Chocolate lava cakes with their deliciously rich molten chocolate center come together with 6 simple ingredients. Ready in just 25 minutes, this surprisingly easy and quick dessert always impresses. If you don’t have ramekins, follow my instructions for using a muffin pan instead.
One reader, CB, commented: “Absolutely perfect! I made these for my family tonight and they were amazing. I included some raspberries, strawberries, and vanilla ice cream on the side. Perfect Valentine’s Day dessert! ★★★★★“
Today we’re making straight-up chocolate lava cakes. Even though peanut butter chocolate lava cakes are truly magical, I’ve received a lot of requests for a plain chocolate version.
Molten cakes are always a crowd favorite, and they’re infinitely better when made fresh at home. I included this recipe over on my Valentine’s Day dessert recipes page, but they’re just as rich and tasty without a holiday on the calendar. 🙂
Tell Me About These Chocolate Lava Cakes
- Flavor: There’s no doubt about it: rich chocolate is front and center in this lava cake recipe. They’re even more chocolatey than this reader-favorite chocolate cake!
- Texture: This lava cake pairs moist chocolate cake with an ooey-gooey molten center. Be careful not to over-bake these.
- Ease: The secret for making chocolate lava cakes? There is no secret. These lava cakes require zero complicated steps or special tools.
- Time: The best part about this recipe is that it whips up fast: Make a quick cake batter and bake in ramekins or a muffin pan. Then, serve immediately with your favorite toppings like ice cream, homemade whipped cream, or a drizzle of salted caramel. Dreamy!
If you prefer a gluten-free option, consider making this rich and fudge-like flourless chocolate cake.
In Short:
- Warm, rich chocolate cake
- Thick, gooey molten chocolate in the middle
- Quick and easy to make
- Only 6 ingredients
- No mixer required
- No cooling time!
Overview: How to Make Chocolate Lava Cakes
The full printable recipe is below, but let’s walk through it so you can see how easy these are to make.
Prepare four 6-ounce ramekins. Grease each ramekin with a little nonstick spray and a dusting of cocoa powder before filling with batter. This preparation helps the baked lava cake release seamlessly from the ramekin onto the plate for serving.
Make the chocolate cake batter.
Spoon the batter evenly into each ramekin, and bake. The high oven temperature cooks the outside of the mini cakes but leaves the center gooey. The tops may look somewhat soft.
Invert the ramekins. Carefully flip the freshly baked lava cakes upside down onto plates, and dig in while warm!
If 4 or 6 lava cakes are simply too many, try this 2-serving recipe for chocolate fudge cakes instead!
You Can Make These in a Muffin Pan Instead
I highly recommend using 6-ounce ramekins for these lava cakes—they’re the perfect size to make 4 of these single-serving portions. Plus, you can use the same ramekins for most custard recipes, chocolate fudge cakes for 2, chocolate soufflé, peanut butter chocolate lava cakes, and lemon pudding cakes.
If you don’t have ramekins, you can use a standard muffin pan. Grease 6 muffin pan cups and dust with cocoa powder to prevent the lava cakes from sticking. Because your lava cakes will be slightly smaller, you’ll get 6 lava cakes instead of 4. Bake at 425°F (218°C) for 8–10 minutes. Use a spoon to release the cakes from the pan and place each upside down on plates.
Optional Toppings
Once the warm lava cakes are inverted onto plates, the fun really begins! So many toppings pair wonderfully with these chocolate lava cakes. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Ice cream and/or whipped cream
- Raspberry dessert sauce or strawberry sauce
- Melted peanut butter or Nutella
- Salted caramel
- Mocha whipped cream from this flourless chocolate cake recipe
- Fresh berries
All of Your Chocolate Lava Cakes
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge!
Chocolate Lava Cakes
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 or 6 cakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Chocolate lava cakes with their deliciously rich molten chocolate center come together with 6 simple ingredients. Ready in just 25 minutes, this surprisingly easy and quick dessert always impresses. If you don’t have ramekins, follow my instructions for using a muffin pan instead.
Ingredients
- 6 ounces (170g) high-quality semi-sweet chocolate*
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup (60g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks*
- optional for topping: ice cream, berries, and/or chocolate syrup
Instructions
- Spray four 6-ounce ramekins with nonstick cooking spray and dust with cocoa powder. This ensures the cakes will seamlessly come out of the ramekins when inverted onto a plate in step 7. Or spray half of a 12-count muffin pan and dust with cocoa powder. If baking in a muffin pan, the recipe will yield 6 cakes.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Coarsely chop the chocolate. Place butter in a medium heat-proof bowl, then add chopped chocolate on top. Microwave on high in 10-second increments, stirring after each until completely smooth. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt together in a small bowl. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks together until combined in another small bowl. Pour the flour mixture and eggs into the bowl of chocolate. Slowly stir everything together using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. If there are any lumps, gently use your whisk to rid them. The batter will be slightly thick.
- Spoon chocolate batter evenly into each prepared ramekin or muffin cup.
- Place ramekins onto a baking sheet and bake for 12–14 minutes until the sides appear solid and firm; the tops will still look soft. *If baking in a muffin pan, the cakes only take about 8–10 minutes.
- Allow to cool for 1 minute, then cover each with an inverted plate and turn over. Use an oven mitt because those ramekins are hot! The cakes should release easily from the ramekin. *If you used a muffin pan, use a spoon to release the cakes from the pan and place each upside down on plates.
- Add toppings. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can prepare the batter through step 4. Cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Allow to come to room temperature (takes a couple hours) before continuing with step 5. You can freeze the baked lava cakes for up to 3 months. Allow them to cool completely before freezing. Reheat in the microwave.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 6-Ounce Ramekins or 12-count Muffin Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula or Wooden Spoon | Baking Sheet
- Chocolate: Make sure to use high-quality chocolate, not chocolate chips. You won’t have much “lava” with chocolate chips. I always use pure chocolate baking bars (found in the grocery store baking aisle), such as Baker’s, Ghirardelli, or Lindt. They’re typically sold in 4-ounce bars, so you will need 1 and 1/2 bars total.
- Eggs: For this recipe, you need 2 whole eggs plus an additional 2 egg yolks. (Use the 2 extra egg whites in an omelet or in any of these recipes with egg whites.) After 10–14 minutes in an oven this hot, the eggs should be cooked to 160°F, which is considered safe to eat. If you’re concerned, you can take the temperature with an instant read thermometer to be sure.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I just made these choc lava cakes for a late valentine’s Day dessert, topped them with vanilla Ice cream and sliced strawberries, they were absolutely delicious!!! I followed the recipe and notes exactly and it all turned out perfect, we all loved them! Thank you Sally thank you, well worth making and sharing
Made these for Valentines Day and they were a great hit! Also made the mocha whip cream to serve with them and raspberries! Super delicious.
These are delicious and SUPER easy to make. I used 70% chocolate and it worked well – they weren’t too sweet. I think you could even go darker with the chocolate. Thank you for this recipe!
Sally never fails! I have become obsessed with your recipes since the Pandemic. I probably try a new recipe every 2 weeks. And they all become favorites. This recipe is perfect! I wish I could post my pic of how my dessert turned out. The “lava” was not a liquid, but it did flow out. I probably needed to bake for 30-60 seconds less.
Can this recipe be doubled to fill a 12 cup muffin tin? Thanks Sally!!
I made these for Valentine’s Day dessert. They came out of the ramekin effortlessly and tasted delicious.
I was hoping the chocolate would flow out a bit… but it did not. The center while moist wasn’t very gooey. I baked them for 14 minutes.
Perhaps more chocolate next time or a bit shorter baking time?
There will definitely be a “next time!” Yum! Yum!
Fantastic taste and presentation, Sally. And easy to make!
Perfect Valentine’s Day dinner treat! THANK YOU as always for your detailed instructions. They really help so much. I appreciate you and your team so much!
I’ve made this recipe a handful of times. Always a massive hit. Thanks for such a easy delicious recipe!!
Hi Sally,
Can these be made in the jumbo muffin tin (6 cups)? How filled should each cup be and how long in the oven? Thanks – Susan
Hi Susan! We haven’t tested it but other bakers have reported using a jumbo muffin tin with success – they should be about the same size (and bake time) as the 6 oz ramekins, though you can measure yours to make sure (will yield 4 lava cakes).
Would this recipe work as well with bittersweet chocolate? Or perhaps with half semisweet and half bittersweet? We are dark chocolate lovers.
Hi Ellen, absolutely. Bittersweet chocolate will yield a deeper, darker chocolate flavor. Enjoy!
Is this a recipe that must be eaten immediately (like the chocolate soufflé)? I see it makes 6 but I’m making it for twins for Valentine’s Day so want to save the remainder for others. Thank you.
Hi Gina! These are best served immediately. We recommend freezing the extras – see recipe notes for details.
Hi,
Do you have the high altitude adjustment for this recipe?
Thank you
Hi Jessica, I wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. I know some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Love this recipe! Also want to add that I don’t eat gluten, and I’ve made it with both cassava flour and coconut flour and both times it came out great. The chocolate taste is very strong so I imagine you wouldn’t notice even if you used buckwheat or other strong-tasting flours too.
Hi! I just made this recipe for my family and it was a ABSOLUTE hit! We all loved it so much the whole dessert tray was gone in less than 10 minutes! Thank you soooooo much for the amazing recipe Sally! Will definitely be using this recipe many more times in the future!
Hello Sally,
Would it be good if I added Espresso powder to this recipe? You have it in your German Chocolate Cake recipe and it turned out so incredibly good!
Yes, espresso powder would be delicious!
Hi! I just wanna give a quick feedback on this recipe… IT IS GOOD!
my son used this recipe for their home economics project. He followed everything on the recipe (though we adjusted the sweetness by tuning it down a bit than asked) and I came out very very good on the first run.
Our encounter with this is the cooking time. It took us longer than 10 minutes to achieve the results. So I guess the rule of ovens apply.
This is my 3rd recipe I tried from your site and I must say… Thank you! Not only are your recipes friendly it is very yummy too!
Very easy!! Absolutely amazing
Perfect & easy! We just moved into our new house & I wanted to bake us something to celebrate. I used coconut oil instead of butter (we don’t have a fridge yet) and baked for 13 minutes, they turned out perfect. Saving this recipe to use over & over!
Thank you for using our recipe to celebrate your new home, Lauren!
First time making this and they are so good. Cooked them for 12 min 45 seconds.
I never knew how easy these were to bake.
Hi! I absolutely love this recipe but for some reasons I sometimes get a bad batch and I can’t tell until I bake them. They come out very bubbly and with little holes making it look gritty but it wasn’t. What could be the reasoning? I make sure there are no lumps.
This recipe turned out PERFECTLY and was so easy! Thank you!
First of all, I’d like to say I love your recipes and you are my go to for all things baking!! This is the first recipe of yours I have ‘changed’ only because my 8 year old said “can we put our own twist on this?” So we did! We added a little cocoa powder and vanilla extract just to help get her creative juices flowing. My cupcake pan is smaller so I did over cook them not accounting for faster cook time due to their size. Delicious little cake and we will make it again! Thanks for your website and videos and really helping me learn how to bake!
Could I use 70% bittersweet chocolate? That’s what I have on hand. Thx!
Hi Erin, absolutely. Bittersweet chocolate will yield a deeper, darker chocolate flavor. Enjoy!
Can I make this in a 9×13 pan? Would I need to double the recipe?
Hi Nicole, We do not recommend using this recipe for that size cake. You can use the recipe for Triple Chocolate Cake and follow the recipe notes for a 9×13 inch pan.
Can you freeze Uncooked batter?
Hi Tom, It’s best to freeze after baking. See recipe notes for details.
So easy and really perfect. I had to play around with baking times depending on the oven, temperature of space I was using, etc. I actually wasted one each time I made them as a tester (pulling out on the early end of recommended bake time to see if still too soupy in the middle). Sally makes an intimidating concept very doable for an amateur. The more you make them in a similar setting the more they become a breeze!
I have made a dozen different recipes for lava cakes. My family said that these were “the best they ever had”- and they have a high bar! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
The best chocolava I have ever had! I mean it was at par in fact better than the one we get at Dominoes. Truly loved it, will bake them again.
If I do not have cocoa powder, can I sprinkle the pans with flour or confectioners sugar?
Hi Kyle, Confectioners sugar will work.
Mine came out perfect! Thank you. I used Chirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chips. Thank you,
Just made these! I looked at them after 12 minutes and couldn’t decide if they were done so left them one more minute. Probably wrong as although they were really gooey, they didn’t flow when opened! Next time will stop at 12 minutes. Needless to say, we finished them off as they were still absolutely delicious!