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!!
Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe
This is some of the best chocolate cake of my life. It’s so rich, dense, and fudgy it reminds me of my favorite brownies. These chocolate lava cakes blow any restaurant molten chocolate lava cake I’ve tried out of the water.
Thankfully for my thighs this lava cake recipe only makes two cakes, but it’s easily doubled or triple depending on your needs. I’d like to say that I split one of these with my daughter but no. We both inhaled our own.
The molten chocolate lava cakes are rich, decadent, moist, robustly chocolaty, sweet enough but not too sweet. I used Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Bar and recommend using your favorite dark chocolate bar.
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. Actually, they’re better than the Ruth’s Chris chocolate lava cakes if you’ve ever tried those.
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
- Ice cream and hot fudge, for serving
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!
Does This Recipe Have to Be Made in Ramekins?
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!
Can I Prep Lava Cakes in Advance?
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.
Can I Omit the Instant Espresso?
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.
Tips for the Best Lava Cakes
Chocolate: 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.
Instant espresso: If including the instant espresso (which you definitely should!), be sure to purchase INSTANT espresso granules and not regular espresso or ground coffee.
Instant espresso granules completely dissolve when mixed into the cake batter, whereas regular ground coffee would make for gritty lava cakes.
Scaling the recipe up: As I mentioned above, you can easily double or triple this lava cake recipe to feed a crowd. But you’ll need to prep, bake, and enjoy the molten chocolate cakes immediately otherwise they’ll lose their gooeyness.
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
The Best and The 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.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Easy Chocolate Cake Recipes:
Cabernet Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Ganache And Sea Salt – Now you don’t have to choose between dessert or wine since this is BOTH!! Rich chocolate cake spiked with Cabernet and topped with a silky ganache that also has Cabernet in it! Divine, amazing, MAKE THIS CAKE!!
Triple Chocolate Cherry Cake – An extremely moist, rich cake that’s so easy and studded with cherries! The frosting is silky smooth and a favorite chocolate frosting! A 10 out of 10 showstopper!
The Best Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache — The best chocolate cake I’ve ever had (until now) and the easiest to make! Nothing fussy or complicated & delivers amazing results every time!
Coca-Cola Cake – One cake of Coke in the cake and another can of Coke in the frosting! Easy no-mixer cake that’s supremely moist! Tastes like a Texas sheet cake spiked with Coke!
Slow Cooker Hot Fudge Chocolate Cake – Super soft, gooey, rich, and fudgy! The cake makes its own hot fudge sauce while cooking in the slow cooker! The easiest cake you’ll ever make and it tastes amazing!
Turtle Chocolate Poke Cake – The flavor of the famous candy in a decadent chocolate cake with tons of caramel and pecans! Easy, super soft and moist, and a crowd favorite!
Flourless Chocolate Cake – A classy, elegant cake that’s ultra rich, fudgy, and tastes better than what you’d get in a fancy restaurant and it’s so EASY!!
Originally published February 13, 2019 and republished September 22, 2022 with updated text.
If we don’t have ramekins, can we use a muffin pan?
No because it’s too shallow and it won’t work. You can find ramekins at anywhere from Target for about 2.99 to online searches or fancier cooking stores like Williams-Sonoma, etc.
I was thinking of these for dessert on NYE.. We are going to a friends house for dinner, and I am bringing dessert. Â Would it make sense to make the batter at home, fill the custard dishes, keep refrigerated and bake there? Â I don’t want to invade her kitchen, and know they should be served from the oven. Â Any thoughts would be appreciated.. Thanks!
I’ll be honest, this is one of the very few desserts on my site that isn’t really suitable towards making ahead. You have to make the batter, then bake it, then eat it, all in short order – or they won’t turn out, or won’t turn out well.
If you’re looking for something that’s NYE worthy and chocolaty, this cake is great https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/08/chocolate-cake-with-chocolate-ganache.html as are these brownies https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/07/the-best-turtle-brownies.html They’re both easily made in advance and very transportable. And look through the related recipes on each; as well as search by my tabs by dessert categories if you want something other than chocolate. LMK what you end up doing!
I can’t resist! Â I’m invading her kitchen! :) Â ***Happy 2016!***
Yes, invading is the only way to do this dessert! Enjoy :)
Thanks for the amazing recipe, I made this today its easy to put together and tastes great.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Came out wonderful!!! It was so quick and delish! (we used sugar free chocolate because we didn’t have anything else in the house…. and it was amazing!)Â
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And glad sugar free chocolate worked, too!
I need to make enough for six people, is it a straight double of the recipe? Sometimes I prefer to do two separate batches as doubling is not always successful:( I use TJ dark chocolate all the time, quality and price can’t be beat!!
I have never doubled this recipe and I know what you mean about sometimes just making two batches of something is safer. I think with this recipe you’d be fine to triple the recipe for a total of 6 cakes, but like I said, I haven’t done that personally. LMK how it goes!
Perfection! Used my food scale, tripled the recipe and it was Devine! I might have been able to leave in oven one extra minute but no matter, it was gooey and delicious!
I highly recommend using the espresso powder and if you don’t have or don’t want to spend the money I buy instant espresso put in plastic bag and roll with rolling pin to a powder consistency, works like a charm!
Thanks for the great foolproof  recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad it worked tripling it!
Made these for dessert tonight….omg….they were amazing! I had the TJ dark chocolate bar on hand, and had purchased some espresso powder from Sur La Table that I was dying to use, so this was the perfect recipe. I doubled it thinking my husband and I would each eat two but one was so sinful that I really shouldn’t have eaten the second (but of course I did) :-) Can’t wait to make these again!!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And yes, I love realllllly rich desserts that are over-the-top decadent and definitely 1 per person on this one. Unless you accidentally make 2 for each person. Then it’s 2 per person :)
Your espresso powder from Sur la Table sounds great and can’t go wrong with TJ’s chocolate. Glad it was a hit!
Just a note….4 years later, I still make these all the time. One of the best Chocolate Lava Cake recipes out there!
I am glad you make these all the time! I figured 4 years later this post needed to be reposted since readers and times change, but glad you are a fan of these for years now!
Hi there! I would like to try this recipe for 10 people… but I don’t have ramekins :/ … could I add the same mixture to an oven dish instead? Thanks!Â
Hmmm, not sure a big oven dish will bake properly due to surface area.
I’d probably go to Target or TJ Maxx and pick up 10 ramekins, they’re $1-2 each and you’ll have them forever and be good to go and guaranteed that the recipe will work out!
I think I would drizzle Hot Fudge and Caramel over the whole thing LOL sounds yummy to me
YAY! Molten lava cakes are my FAVORITE and this looks amazingggg
Love the recipe! Chocolate lava cakes are my favorite. Is there a concern at all with the middle not technically being baked through and raw egg? I want to make this for my friend, but she is pregnant so I want to make sure this would be unconditionally safe! Thanks!
Yes I think the egg is cooked to a safe point. It’s not ‘that’ gooey and un-set that I would worry about anything personally (I served this to my child and felt 100% fine), but if you’re concerned use pasteurized eggs to begin with. And as always, use common sense because I’m not a dietician or food safety expert!
Enjoy the cakes!
Molten Chocolate Lava cakes are my love language!
Paige
https://thehappyflammily.com
Averie, you saved Easter dinner! I had actually made a dessert pinned from another food blogger that was an epic disaster (recipe had so many flaws in it, I should have known better) but I remembered I had pinned your chocolate lava cakes a few days ago, knew I had all the ingredients, and whipped them up in 15 min. They were AMAZING! Thank you, thank you, thank you!Â
Thanks for trying the recipe and what a great comment to read! Sorry that your first recipe didn’t pan out but so glad mine did and it saved Easter! Happy Easter!! :)
After seeing this post – a molten chocolate lava cake is ALL I am craving. Just divine!
Now I’m not normally a pudding person…but these look amazing! And looks so simple, will certainly be giving these a try :-). Thanks for sharing!
Averie,
Making Molten Lava Cake is on my bucket list. I’ve pinned for later. Happy Easter.
Annamaria
Thanks for pinning!
Omg i love chocolate