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molten chocolate lava cakes.

I’ve been impressing dinner guests with these little cakes for years. They’re really impressive looking and relatively easy to make. The lava cakes are warm, gooey, and not overly sweet which makes them great topped with vanilla ice cream, homemade whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. These are the perfect dessert to make if you live in a small space. They can be made in only one bowl and are deceptively easy to make. Just pop them in the oven while you’re eating your dinner and pull them out just in time for dessert!

Ingredients for 4 servings:

4 oz Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate (Bakers brand are divided into 1oz. squares)
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (save your wrapper)
1 cup powdered/confectioners Sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
6 tablespoons flour 

For whipped cream:
2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 Tablespoons granulated Sugar 

 
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 4 small ramekins or custard cups by wiping them with the wrapper from the butter. I just learned this trick form Ina Garten, it works great and keeps your hands clean and is really efficient. (you can also spray with Pam or just use a piece of wax paper with butter or crisco on it)

Make sure you get the corners you'll have to flip these out eventually!

Chop up your butter and chocolate and place it in a medium sized microwave safe bowl.

Microwave on high for about 1 minute. 

The butter should be melted but the chocolate should not. Whisk until chocolate is also melted. (tip: If you microwave until the chocolate is also melted you risk burning the chocolate. The heat from the melted butter will be sufficient to melt the chocolate, trust me.) 

You should end up with a smooth, shiny mixture.

Stir in confectioners sugar until well blended.

Its not going to look quite right but this is what you should get, a dry-ish thick mixture. 

Whisk in eggs and egg yolks.  

Stir in flour.

It should have a loose brownie batter consistency. 

Divide between cups until 2/3 full. Then place on cookie sheet. I put foil or parchment underneath incase of overflow.

The original recipe calls for custard cups which are bigger so I usually end up with enough batter for 5 ramekins worth ( This time I was wasteful because my brother keeps stealing mine to feed his cat. gross right?)

Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm and center is soft. I pop them just as everyone sits down for dinner. Let stand 1 minute then invert them onto a plate. Place the ramekin right side up then placing a plate on top of it and flip. You can forgo this step and serve them in the ramekins if you prefer. 

I over filled mine which made flipping difficult. It also made it look as if they weren't quite done because I could see the gooey center. Don't be fooled, there should be a gooey center and if you keep baking like I did there will be no lava in your chocolate lava cake. sad face.

For homemade whipped cream combine sugar and heavy cream and whip until stiff it forms stiff peaks. I chill my bowl and whisk attachment before adding the very cold whipping cream for better faster stiff peak forming. It's so easy there's no excuse for store bought whipped cream.

 I over baked this one a bit, otherwise it would have been more attractive.

Surprise! Gooey center. If it's not quite as liquid-y don't be alarmed, this one was an over achiever. 

Top with whipped cream. They’re also great with ice cream and strawberries. The acid in the fruit cuts the richness of the cake and the ice cream adds some sweetness. Everyone will ooo and ahhh at your professional looking deserts. They'll never know you used a microwave.

Original recipe via brandelle on tasty kitchen where you can convert servings to as few or many as you like.