Molten Lava Cake

What’s better than a cake with a gooey molten chocolate center? This molten lava cake is rich and fudgy with no refined sugar; it’s sweetened with maple!

But really: what’s better than a chocolate cake with a gooey molten center? Alex and I don’t make many of desserts in our household, but we’re all about an occasional splurge. And, we love a challenge: here we tried to come up with a molten lava cake that uses no refined sugar but still tastes amazing. And we think we did it! Keep reading for the molten lava cake recipe.

Making molten lava cake

This molten lava cake turned out is ultra delicious, using nothing other than maple syrup as a sweetener, and a small amount of coconut oil as the fat. It also has a very low amount of flour per serving, and uses only cocoa powder to make the chocolate: not actual melted chocolate! Even though it’s a molten lava cake with a healthy spin, it still tastes fudgy and chocolatey.

The most important part of making molten lava cake is liberally butter or oil the ramekins! You can make these cakes in either 2 8-inch ramekins or 4 5-inch ramekins. It’s important to butter or oil the ramkins because once they are baked, you’ll need to invert them onto the plate. If any part of the ramekin is not buttered, you’ll have a lava cake catastrophe! Of course, you can eat them in the ramekins too! But they’ll be hot so you’ll have to wait for them to cool down a bit before you try.

The only other thing to note with this recipe is that the bake time can vary based on the size of the ramekin and your exact oven temperature. We’ve listed the timing in the recipe below, but you’ll have to check because every oven is different. Bake the molten lava cakes until the top is just set but the inside is gooey — you can check using a toothpick.

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!

Looking easy desserts?

Outside of this molten lava cake, here are a few more easy desserts:

• Bananas Foster with a Perfect Flambé
• Easy Blueberry Crisp
• Amazing Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe
• “Bliss Bites” Healthy No-Bake Cookies
• Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Chocolate Tahini Vegan No Bake Cookies
• Granola Instant Pot Apple Crisp
• Berry Banana Ice Cream
• Chocolate Cherry Dessert Bites
• Cherry Quinoa Chocolate Bark
• 25 Easy Desserts
• Healthy Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls Recipe
• Chewy Gluten-Free Skillet Almond Flour Cookie

Molten Lava Cake

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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: a Couple Cooks
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 2 or 4 1x

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Description

What’s better than a cake with a gooey molten chocolate center? This molten lava cake is rich and fudgy with no refined sugar; it’s sweetened with maple! 

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 2 8-ounce ramekins (or 4 5-ounce ramekins)*
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup milk (almond milk for dairy free)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 egg (local, if possible!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon coconut or vegetable oil (or substitute 1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature)

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, kosher salt, and cocoa powder. Then whisk in the milk, maple syrup, egg, vanilla, and 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). 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 whereas overbaking will have very little “lava”.)
5. Serve immediately, sprinkled with powdered sugar. If desired, serve with ice cream, crème fraiche, or sweetened whipped cream.

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.

• Category: Dessert
• Method: Baked
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: Molten lava cake, Chocolate Desserts, Healthy Dessert Recipes, Lava Cake,

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About the Authors

Sonja Overhiser

Cookbook Author and writer

Sonja Overhiser is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best healthy cookbooks of 2018. She’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the food blog A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Sonja seeks to inspire adventurous eating to make the world a better place one bite at a time.

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Alex Overhiser

Cookbook Author and photographer

Alex Overhiser is an acclaimed food photographer and author based in Indianapolis. He’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the recipe website A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Alex is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious.

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