Chocolate Lava Cakes- Easy Valentine’s Day Recipe!

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What’s better for Valentine’s day than chocolate? These ooey-gooey lava cakes are super quick and easy to prepare but look and taste impressive.

I actually made these for my mom’s birthday (hence the candle) but they’re perfect for any occasion.

This year, my family put up Valentine’s Day lights and decorated our front trees with felt hearts. We don’t usually put up all these lights, but with Covid, anything is a good excuse to spread extra neighborhood cheer!

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Now back to chocolate…

These lava cakes, best served right out of the oven, have a molten chocolate center and rich texture. The recipe has a quick preparation and cooking time and the batter can be prepared in advance.

You can top them in several different ways, I really like the look of dusted powdered sugar and raspberries.

I highly recommend serving them with ice cream. The hot-cold combo tastes amazing and vanilla or another light flavor pairs well with the rich chocolate.

Banana also tastes great with these cakes. And, if you don’t want to top them at all, they still taste delicious on their own!

Here are some step by step photos. The full recipe with notes is listed at the bottom of this post.

First, roughly chop the chocolate into even pieces. Make sure to use an actual bar of chocolate (found in the baking aisle, I like Ghiradelli), not chocolate chips. If you don’t have a bar of chocolate, you can experiment with substituting chocolate chips, but results may vary and due to the melting properties there may not be a lava center.

Next, cube butter and place with chocolate into heat-proof bowl. Microwave in short intervals, stirring every 15 seconds or so to prevent burning, until fully melted. After this I add espresso powder to the mixture to enhance the chocolate flavor, but that is optional.

Mix your dry ingredients together in one bowl and the eggs together in another.

Combine all three mixtures by pouring the egg mixture and flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and stirring until combined, using a whisk if necessary.

Prepare ramekins by spraying with pan spray and then lightly coating in cocoa powder (this ensures that the cakes will easily come out of the ramekins). You can sprinkle on the cocoa powder using a fine mesh sieve, or spoon a small amount into each ramekin and shake/spin around.

If you don’t have ramekins, you can use a cupcake/muffin pan for mini lava cakes.

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Add batter to molds and bake! 425° may seem high, but we are trying to cook the outside and leave the inside undercooked.

I doubled the recipe here for 8 cakes, the normal recipe will yield 4 servings (although depending on size of ramekins, how full you fill it, etc., yield may vary).

When they’re done the sides will be firm but the tops will still be soft and not look quite fully cooked, they’ll firm up as they cool (and also remember the goal is to keep the inside gooey and not fully cooked).

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Let sit for a minute, then using oven mitts (since they will be very hot) turn upside down onto a plate. You can eat them right out of the ramekin, but I think they look nicer on a plate and you won’t risk burning yourself on the ramekin.

You can add powdered sugar using a fine-mesh sieve as I did here. Top with fruit such as raspberries, strawberries, or sliced banana. I highly recommend serving with ice cream, and you can add other toppings like whipped cream, chocolate sauce, caramel, etc.

This recipe makes 4 lava cakes. I have had success doubling everything to make 8. If you don’t have ramekins, this will make about 6 mini cakes in a muffin pan. Of course, exact yield may vary based on exact size of ramekins or how full you choose to fill them.

Leave a reply at the bottom of this post if you have any questions, tips, thoughts about Valentine’s Day, or other comments!