Vegan Lava Cakes featuring warm chocolate cake surrounding a gooey, molten chocolate middle. It doesn't get any better than this because they are incredibly delicious and super quick and easy to make. A treat every chocoholic will love!
½ cup + 2 tablespoons / 150 mls / 5 fl ozplant-based milkof choice
Optional
2small dollopspeanut butter , or seed butter
4squareschocolate, or a small handful of chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 390 °F (198 °C) and have 2 small ovenproof dishes that will hold about 175mls (6 oz or ¾ cup) ready on a small baking tray. I use mini cocottes but ramekins are fine.
If using the optional peanut butter or chocolate (or both!) add them to the middle of both dishes.
Then to a medium bowl add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix them together well.
Pour in the milk and whisk really well to combine. It's easier with a whisk than a spoon as there is a lot of milk and the cocoa tends to want to float on the top. It's normal for the batter to be very thin.
Divide the batter evenly between the 2 ovenproof dishes, over the top of the optional peanut butter/chocolate.
Bake for about 13 to 14 mins or until they have puffed up and look set but if you wobble them or poke the centre really gently you can feel they are still liquidy. They will continue to cook a little once removed them from the oven. If you leave them in too long the centre will set.
Serve immediately.
To cook in a microwave
Important - It's very easy to overcook these cakes in the microwave. Cooking them in the oven is much easier. Remember that all microwaves cook at different strengths so the first time you make these it will be a case of trial and error. If you want to try, here's how:
Follow all of the above instructions but use microwave-safe containers. I recommend going up in size a little as the cake swells up more in the microwave than in the oven. Keep an eye on them through the door while they cook in case they start to overflow.
Cook on full power for about 40 seconds. Check after 40 seconds. You need them to be puffed up and set around the edges with a wobbly/liquidy middle. If you poke the centre gently with your finger it should have a bit of a crust on the top but feel liquidy underneath.
If they aren't at that stage, cook again in 5 second increments checking each time until done. Keep in mind that they will continue to cook once you remove them from the microwave so it's better to undercook rather than go too far.
Video
Notes
This recipe can easily be multiplied to serve more people, and it can also be halved to make a vegan lava cake for one.
Success tips
Don't overcook the cakes or the centers won't be lava-filled.
Don't open the oven door while these are cooking or they could collapse. It won't be necessary to check on them before the 12 minutes mark.
When you’re checking if the cakes are done, keep in mind that they will continue to cook after they’re removed from the oven so err on the side of caution.
The optional peanut butter or chocolate makes them extra decadent so is recommended!
Cheap peanut butter works better than natural no additive peanut butter in this recipe.
You can bake the cakes in a microwave but I find the results are much better when you use an oven.
These lava cakes cannot be made ahead of time.
These cakes must be served immediately while till hot.
The cakes are designed to be eaten straight from the baking dish and don’t need to be turned out onto a plate.
To make gluten-Free
These vegan lava cakes can easily be made gluten-free. You can either:
Use gluten-free all-purpose flour. This is a direct swap. Use exactly the same amount of flour as the recipe states. I used Bob's Red Mill 1 for 1 Baking Flour when testing.
Use 6 tablespoons of oat flour and keep everything else in the recipe the same.
Or use 6 tablespoons of rolled or old-fashioned oats in place of the all-purpose flour, keeping everything else the same, and blend the batter together until smooth. Keep in mind that the amount of batter here is small so it might not work well in a great big blender jar. I used my Blendtec Twister Jar when I tested this.
Nutritional information is calculated without the optional peanut butter and chocolate