Sunset Hush Cooking

Dessert

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

Written by

Sunset Hush Homemaking

October 12, 2026

Ingredients

For 2 ramekins (8 oz):

55 g butter
80 g dark chocolate
1 entire egg
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp flour (8 g)

To coat the ramekins:

5 g cold butter

Tools

ramekins
whisk
silicon spatula
two bowls
pot

Directions

If you are going to serve lava cakes on plates (and not in the ramekins they will be baking in), create a coating on 2 ramekins so that you can easily remove them. Take a piece of cold butter and grease the inner part of the ramekins. The butter should be cold so that it creates a thin layer.
Preheat the oven to 230 C / 450 F.
Melt 80 g chocolate together with 55 g butter, either in a microwave on low power in short pulses, or in a double boiler (see details below). Mix melted chocolate and butter so they create a smooth mixture.
In a separate bowl, add 1 whole egg, 1 yolk, 2 tbsp sugar, a pinch of salt. Whip with an electric mixer until fluffy and pale yellow. This should take about 3-5 minutes.
Make sure the chocolate is not too hot. Into the egg mixture, slowly pour melted chocolate and butter.
Add 1 tbsp sifted flour to the mix and fold it in with a spatula, until combined.
Transfer equal amounts of batter into each of the ramekins. You can either eyeball this or use a scale for more precision.
Carefully put the ramekins into the oven on a rack. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until the top has formed a thin crust but the centre hasn’t risen yet, i.e. the centre is still liquid.
When done, remove ramekins from the oven and let them cool for about 3 minutes.
Garnish and serve lava cakes directly in the ramekins or transfer them onto plates: put a plate on top of a ramekin, then flip the ramekin, wait a couple of seconds and carefully lift it up. The lava cake should remain intact on the plate.
Serve lava cakes warm with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream, a dusting of powdered sugar, and optionally some fresh berries.

Tips

When you put ramekins into the oven, make sure there is nothing that would prevent the bottom from baking properly, like a cold thick glass or stainless steel tray. Put ramekins directly onto the rack or a preheated baking tray. If there is something preventing the bottom from heating up quickly, it will remain liquid and lava cakes will be underbaked.
Keep an eye on the cakes while they are baking to not overbake them. When you have tried making them once, you will know how much time they need exactly in your oven.
You can prepare the batter and keep it in the fridge for 1 day to bake lava cakes later.
Serve lava cakes immediately after baking, do not store them.
To create a double boiler: In a small pot, add about 2 cm (1 in) of water. Take a big bowl and set it on top so that it does not touch the water. Add the ingredients that you want to melt into the bowl. Put the pot with the bowl on top on medium heat. The water will boil and the vapour will gently heat up the ingredients.
Do not skip adding salt – it brings out chocolate flavour and is a perfect pairing for chocolate desserts.
Some recipes call for dusting ramekins with flour or cocoa powder after greasing them. In my experience, it creates a white (in case of flour) or black (in case of cocoa powder) layer on the outside which doesn’t look nice. So I would not recommend that. Buttering ramekins is enough to let lava cakes slide out of them when flipped. Also the first time I made lava cakes I completely forgot to coat the ramekins, and lava cakes were not stuck at all.

Check out my favourite kitchen tools here: https://sunsethushcooking.wordpress.com/product-links/