Cakey on the outside, warm, oozy and chocolaty on the inside, Chocolate indulgence at its best!!

These molten lava cakes are super easy to make and are ready in just 30 minutes. They are also a great make-ahead dessert, just make the batter, pour them into the prepared ramekins and refrigerate them. When ready to serve just pop them in an oven and they are ready to eat in just about 20 minutes.

Nothing beats a freshly baked warm gooey molten lava cake with a dollop ice cream! Happy Valentine’s day!!

Serves – 5 

Ingredients: 

• 2/3 cup Butter, about 10tbsp
• 4 ounces Dark Chocolate, 
• 4 Eggs
• 2/3 cup Sugar, about 10tbsp
• 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Instant Coffee 
• 5 Ramekins, 7 oz.

How To:

• Butter and dust the ramekins with flour and line them with parchment paper discs. Butter and dust with flour the parchment discs as well.

• Gently melt butter and chocolate together in a microwave or over a water bath (see instructions below)

• In a mixing bowl beat together eggs until just combined. Add sugar it, continue beating them until thick, pale, and ribbony about 10 minutes.

• Add flour and gently mix it together until combined about a minute or so. Do not over mix.
• Finally, add the chocolate mixture and coffee to the bowl and lightly mix until just combined.
• Pour the mixtures into prepared ramekins, cover, and chill.

• Just before serving, preheat oven to 400° F. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until the top is set about 14 to 15 minutes.

• Remove from the oven and let it sit for about 4-5 minutes before unmolding it. Carefully run your knife around the cake inside the ramekin and flip it over onto the serving plates. Serve with ice cream, berries or chocolate sauce.

Serving suggestion:

• Serve warm lava cakes with your choice of ice cream (Vanilla or Ube ice cream is our favorite) and top it with a sprig of mint.
• Add some berries to it as well.
• Drizzle some Chocolate sauce or caramel sauce if you like.
• Dust it with cocoa powder or powdered sugar using a sieve.

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Note:

• Coffee– Adding coffee brings out the chocolate flavor, so I usually add it in all my chocolate desserts. You can skip adding it if you prefer so.
• Melting chocolate in the microwave – Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and melt for 30 seconds, remove from microwave and mix the chocolate together. Microwave again for 30 seconds and mix it together. Repeat until it is all melted and smooth. This ensures that the chocolate does not burn in the microwave and melts uniformly.
• Melting chocolate in a double boiler: Double boiler is a set of saucepan and bowl over it. A saucepan that holds hot water, and a bowl that fits securely over the saucepan. Make sure the water in the saucepan does not touch the bottom of the bowl. The chocolate is placed in the bowl which melts using the indirect heat. Bring the water in the saucepan to simmer, place the bowl with chocolate over it and stir it occasionally, until melted and smooth.
• Preparing ramekins– Grease the ramekins with butter and dust it lightly with flour, this acts as a non-stick coating. Cut round discs out of parchment paper of the size of ramekins and line the ramekins with them. Butter and dust parchment paper with flour. This will help in easy unmolding of the cake.
• I usually chill the batter in ramekins for at least an hour before making the cakes, I just think this results in a dense molten center.
• Make ahead– You can make them a day or 2 in advance, distribute them evenly into prepared ramekins, cover the ramekins with plastic wrap and refrigerate them. When ready make, just remove from the refrigerator, unwrap and pop them into the pre-heated oven. Bake straight from the refrigerator you do not need to bring them to room temperature.
• Since every oven is different I would recommend you test bake one ramekin at first for about 14 minutes and see how it goes. This will help you adjust the time based on your oven. I have seen it set usually between 13-15 minutes in different ovens.

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