High Altitude Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes
Rich and gooey individual chocolate lava cakes with a molten center, served hot with ice cream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- six 4-ounce ramekins (or four 6-ounce ramekins)
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, very soft
- 2 tbsp unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 6 oz 70% dark chocolate (not chocolate chips)
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks (save the extra whites for another use)
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half this amount)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet. Brush the 1 tbsp softened butter inside the ramekins, then dust with the cocoa powder to keep the cakes from sticking.You can use either six 4-ounce ramekins for six small servings, or four 6-ounce ramekins for four medium servings. Using 6-ounce ramekins will give you more batter in each ramekin and a gooeyer center, but may need 1-2 minutes additional bake time.
- Chop up 6 ounces of good quality dark chocolate (Lindt 70% preferred). In a saucepan, melt the chocolate with the 1/2 cup butter over medium low heat, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the eggs and egg yolks on medium speed for about five minutes, until light and foamy.
- Add the melted chocolate and butter, and whisk together with the eggs until smooth.
- Separately, combine the flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate batter, and whisk just until combined. The batter will be thick.
- Divide the batter between the prepared ramekins (approximately 1/4 cup batter per ramekin if using six 4-ounce ramekins, or approximately 1/3 cup batter per ramekin if using four 6-ounce ramekins).
- Bake the cakes for approximately 13-15 minutes. At 13 minutes, the centers will still be quite molten and gooey; at 15 minutes, the cakes will be more set with just a little molten batter in the center.
- Cool the cakes in the ramekins for 1 minute, then hold them with a hot pad to invert them onto serving plates. Dust with cocoa powder and serve immediately with ice cream.
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