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Molten Chocolate Cake

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Molten Chocolate Cake
Chocolate cakes with a decadent warm melted chocolaty center.

For a while now I have been seeing posts about chocolate cakes that are solid on the outside but have a liquid chocolate inside. How good does that sound?!? A dark chocolate cake with a melted liquidy chocolate center! I have been wanting to try them since I first saw them but I thought that they would probably be difficult to make. With it being that chocolate time of year it was the perfect time to roll up my sleeves and get to it. The molten chocolate cakes turned out to be pretty easy to make. The recipe reminded me a lot of a souffle with the egg yolks being mixed into the main batter and the beaten egg whites that are then folded in. The cakes also baked like a souffle, rising a lot and then deflating quickly as they cooled. The molten chocolate cakes turned out great! They were just baked solid on the out side and still liquid on the inside! Both the solid outside and liquid center were nice and light and fluffy and so good! I really liked how the cakes were not sweet and that the nice slightly bitter dark chocolate flavour came through really well.
These cakes are best served just out of the oven, well, as soon as they are cool enough to eat anyways and who could wait? They only take a few minutes to bake so you can easily make them after dinner. Luckily the batter keeps well in the fridge so you can make it ahead of time and just toss them into the oven when ready. You can either serve the cakes in the ramekins that they were baked in or you can easily turn them over onto a plate and they slide out without a mess. I served the cakes simply with a dusting of powdered sugar or a dollop of whipped cream which melted into the still warm cake with nice results. You could also serve them with ice cream or sauces (I am thinking chocolate or raspberry) or fresh berries etc. I will definitely be making these again and again!

Molten Chocolate Cake

Molten Chocolate Cake

Prep Time:10 minutes Cook Time:15 minutes Total Time:25 minutes Servings: 3

Chocolate cakes with a decadent warm melted chocolaty center.

ingredients
  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 egg whites
directions
  1. Lightly grease 3 ramekins with butter.
  2. Melt the chocolate into the butter in a double boiler and let cool a bit.
  3. Beat the egg yolks and sugar and mix into the chocolate.
  4. Beat the egg whites in a bowl until they form soft peaks.
  5. Fold the chocolate into the egg whites.
  6. Pour the batter into the ramekins, no more than 2/3 full.
  7. Bake in a preheated 400F/200C oven for 7-10 minutes. The outside will be set and possibly crack and the inside will still be liquid.
  8. Let cool for a few minutes and then run a knife around the edges and tip onto a plate. (Optional; Feel free to eat it right out of the ramekin with a spoon.)
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Use leftover egg yolks in:
Guinness Chocolate Pudding
Hollandaise Sauce
Avgolemono Sauce
Azuki (Red Bean) Ice Cream
Black Sesame Ice Cream
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Donna-FFW says

    February 14, 2009 at 3:11 am

    This looks like the absolutely most perfect choice of dessert for tomorrow. It looks amazing. You make it sound quite easy to make. I may have to attempt this one. Thanks!

    Reply

  4. Rita says

    February 14, 2009 at 3:17 am

    My husband tried those in Brazil and he loved it, I have been planning on making them since then.I didn’t know you could keep the batter in the fridge, that sure is convenient.
    Can you tell me what size are your ramekins? Tx

    Reply

  8. Joie de vivre says

    February 14, 2009 at 3:44 am

    We went over to a friend’s house recently for dinner and she made these for us. I was amazed at how easy they were! She did not even make them in ramekins, just large muffin tins! They came out perfectly.

    Reply

  11. Elra says

    February 14, 2009 at 3:55 am

    OMG Kevin, this is divine. My son loves this dessert so much, that he lean how to make it himself. He become very good at it. Delicious Kevin, what a treat!
    Cheers,
    Elra

    Reply

  13. Heather says

    February 14, 2009 at 4:06 am

    kevin, can i just say, if you have a significant other, they are easily the luckiest person in the world?!?! gourmet meals AND molten chocolate cake?! if i wasn’t already married, i would totally be stalking you 😉

    Reply

  15. Foodess says

    February 14, 2009 at 4:31 am

    Y-u-m! Lava cakes are possibly my #1 most favorite dessert. SO good straight from the oven with vanilla ice cream. Nothing in the world is better than warm, gooey chocolate.

    Reply

  20. Nurit "1 family. friendly. food." says

    February 14, 2009 at 5:53 am

    Molten Chocolate Cakes ARE the ultimate choclate dessert. Hmmm, on the second thought maybe after chocolate soufle. But souffle sounds too scary to make.
    I made Mini Cognac-Soaked Chocolate Cakes. The original recipe is by Melissa Clark at NY Times. I’ve never had anything like it before. Totally decadent and sinful, and…. boozy. You might want to try it next 😉

    Reply

  21. K. Grace says

    February 14, 2009 at 7:57 am

    I just made a choc. lava cake the other night! It was an organic boxed kind…still really good. But nothing compared to what yours looks like. Great choice…whew! Makes me happy just looking at it!

    Reply

  31. Nick says

    February 14, 2009 at 2:29 pm

    Hey Kevin, Awesome idea with the ramekin. While you can use a cupcake tray like I did a few days ago, I also lost one of my lovely cakes because it fell apart trying to get it out.

    The ramekin solves that problem completely! Nice work.

    Cheers,
    Nick
    Macheesmo

    Reply

  57. Elizabeth says

    February 15, 2009 at 8:54 pm

    My husband and I made this last night… thanks for sharing! It was pretty quick and easy except that the egg yolks we added were too cold (straight from the fridge)and they quickly hardened the chocolate/sugar mixture. We melted it all again in the double boiler set up and were good to go! Also, we chilled the batter before dinner and when we took it out after dinner, it looked a bit deflated. I think we should have put them in the ramekins before putting in the fridge. A perfect V-Day treat!

    Reply

  59. Anonymous says

    February 15, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    I had to laugh. your recipe says it makes three servings but you filled four ramekins. how do you pick who gets to eat two of them? btw, I always add a pinch of salt to desserts. really balances and enhances the flavors. Otherwise, I think the dessert can taste overly sweet and somewhat flat. Molten cakes were in a recent issue of the NYtimes….the author uses cocoa to dust the ramekins

    Reply

  60. Amanda says

    February 15, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    I’ve been saving a recipe for this too, forever. I haven’t made them yet because of just what you said, they are best served out of the oven. One of these days I’ll do it!

    Yours look divine!

    Reply

  61. Anonymous says

    February 15, 2009 at 11:20 pm

    I made something like this for our Valentines meal yesterday. (My recipe has about an oz of flour, but it’s otherwise very similiar). It’s one of my favourite desserts in the whole world.

    I love your pretty Le Creuset ramekins.

    Reply

  74. Jeanine says

    February 18, 2009 at 12:29 am

    Ha! I made those on the same day, and if I’d seen your recipe before making them, I would have gone that route. Yours looks FANTASTIC! Makes me want them again. 🙂

    Reply

  78. Margaux says

    February 18, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    It’s one of those recipes that has intimidated me as well, but I think I actually saw a Dr. Oetker cake mix for them! I still haven’t tried making them (from scratch or with the mix) but I’ve had the recipe from the LCBO Food and Drink magazine bookmarked for some years now. Perhaps it’s time?

    Reply

  79. Kasey says

    February 19, 2009 at 3:54 am

    I have that same ramekin! My fiance made a molten chocolate cake for Valentine’s Day and I was amazed at how easy it was. This is definitely one of those more bang for your buck recipes 🙂

    Reply

  80. Foxglove says

    February 19, 2009 at 5:43 am

    I didnt know molten chocolate cake is this easy! the other day i was out at this dessert house n i had this n i was wonderin how do they make it like that.. n now i know.. thanks for sharing! 🙂

    Reply

  82. Ciao Chow Linda says

    February 19, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    kevin – obviously this is a popular post. i am catching it at an internet cafe in padova and you’re making me think of desserts in the states – something very hard to do when one is in italy. but i will be sure to make it once i return. keep on cooking. loved the zucchini recipe too.

    Reply

  85. Anonymous says

    February 27, 2009 at 9:35 am

    frankly didnt think it wud turn out well coz it seemed too easy 2 make. boy was i wrong! i’ writin this while havin one of these lava cakes. took me 15mins to put together n this is simply amazing …. YUMMMMM!

    Reply

  86. ~lely~ says

    February 28, 2009 at 5:11 am

    hi! Came across this lovely n simple recipe when looking for crepes.

    Will definitely try it out – meanwhile hope you don’t mind me sharing this with my bf.

    Reply

  87. the Phat Baker says

    March 12, 2009 at 7:47 am

    Hi Kevin,

    I fell in love with your recipe and I am going to try it tonight. I am new with this blogging thing and I hope you don’t mind me featuring your recipe on my blog.

    I was just wondering..what type of camera do you use? your pics look amazing.

    Thanks!!

    Reply

  90. humeyra says

    February 10, 2010 at 11:41 am

    It looks attractive. If this cake were a man, I would probaply marry this cake. As soon as possible, I'll make this cake for my love(fiancee), to make him love me more. What a perfect picture it is.

    Reply

  95. Kevin says

    March 13, 2010 at 2:22 am

    Anonymous: I am not sure what you are asking.. This is a cake. In fact if you leave it in the oven longer the molten center become cake like as well.

    Reply

  96. Spanguolle says

    November 9, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    Firstable, thank you very mich for this adorable recipe. I've been looking for it since last summer. I have a question and I hope someone will answer me. I do not have at home any speacial remakins for this kid of bakery, so can I use simple mugs ? 🙂

    Reply

  98. Anonymous says

    February 14, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    So I made these, hoping to have them for desert during a dinner party. We didn't get to them. So the batter remained in the fridge overnight (maybe upwards to 30 hours), and when I got around to making them the next night for desert, they still worked out fabulously. I was thinking the meringued egg whites would settle and the cakes wouldn't work, but the did. So If there are any of you out there who expirence the same situation, fret not. The cakes keep well unccoked in the fridge for quite a while 🙂

    Reply

  101. Jes says

    February 13, 2012 at 9:35 pm

    Could I use margarine instead of unsalted butter? I use Earth Balance buttery spread as a substitute for most of my recipes that call for butter.

    Reply

  109. kevin says

    February 9, 2014 at 8:31 pm

    Judy Goldin: The idea is that it partially bakes giving you an outside that is cake like and an inside the is 'liquid'. You could remove them from their ramekins and they would retain their mini cake shape.

    Reply

  114. TravellingAK says

    June 25, 2014 at 10:25 am

    Jo Scoulos, you cooked them for too long, if you read the recipe it says 7-8 minutes in the oven. I would personally also lower the heat. Try again, and good luck!

    Reply

  115. Anonymous says

    February 15, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    made these yesterday for Valentines dinner. It made six ramekins, 3 1/2 in diameter by 1 1/2 inches deep. Only baked 2 and the other four are refrigerated until next time????? Very good and rich. Mine were molten, just like they were supposed to be.

    Reply

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