Why you’ll love these lava cakes

A woman in a pink sweater smiles widely while holding a dish of fresh salad with greens and strawberries, standing at a wooden table against a light background—perfectly capturing the inviting spirit of a food blog.

These molten lava cakes are perfect for celebrating Valentine’s day – especially if the one you love is a chocolate person. Serve them warm with a dusting of powdered sugar or a scoop of your favorite dairy-free ice cream for an extra indulgent experience.

Speaking of chocolate, if you haven’t tried my chocolate stout cake, it’s perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, which is right around the corner. But, if you’re still craving chocolate, I also highly recommend my chocolate aquafaba mousse, chocolate sorbet or these chocolate zucchini carrot muffins.

overhead of a chocolate lava cake dusted with cocoa powder.

Ingredient notes:

Chocolate chips – We used Guittard chocolate chips because I love their quality and they’re dairy free. I recommend a semi-sweet chocolate for this. You can also use a chopped up chocolate bar of your choice. Quality is key here since it’s the main ingredient.
Dairy free butter – I used Earth Balance buttery sticks for this recipe, but you can use your favorite butter (even dairy if that works for you).
Eggs – Please don’t swap these. They contribute to so much including the rise and richness of the cakes.

Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.

→ If you like this recipe, you should try these: red velvet brownies / dairy free tiramisu /strawberry blueberry shortcake / vanilla bean crème brûlée

Close up of a lava cake, showing the gooey melted center.

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Chocolate Lava Cakes

By: Melissa Belanger

These chocolate lava cakes are easy to make and bake up with a rich, velvety exterior and warm, gooey centers. They can be made with or without dairy, and they’re the best way to celebrate Valentine’s day or satisfy a serious chocolate craving.

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 12

Total Time: 17

Servings:

Ingredients

Instructions

Mise en place. Preheat your oven to 425˚F. Grease 4 6-ounce ramekins and dust with cocoa powder to prevent them from sticking. Set aside.
Melt the chocolate. Place your butter and chocolate into a microwave-safe container. Cook for 30 increments, until almost melted – about 1 minute total. Stir between and after each session.
When your chocolate is almost melted (there should still be some little chunks), stop. Stir until the chocolate is smooth.
Beat the eggs. Add the eggs and egg yolk to a bowl and whisk together until smooth. You can also use a hand mixer for this. Then, slowly mix them into the chocolate mixture. Next, stir in the vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients. Add the sugar, flour and salt to the chocolate bowl and whisk until smooth.
Then, divide the batter between your prepared ramekins.

I like to weigh my ramekins with my kitchen scale to get them as close to even as possible.

Bake the lava cakes. Place the cakes on a baking sheet and bake the cakes for 12 minutes, or until tops have set but cakes still seem wobbly.
Remove them from the oven and let them rest for a minute before flipping them onto a plate to serve.