If dark chocolate running in rivulets down whipped cream mountains is the backdrop in all of your greatest fantasies, this alluring molten chocolate lava cake recipe is the dessert you’ve been looking for. The spongy cake has an unabashedly liquid center that bursts forth the moment the chocolaty dam is broken by spoon. Many recipes achieve this effect by purposely undercooking the cake, so that the middle is raw batter. Effective, but not the most delicious.
In our version, a spoonful of chilled ganache is placed at the center of the cake batter. As the bake time ticks down, the ganache is rendered molten as the batter shores up around it.
You’ll need four 6-oz. ramekins to pull off the recipe (though a jumbo cupcake or muffin tin will work in a pinch). We like to butter and then line the individual dishes with demerara or raw sugar (instead of the more typical flour or cocoa powder) for little pops of texture. If you’d like to serve with a dusting of powdered sugar or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, be our guest. Watch how this chocolate lava cake is made here or take a chance on chocolate lava cake’s caramel counterpart instead. –Joe Sevier
Editor’s note: This recipe was originally published as BA’s Best Molten Chocolate Cake on February 2, 2016.
