Gooey, rich and decadent. Having a major weak spot for chocolate lava cakes yet finding the commercial ones sold in cafes and restaurants too expensive, I took it to myself to devise a suitable chocolate lava cake recipe for me that’s not too sweet and overwhelming and I hope that you will like this recipe too!
I am therefore, of course happy to share with you my results! Although I am currently really sick of chocolate lava cakes, having ate at least 6 of these within 2 weeks due to my really tempting experimentation that I just couldn’t stop eating.
I blame it on my lack of discipline for resisting desserts!
You would probably have already known a lot about Chocolate Lava Cakes like how awesome they are with an amazing fusion of warm chocolate with a slightly spongey exterior cake that comes with it.
I am not going to sell on the concept of how amazing it is, but I am selling chocolate lava cake to you on how extremely fuss free it is to make them! Nonetheless, some fine tuning and attention is definitely needed for the baking time!
As per my usual style, I will be breaking down my sharing into the taste and texture, method of preparation and ingredients.
For the taste and texture, I don’t think I can ever share enough of it so let me summarize it in a two lines!
It is an awesome mix of gooey and warm chocolate that comes with a mouth of slightly spongey cake, best if it is served with not-too-sweet jam or vanilla ice cream!
Next up, the method. Which careful attention needs to be paid here, especially to make the perfect chocolate lava cake!
Always make sure to be watching your cake as it cooks! This is because the recipe only serves as a general guideline and the difference in brands of ovens and equipment can end up your lava cake to be a sponge cake. The best way to tell, is through your eyes.
Observe the surface of the cake a couple of minutes before the cook time. It should form a layer of sponge or is about to form a layer of sponge. Once it is formed, you can prepare to take it out immediately!
Another thing to take note is to sift your ingredients and to get rid of any clumps. This is so that the lava flowing out will be silky smooth!
The ingredients.
Well, the emphasize here will be on getting good quality chocolate. However, I find that normal baking chocolate does the job well too so no worries! It started off sufficiently good but if you would like it even better, just go for it!
If it makes you feel better should you not be able to nail it on the first try, my very first lava cake attempt plopped out of my baking tin and landed on my counter. I was only able to salvage the top half though it was still a delicious mess!
Without further ado, my recipe!
Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe
by Javier Tan March-10-2019
A mixture of warm gooey chocolate accompanied by a slightly spongey cake layer. Serve it with vanilla ice cream or jam, a cup of tea at the side and you will have a perfect afternoon to go for you!
Ingredients
- 1/3 Cup or 80g Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature + some extra for buttering sides of pans
- approx 2/3 Cup or 135g Semisweet Chocolate Chips
- 3 Large Eggs, each weighing 55-60g including the shell
- 35g or 1/4 Cup + 1 Tablespoon Powdered Sugar, Sifted
- 1/4 Teaspoon or 1.4g Table Salt
- 1/4 Teaspoon or 1.25 Vanilla Extract or 2.5ml of Vanilla Essence
- 1/4 Cup or 30g All-Purpose / Plain Flour, Sifted
- Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C (420F) and lightly butter the sides of your pans or ramekins.
- In a double boiler or small microwave, melt together the butter, chocolate chips and salt. Stir occasionally to combine.
- While still warm, add in the sugar and vanilla.
- If you would like a fluffier lava cake, beat the eggs until fluffy before adding in. Otherwise, just add the eggs directly. Stir and mix well until incorporated.
- Add in the sifted flour and fold it in until the dry ingredients are well incorporated.
- Transfer to the baking pans / ramekins and place it in the oven. You can try muffin pans but I haven’t personally tried it myself! Note that I am using 10cm pans here so please do adjust accordingly, with shorter baking time for smaller pans. Let know if you need help!
- Bake for about 8 minutes 30s or until you notice that the top is forming a cooked layer ( the top no longer seems watery ).
- Once its out you can invert the pan and immediately serve it! I like to put jam or vanilla ice cream to go with it!
- Enjoy! Its nice too eve if you store it in the refrigerator!
- Prep time:
- Cook time:
- Total time:
- Yield: 3-4 Mini Gooey Lava Cakes!
Notes:
- If you would like to be updated for more recipes which I strive to create to perfection for sharing and for free, do check out my Instagram, Facebook Page, or YouTube 🙂 Thank you so much for all of your support! Feel free to tag me or link back here!
- Can’t emphasize it enough, but the best way to make sure its not overcooked is to observe it carefully!
- You can store it in the refrigerator and it will still be nice! Alternatively, you can store the batter in the refrigerator for a week then bake it when you like some lava cakes!
Enjoy!
– Bakeomaniac, Javier Tan
Hi Javier
May i swap the choc chips with cooking chocolate bars instead? That’s what is left in my fridge 😊
Hello Siew Hui you sure can do that so long it melts too 🙂
Just a head’s up that this cake will not be the most watery but its on the healthier side! Check constantly to achieve the most fluid. I do know that other recipes usually use more eggs and butter to get it more fluid but I dont really want it to be so fattening (For me!).