Early on into learning how to cook, I wanted to really challenge myself with a difficult recipe so picked a lava cake as it’s the ultimate chocolate dessert. As it turns out, this was not terribly challenging as it comes together in just a few minutes. The only slightly tricky part is getting the bake right and turning out the cakes without bursting the gooey center.
Molten Lava Cake for Two
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425, and spray 2 6-ounce ramekins very well with cooking spray. You can also coat the ramekins with cocoa powder to ensure the cakes turn out easily.
- In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips and butter. Heat in 15-second pulses in the microwave, stirring in between each pulse until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove it from the microwave before the chips melt all the way, and stir to melt them entirely. The mixture should be smooth and shiny.
In a medium bowl with an electric mixer or a stand mixer on medium speed, beat together the egg, egg yolk and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy and falling off the beaters in ribbons.
Next, add the salt, vanilla extract, and instant espresso powder, if using. Beat until just combined.
- Stream in the melted chocolate and butter, and beat until combined.
Finally, fold in the flour with a spatula until just combined.
- Divide the mixture between the two ramekins. Place the ramekins on a small baking sheet.
- Bake for 13-14 minutes, until the tops of the cakes appear dry and the edges are starting to turn dark brown.
Let the cakes rest for 1 minute only on the baking sheet. If you let them sit longer, they will finish cooking all the way through.
Run a knife around the edges of each ramekin, and tip the cake out onto the plate. Be sure to use hot pads as the ramekins will still be very hot. I find that putting a plate upside down on top of the ramekin then sliding it to the edge of the table is the easiest way to invert the cake onto a plate.
Serve immediately with a dusting of powdered sugar, berries, ice cream, or by itself for a decadent dessert.
