Chocolate Lava Cakes

Chocoholics delight! It might look like an ordinary chocolate cake on the outside, but it houses a secret molten core – warm, gooey chocolate that oozes out like molten lava. Pair this warm dessert with cold ice cream for the perfect textural contrast.

Ingredients

200 g dark chocolate melts

170 g butter, plus extra for greasing

1.50 cups icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

½ cup plain flour, loosely packed

1 tbsp instant coffee

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 Lindor milk chocolate balls (see ingredient note)

cocoa powder, for dusting moulds

ice cream, to serve

berries, to serve

Ingredients

7 oz dark chocolate melts

6 oz butter, plus extra for greasing

1.50 cups icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

½ cup plain flour, loosely packed

1 tbsp instant coffee

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 Lindor milk chocolate balls (see ingredient note)

cocoa powder, for dusting moulds

ice cream, to serve

berries, to serve

Ingredients note

Use dark chocolate melts or cooking/baking chocolate, but not baking chips (as they don’t melt).
You can use pure icing sugar or icing sugar mixture in this recipe.
The instant coffee is optional – you won’t taste the coffee, it just amplifies the chocolate flavour.
Lindor balls are chocolate truffles with a very soft centre. Substitute for any other plain chocolate truffle, or a large piece of chocolate. You can even leave the chocolate out, the cake will still be soft inside and ooze out when you cut into it (just not as much as with the chocolate added).
Make sure the plain flour is loosely packed in the measuring cup when you measure it out (don’t compact it – just spoon in until it reaches the top and level it out).

Directions

Make the cake batter

1. Pre-heat your oven to 220°C (240°C non-fan forced) / 430°F (465°F non-fan forced).

2. Grease a set of oven-proof dariole moulds or ramekins with a little butter. Then, dust them with cocoa powder until they’re well coated.

Tip: Hold the moulds over the sink at an angle, and sift the cocoa powder into them while rotating them to cover all the way around the sides.

3. Melt the butter and chocolate together and then leave to cool slightly.

Tip: The easiest way to melt the butter and chocolate is in the microwave, on medium heat, in 30-60 second intervals stirring in between.

4. Add the instant coffee, vanilla essence and icing sugar to the chocolate mixture, and stir to combine.

5. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks, and whisk until well combined.

6. Add the flour, and mix only until it’s just combined (and you can no longer see any white flour in the mixture).

Bake the lava cakes

1. Pour the cake dough into the moulds, and press a Lindor ball (or chocolate truffle) into the centre until it almost disappears under the surface of the dough.

2. Place the moulds onto a baking tray for ease, and place the tray into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes.

Tip: The cakes may appear undercooked, but they shouldn’t feel wet to touch. If you alter the quantity of the recipe (up or down), you may need to adjust the cooking time by a few minutes.

3. Let the cakes cool inside the moulds for 2 minutes, then run a knife around the outside and place the moulds upside down onto plates. Give them a few firms whacks with a spoon, and carefully lift the mould away (the cake should release from the mould – if not, try repeating this step to loosen it further).

4. Dust the cakes with sifted icing sugar, and serve with berries and cold ice cream.

Wine pairing

Chocolate lava cake gives main character energy, therefore you don’t want to overpower it with wine (nor do you want a good wine paling in comparison to a powerful dessert).

So, I would pair a cocktail like an espresso martini with this, or if you must pair a wine – go a Prosecco as it’s light enough to not weigh you down further during such a decandent dessert.