The Best Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes — 🍫❤️ One bowl, no mixer, so easy! The warm, gooey, fudgy chocolate lava cake center is heavenly! Better than any restaurant versions! Best chocolate cake EVER!!
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Easy Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe
These chocolate lava cakes are so rich, gooey, and fudgy! They blow any restaurant version I’ve ordered out of the water.
The molten chocolate lava cakes are rich, decadent, moist, robustly chocolaty, sweet enough but not too sweet.
The molten, barely-set chocolate that oozes from the center is my idea of heaven.
Ice cream and 10-Minute Homemade Hot Fudge aren’t required but yes, they are. They’re the final icing on these perfect little cakes that remind me of something you’d get at a fancy restaurant.
I followed the recipe exactly, other than I used semisweet chips, and just chopped them so theelted properly. Amazing, the cakes were a huge hit and I will most certainly make them again!!! — Roxanne
Ingredients in Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes
This is an incredibly easy lava cake recipe that calls for just 6 basic ingredients, plus the optional toppings. To make this recipe for molten chocolate cakes, you’ll need:
- Dark or bittersweet chocolate
- Unsalted butter
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Eggs
- All-purpose flour
- Instant espresso coffee granules – not regular ground espresso or ground coffee beans
- Ice cream and hot fudge, for serving
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chocolate Lava Cakes
When you find out how fast and easy these chocolate molten cakes are to make, you’ll never settle for a restaurant version again! Here’s an overview of the baking process:
- Melt butter with chocolate in one bowl, no mixer is needed.
- Stir in sugar, eggs, instant espresso, and flour, then pour into ramekins and bake. You want to bake these chocolate molten lava cakes until the edges are set but the centers are still soft. Whatever you do, do NOT over bake the lava cakes, otherwise they won’t have gooey centers.
- Let the molten chocolate cakes for about 1 minute before running a knife gently around the edges and inverting onto a plate. Top with ice cream and dig in!
Recipe FAQs
I used Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Bar and recommend using your favorite dark chocolate bar. I prefer using bars or baking chocolate rather than chocolate chips because I prefer the flavor, texture, and they melt more smoothly, which is important for a recipe like this.
If you don’t have any ramekins, you could experiment with baking the chocolate lava cakes in a jumbo muffin tin or even a regular size muffin tin. It will be harder to invert the molten cakes onto plates, plus you’ll also need to adjust the bake time. (Use your best judgement!) Or, make this slow cooker chocolate fudge cake to make essentially one giant lava cake!
I’ll be honest, this is one of the very few desserts on my site that isn’t really suitable for making ahead. You have to make the batter, then bake it, then eat it, all in short order – or the molten chocolate lava cakes won’t turn out, or won’t turn out well.
Yes, but note that the instant espresso doesn’t make the cakes taste like coffee. It just serves to enhance the chocolate flavor! My favorite brand is this Medaglia D’Oro which is available in well-stocked supermarkets in the coffee aisle or on Amazon.
You can easily double or triple this lava cake recipe to feed a crowd. However, you’ll need to prep, bake, and enjoy the molten chocolate cakes immediately otherwise they’ll lose their gooeyness.
This really is easy and the best tasting results! I added a splash of vanilla and a small pinch of salt to ramp up the flavor that much more. — Rebecca Wynn
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The Best and Easiest Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes
Ingredients
- 2 ounces dark chocolate or bittersweet baking chocolate, I used Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Bar; I prefer bars or baking chocolate to chocolate chips
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, 1/2 of 1 stick
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, discard white or save for another use
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee granules, optional but recommended (doesn’t make cakes taste like coffee and serves to enhance the chocolate flavor)
- ice cream for serving, optional but recommended
- hot fudge for serving, homemade or storebought, optional but recommended
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F and spray two ramekins (about 3-4 inches in diameter or about 4 ounces each) with cooking spray, place ramekins on a baking sheet; set aside.
- To a medium microwave-safe bowl, add the chocolate, butter, and heat on high power to melt, about 1 minute. Stop to whisk until smooth. If needed, return bowl to micro and heat in 15-second increments until chocolate can be whisked smooth.
- Add the sugar, egg, egg yolk, and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour, optional espresso granules, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix.
- Pour batter into prepared ramekins, divided evenly.
- Bake for about 12 minutes, or until edges are set but center is still soft; don’t overbake. Baking times will vary based on oven, ramekins, and climate variances; bake until as done as desired.
- Allow cakes to cool in ramekins for about 1 minute, gently rim the edges of ramekins with a paring knife, and invert over serving dishes to dislodge cakes.
- Optionally top with ice cream, hot fudge, and serve immediately. Cakes are best warm and fresh.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Kraft.
- If you’d like to make your own hot fudge, you can use my Homemade Hot Fudge recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Originally published February 13, 2019 and republished September 22, 2022 with updated text.
Which Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate bar did you use?
I would suggest either just ‘dark chocolate’ in a brown/tan wrapper or the 72% in a red wrapper, or a mixture of the two.
Great, thank you!
Hi Averie! If i were to make them beforehand, would it still work it i pop them into the microwave and still have the molten middle remain? :)
Yes and no…the microwave will continue to cook the cake as well as softening it. So it may be somewhat molten in the middle but drier everywhere else.
The best, easiest and most delicious recipe for Lava Cakes EVER! Thanks so much 👍
Glad these turned out to be the best lava cakes ever!
HI! I wanted to try this recipe and wanted to make 4 instead of 2, so would I just double the ingredients? Also, are the center of the cakes “lava-y”, just wondering bc in the video they dont appear oozing with chocolate. Thank you!!
Yes you would double everything. And to make the centers more lava-ey, you’d just have to play around with the baking time in your oven and with your ramekins since even a minute or two can effect things.
I followed the recipe exactly, other than I used semisweet chips, and just chopped them so theelted properly. Amazing, the cakes were a huge hit and I will most certainly make them again!!!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad these were a huge hit and that you’ll make them again!
The title of the recipe says it all. It’s not easy eating just one cake, they are that good. Mouth watering waiting for it to come out of oven and it does not disappoint!!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad this recipe totally hit the spot for you!
HI
Can I make the batter head of time and then pour and bake several hours later? I am tryingto make 30 of these for a 60th b-day party. I am a fool.
I have only made the recipe as written and really can’t give advice if you deviate. Good luck!
But my gut tells me no, this is not a recipe that you can create en-masse in advance; I may be wrong though.
Made this last night and it was DELICIOUS! so easy too! your title is perfect for it :) i can’t wait to make this again. i’ve probably made like 15 of your recipes now and they’re all so amazing. thanks for sharing!
I tried the Molten choco lava cake for tea yesterday and my kids enjoyed them. Needless to say they were completely wiped out. Thanks a ton for the recipe.
I tried this recipe this afternoon and it was easy and delicious.I used milk chocolate chips, and served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.I am really impressed at how good and easy this is.This recipe is a keeper.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Made these for Valentine’s day. I used to make a different recipe that made 6 of them, and we really only need 2- so this recipe is perfect! They were SO easy, SO delicious, and I will definitely make them again! I added a dash of vanilla and salt to the recipe, but otherwise followed it exactly. I’m hesitant with coffee- but you are right, I didn’t taste it! :) Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And yes to only needing two of these :)
I made this for my Valentines and we loved it. I switched the light corn syrup to organic agave. It is so decadent; a good thing this recipe only makes 2 small cakes for our own good. Wonderful recipe, extremely easy and quick. Thank you
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Hello, This is so delicious and so yummy.thanks for sharing your recipe. i have a question can i do this cake in 9 inch round cake pan?Thanks!
I haven’t tried so can’t say for sure. Something about the larger surface area makes me wonder if the texture will come out the same or not.
This is so delicious and easy My family loves them! I also add some cocoa in addition to the chocolate! Awesome!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
This was amazing. Came out perfectly and looked as good as the photos. To make it a bit less sweet, can I cut down or eliminate the sugar without affecting the consistency?
I would probably use a darker percentage chocolate, i.e. less sweet chocolate to begin with, rather than tweaking the sugar ratios. That way you know the texture will still turn out the same. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!! I tried it out the other day and it was AMAZING – even more so because of how easy it was. I couldn’t help myself and had to add some toasted marshmallows for a s’mores variation :) If you’re interested, here are some pictures! Thanks again.
http://www.doughing-it-right.com
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out great for you! Toasted marshmallows sound perfect!