Molten Lava Cakes

By on 12 February 2012 in Desserts with 19 Comments.

IMG_8539-17

So we couldn’t help ourselves. We don’t make a lot of desserts in our household. BUT, with a special holiday coming up next week, we thought a lot of you might be. Plus, we’re all for a celebratory treat once in a while!

We liked the challenge of trying to come up with a treat that uses local and natural ingredients, that also sits well with my stomach (living gall-bladder free makes it hard for me to digest fatty foods, so I stay away from most typical desserts these days!). However, Alex was determined we could develop a molten lava cake that met all these criteria.

lavacake1

And did he ever!  This cake is ultra delicious, using nothing other than local honey as a sweetener, and a small amount of coconut oil as the fat. It also includes whole wheat flour, which gives it a nice robust taste. (Sorry to all the low grain friends out there – we weren’t up to that challenge just yet!)

If you make the full recipe for four servings, it’s decadence at a minimal calorie count. But more importantly, it’s a quick and easy treat to throw together using natural ingredients that you might already have in your pantry.  Give it a try for an upcoming special meal – and try to use local eggs and honey if they are available to you!

lavacake3

Thanks to:

-Schacht Farm for the eggs
-Wildflower Ridge Honey for the honey

both at the Indy Winter Farmer’s Market

Molten Lava Cakes

Serves 4 (or 2!)

Notes: We’ve made this recipe using either 2 8-ounce ramekins or 4 5-ounce ramekins; you’ll just need to adapt the baking time (see below). The trick is to bake the cakes so that the outside is baked but the inside is still liquid. The timing is hard measure since all ovens and ramekins are different, so you’ll have to give it a try and adapt accordingly to your oven!  You’ll want to remove the cakes when they have just solidified, but before they are cooked through. The liquidity of the honey also affects the runniness of the dough, which in turn affects the cook time.

What You Need
2 8-ounce ramekins (or 4 5-ounce ramekins)
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup honey (local, if possible!)
1 egg (local, if possible!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon coconut or vegetable oil (or substitute 1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature)

What To Do

1  Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2  In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour, 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 3 tablespoons cocoa powder. Then whisk in 1/4 cup milk, 1/3 cup honey, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 tablespoon coconut or vegetable oil. Whisk until smooth.

3  Liberally grease the inside of the ramekins with oil or butter, especially the bottoms (don’t forget this part – it helps the cakes will easily slide out after baking!). Divide the mixture evenly between the ramekins.

4  Here’s the hard part: bake the ramekins until just hardened on top, but still liquid in the center – between 12 to 15 minutes for larger ramekins, and around 10 minutes for smaller ramekins. The top should be just solidified (not jiggly); you can test with a toothpick to make sure it is cooked but that there is still liquid on the inside. When you remove the ramekins from the oven, let them cool for a bit, then run a knife around the edge and carefully invert them onto a plate (using hot pads, as they’ll still be quite hot!).

Tip Don’t worry if you overbake or underbake on your first try – we had to play with it a bit to get the right timing with our oven, but in either case they are still delicious!  (Underbaking will end up with a lot of liquid (delicious!) whereas overbaking will have very little “lava”.)

Serve immediately, sprinkled with powdered sugar. If desired, serve with ice cream, crème fraiche, or sweetened whipped cream.

Print Friendly

Tags: , , , , , , ,