Last week my friend Alice asked me for a recipe for a simple chocolate lava cake she could make for her boyfriend. We are in Vietnam and not many people have ovens so a cake designed to work in a microwave is a necessity. This recipe is for a single serving but can easily be multiplied! Enjoy this rich chocolate cake the way Alice does – warm with vanilla ice cream!
The Recipe
by volume by weight
1 tablespoon all purpose flour 8 grams all purpose flour
2 tablespoons powdered sugar 16 grams powdered sugar
pinch salt 0.5 gram salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda 0.75 gram baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder 0.5 gram baking powder
2 teaspoons cocoa powder 5 grams cocoa powder
2 tablespoons oil 28 grams oil
4 tablespoons milk 60 grams milk
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate 28 grams bittersweet chocolate
Directions
Whisk all dry ingredients together until no lumps remain.
Add the oil and half of the milk. Whisk until smooth. Add the remaining milk and mix until incorporated.
Pour the batter into a microwave safe dish and place the piece of chocolate in the middle.
Be sure the chocolate is completely covered by batter.
Microwave on regular power. In my microwave an individual cake takes 40 seconds. If I double the recipe (and who doesn’t want more cake?) it takes a minute. This time will vary widely depending on the microwave. The important thing is that the cake will puff up to twice its original size and will have a bit of a damp spot where the chocolate is underneath the surface.
Let cool 30 seconds and then enjoy!
Alternatives
You can use any type of chocolate in the center of the cake. Alice and I used extra dark bittersweet but use milk or white if that is more to your liking.
We enjoyed this cake as an individual serving right out of the dish it was made in. If you want to turn the cake out onto a plate and serve it that way, let the cake cool slightly ( 2 or 3 minutes) and run a knife carefully around the edge. Baking the cake in a flat bottomed, straight sided dish such as a ramekin will make it much easier to turn out on to a plate.
