There are a million recipes out there for Molten Lava Cakes. I’ve tried tons of different ones and honestly I’ve never had a bad one. I mean, how can anything that looks like this not be good?! This particular recipe I got from my beautiful, intelligent, and outrageously talented sister-in-law Emily. (You know, since this week we’re sucking up to our in-laws and I can’t let Kate upstage me.) Can you believe I actually have THREE sister-in-laws named Emily?? For the record they are all beautiful, intelligent, and outrageously talented 🙂 This particular one happens to be married to my brother Nate and I love her.
I used to make mini chocolate souffles a lot, but these are so much easier and they turn out every time so I’ve bagged teh souffles. Seriously, you can whip these suckers up in less than 5 minutes and be eating them shortly after that. So easy, so impressive, and so so good.
And since I know at least one person will ask- yes you need to use bittersweet chocolate! Remember you’re adding sugar too and these are very rich as is. Adding a sweet chocolate like milk or semi will be a little overkill. Besides bittersweet chocolate is my favorite! Live on the wild side.
Individual Molten Lava Cakes
4 T real butter
1/3 C sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 C flour
1/4 t salt
8 oz bittersweet chocolate*, melted
*8 ounces is about 1 1/3 C of bittersweet chocolate chips. Make the 1/3 cup a little over-full and you should be good
Additional Ingredients:
powdered sugar for dusting
sweetened whipped cream for serving
butter and sugar for preparing pans
You can either bake these in a muffin pan, in ramekins, or even oven-proof
mugs. If you use a muffin tin you’ll get 6 cakes and depending on the size of the ramekins you’ll get 4-6.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To prepare pans, use your fingers (or the butter wrapper) to rub butter in the muffin tins or ramekins. Sprinkle in some granulated sugar to coat the entire inner surface and tap out any extra discard.
In a bowl with a mixer beat the 4 T butter and 1/3 C sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and salt and slowly add it into the butter mixture just until combined. Stir in melted chocolate by hand, just until combined. Don’t over mix.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups or ramekins and then place them on a baking sheet. (If using ramekins you’ll want them not quite 3/4 full)
The cute heart-shaped ramekins I used are from Michael’s craft Store. They come in pink, white, and red and they’re $1 each. When I was in the store the other day I heard them calling out, “Saaaaara, buuuuuy us, buuuuy us…” and who am I to argue with talking ramekins??
Mmmm….gooey chocolate. Don’t you wish you could stick your finger in that?
Bake just until tops of cakes no longer jiggle when pan is lightly shaken, about 8-10 min for a muffin pan, and 10-12 for ramekins. Remove from oven and let stand 10 min.
You can serve them one of two ways. Obviously if you’re using a muffin pan you’ll need to invert the cakes and place them on serving plates. They should pop right out after you run a sharp knife around the edge. Since I had these darling pink heart dishes I served mine
right in the dish. You’re the cook, do what you want! Dust with powdered sugar and serve with a dallop of sweetened whipped cream.
Okay, the hearts look pretty cute inverted too.
Now here’s why they’re called Molten Lava Cakes. They cook beautifully on the outside- kind of a mixture between a brownie and a souffle. But then when you bust that sucker open you get a gooey, flowing, chocolate, lava-like surprise.
I love breaking through that first layer and seeing the oozing center. Gets me excited every time, like I don’t know it’s there!
This picture does a good job of showing the different textures. A tiny bit of crisp on the very top, then a soft, chewy layer, then the molten sauce in the center.
These little babies are rich, so definitely have some whipped cream, or some ice cream to go with it. Definitely a Valentine-Worthy dessert!
Questions & Reviews
These look great, I want to try them. How many ramekins did you fill up with the recipe? Thank you!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I had house guests this week and served this to rave reviews. I was told they were restaurant worthy and this came from foodies! Easy, elegant and delicious. I garnished with fresh whipped cream and a sprig of mint. Thanks again!!!
Jodi- good to know that you liked it with semi-sweet. I know the bars can be pricey. Cooking it at a slightly higher heat probably wouldn’t hurt, but for this recipe I’d stick to how it’s written.
Sara, I made these & they are super yummy! The store I went to was out of bittersweet chocolate chips & so I bought 2 bars of bittersweet chocolate. They were pricey & I had to double the recipe for my big family so I also used semi-sweet choco. chips. I thought it worked great…In fact there was a similar recipe on the inside of the choco. bar label…they suggested baking at 425?
I just finished eating this. Mmmmmm. I used real heavy whipping cream. It was divine. I make 6 muffin tins and two ramekins with this recipe. Perfect for my family of 4 – we can all have another serving tomorrow! I love that you can throw it together within quickly and go from a chocolate craving to pure chocolate decadence in minutes. Yum!
YUM!
This is exactly what I had in mind for our Valentines Day dessert! Now I don’t have to search the internet for a recipe. Thanks!!
mmmmmm. I made molten lava cakes for my husband on our first Valentines day together. Thanks for the reminder and the recipe. I’m totally making these!
Angela,
Bittersweet chocolate is sweeter than unsweetened and not as sweet as semi-sweet. It’s actually labeled “bittersweet” and you can find it by the chocolate chips. Where I live the only brands of bittersweet chips I ever see in the stores are Ghirardelli or Guittard. If you don’t see chips, then you should for sure be able to find a bar of chocolate (usually right above the chocolate chips). And actually, a bar is easier to measure, but I usually get chips because ounce for ounce it’s cheaper.
So, my question is about the bittersweet chocolate? Something like semi-sweet chocolate chips? Or the unsweetened bakers chocolate? I feel like I should know the answer, but I just don’t! Help.