi wiffy
very delicious looking lava cake u have there. makes ppl hungry…
made these before and the recipe i used was a chocolate coffee version. the author specified chilling of the batter so that the center stays deliciously gooey. yummy~ I used chocolate either from carrefour(house brand) or phoon huat (belgian choc) cos they are rather economical and decent in taste.
i saw those ramekins from daiso. they are kind of small to me. i thought of buying but wasnt sure if they were oven safe
chocolate coffee! a bit like tiramisu? sounds good really. I must try it one day, maybe can add some coffee liquor too hehe
Oooo I dunno why, but if I chill the batter, it will hardened (resembles truffles coating) and it’ll take some time to bake the cake. No matter how I bake it, can’t seem to get the gooey effect anymore :p
yes the ramekins are roughly 6 oz. The “standard size” should be 8oz? Oven-save ramekins are pretty hard to come by at Daiso. They had a sticker at the bottom of it which specified it was oven-safe. I bought non-oven safe ramekin from Daiso before (not for baking but for other uses) and it was 8 oz. I guess oven-safe stuff are more expensive so they made the ramekins smaller.
The Old Gold chocolate I used was on sale at shing sheong – $4.80 per bar. Quite reasonable.
its mocha flavour to be exact. used instant coffee mix powder. ya sure can add kahlua to it if u like.
my recipe uses more egg yolks and i chill only for 30mins. then i bake for like 12 mins, take out from oven and wait for it to set for a while then bake it for extra 1 to 2 mins then the exterior is set perfectly and the interior is still gooey.
choc wise carrefour house brand prices are as follows:
1) 400g – $5.00 ( dark chocolate with a certain cocoa %)
2) 300g – $4.50 ( dark chocolate with a certain cocoa %, different from 1. )
and many others u can find. the prices are like 50% cheaper than cadbury. quality is comparable and its made in france if im not wrong. can check the label behind.
phoon huat’s belgian choc (ard 73% cocoa) costs like like 12 bucks plus per kg. good to use in the long run when trying out recipes or when baking requires lots of choc.
i never thought of buying better brands like valrhona or callebaut cos they are far too expensive! ghiradelli and lindt are also on the ex side. what you pay is what u get basically when it comes to chocolate.
oh my, the cadbury old gold is only 200g. :x The price you stated are much cheaper. made in france somemore. Thanks for letting me know! You really know a lot about baking stuff. Will try the carrefour chocs when my current stash runs out (I bought like 4 bars recently :P) Thx for sharing!
Could u share your coffee lava cake recipe if it’s convenient? no hurry. I’m planning to buy kahlua in end Feb from DFS to make tiramisu so with the leftover kahlua, I can make coffee lava cake hehe :)
hi wiffy,
I do alot of shopping for ingredients at various places. As a result, I am rather price sensitive now. As for baking, I wont say i know a lot. But I do readings on the internet or check up books to find out more. The library is a good place to find resources regarding baking and stuff.
No prob I can share the recipe. Great choice buying kahlua from DFS. Its cost only like 30 bucks or so. I have yet to use my 1 litre bottle.
Thanks for sharing the recipe, this is one cake that I want to try to bake!
U r so pro at baking, this should be really easy or should I say ‘piece of cake’ to you lol :P
The pictures are so well taken … and of cos the cake looks so nice ….. yummy.
Just baked this…. but my lava cake become brownies instead. the inside is not runny.
Did you bake it at the correct temperature? It’s 180C (356F). If the inside is not runny, then you may have over-baked it. Try to reduce the baking time next time.
Definitively a gorgeous, decadent and colorful cake with the strawberries :)
Have a great weekend,
Gera
I have to try this! Sounds really simple! and looks amazing.
Wiffy, when did u get the oven safe ramekins in daiso? They still have it? the IMM branch?
I got it a few months ago, at the Daiso rivervale mall outlet. It’s a pretty new outlet and quite “ulu” so I managed to find them. When my friend tried to look for them recently (about a month ago), she couldn’t find them anymore.
Have you been to Sia Huat at Temple Street? They sell a lot of oven-safe white ramekins. My friend got them for around S$2 too.
I’ve shortlisted the same recipe but yet to give it a try, simply too many recipes on my to-do list! Your cake looks yummy!
been such an avid follower of your website and you always make the recipes sound so easy!! made this tonight and it was yummmmmy!
Glad to hear it was yummy! Thanks for your note :)
I have been dying to try out yr recipe since the day i saw it. finally tried it today(1st time baking) with the help of my cousin. They looked ok when i took it out of the oven, being undercooked in e middle… =)
now waiting for my nieces to come be my guinea pig…lol
undercooked in middle sounds perfect for lava cake :) Hope your nieces like them :)
Hi, I just tried it. I have trouble getting the cake out of the ramekin. The sides have no problem but the bottom got stuck. Is it becos there’s not enough butter at the bottom?
Also the top of the cake came out like an exploded volcano, why is that so? Does it has to do with the temperature?
Hope you can help and thanks for providing this simple but delicious recipe!
Hi zonexo, sorry for the late reply, I missed this.
Yes I think you should butter the bottom with more butter.
I’m not really sure why it exploded because I am not an experienced baker. Could it be over-baked (either temperature or duration).
I flopped big time in this…my lava cake sinked in the middle, and it tasted undercooked. The difference between the recipe and mine is im using muffin tray, so i reduced cooking time to 8mins as mentioned in earlier post. I have also reduced the temperature by 10degress as im using fan forced oven. Im wondering if i have beat too long for step 2? Or is the temperature still too high? Any idea?
Is the taste still good despite it sinking? If it’s undercooked that means it couldn’t be temperature too high? I’m no expert on baking but you can try to increase the baking time, say to 10 minutes. For my first lava cake attempt, I bake a single one in the oven first so that I know the timing to bake the rest based on my oven.
6 oz ramekin – what is the dimension?
Maybe I am not clear… I would like to ask the diameter and height of the ramekin. :)
So sorry for my late reply, I missed your message. Diameter about 7cm, height about 4cm :)
hehe… many thanks!! :)
Nice recipe!!!! Many greetings from Greece!!!(we are friends at we rule game!!!)
omg, first time I had a werule friend come visit ;) Thanks for your compliment :)