Classic lava cake with a dreamy chocolate ganache center topped with sweetened whipped cream
Nothing is quite like a moist, personal-sized chocolate cake with an oozing ganache filling. Today, I’m showing you my take on the classic molten chocolate lava cake. The best part about this recipe is that if you bake them too long, you still have delicious chocolate cake! Let’s get right into it!
This recipe includes a chocolate ganache filling rather than a half-baked chocolate cake. I love doing preparing it this way because I just feel uneasy half-baking a cake with three large eggs in it. Not my piece of cake.
I just want to warn you that this cake is very dark. If you’re not into super dark chocolate, add about half of the semisweet chocolate and increase the amount of flour. However, the chocolate to flour ratio makes the cake extremely moist.
As for the whipped cream, there isn’t be an easier recipe. Two ingredients, two minutes. I recommend whipping the cream until super stiff peaks form in order to prevent it from melting while the lava cakes cool.
I find the best toppings for chocolate lava cakes are shaved chocolate (just when you thought you had enough of chocolate 🙂 ), orange rind (if you’re a choco-fruity person), pomegranate arils (if you like a tart finish), pink and red sprinkles (if you love extra color), or cut the whipped cream and add plain, old confectioner’s sugar.
Molten Chocolate Lava Cake with Ganache Center
Chocolate Ganache
- 4 oz of semisweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup of milk ((any kind))
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
Cakes
- 4 oz of semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) of unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 3 tbsp of all-purpose flour
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup of white, granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
Whipped Cream
- 2 cups of heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp of confectioner's sugar
- In a small bowl, add all ganache ingredients. Heat over a double boiler (simmering water) until chocolate is fully melted. Once fully melted, allow to cool to room temperature. Cover, and place in refrigerator.
- Grease 5-6 ramekins (about 4-6 oz each). Place all on baking sheet.
- Heat chocolate and butter over double boiler. Stir frequently. Remove from heat, and mix in salt and flour.
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs until they are pale. Gradually add sugar, and beat well (about 5 minutes). Add vanilla extract, and mix until just combined. Fold in melted chocolate mixture. Fill each ramekin about 1/4 of the way full.
- Add about 1-2 tablespoons of ganache in center of batter in each ramekin. Add more lava cake batter on top of ganache, filling each ramekin about 3/4 of the way full. Cover ramekins with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350? F. After 20 minutes, remove ramekins from fridge, and bake cakes for about 15 minutes.
- While cakes are baking, prepare whipped cream. With an electric mixer, beat whipped cream ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until the cream develops stiff peaks. Cover, and refrigerate while cakes finish baking.
- Insert a toothpick in the center of the cakes where the ganache is. Toothpick should emerge wet. Loosen edges of cakes by running a butter knife around the sides. Plate immediately. Serve with whipped cream, shaved chocolate (read above for other plating ideas), and enjoy!