Gluten Free Molten Lava Cake
Short and sweet, that’s a very succinct (although inadequate) description for Molten Lava Cake. For some strange reason this rich decadent cake cake with a warm, melty center has a bad rap for being difficult. While it takes only a handful of minutes to prepare, the only problematic part of this is the timing when it’s baking. Take it out of the oven too early and you have goop, take it out too late and it’s….cake. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really yummy cake, but without the molten center, it’s just cake. What makes this molten cake different though are two things – it’s gluten free, and it comes with a spicy kick.
Before you do anything, you’ll want to weigh out the coconut oil (butter is fine) and chocolate (I used Peruvian organic dark chocolate, diary free). Melt in a double boiler or bowl set in hot water. Melt and stir until it’s smooth, remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.
In a separate bowl you’ll combine the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, salt and spices. It will be darker and thin at first…
Keep mixing until the batter becomes light in color and thickens. Pour in the melted chocolate and whisk or stir just until combined. Add the flour and spices, or the flour/Kfibre mixture plus spices, all at once and stir until smooth. If you’re not familiar with the health or gluten free baking-benefits of Kfibre, check this out! If you prefer to omit the spices, that’s fine, but they increase the depth of flavor in chocolate. No really…they do. It’s delish!
After adding the flour, the batter will be the consistency of brownie batter – thick and rich. After greasing your ramekins, dust them with cocoa powder, not flour. If you use flour you may be left with white powder stuck to your cooked cake, but cocoa will blennnnnd (I just heard Luigi in my head from the movie Cars say that with an Italian accent). Pour the batter equally into the ramekins. And as soon as I replace my camera, I’ll have better photos for you. Anyway…
The baking, that’s the only tricky part of this. You’ll bake these at 450 degrees anywhere from 6-10, maybe 12 minutes, it really depends on your oven. You’ll be looking for the top of the cake to have a relatively matte finish (no longer wet and shiny) and be firm only on the sides – the cake at the edge should spring back when you push against it slightly – but still soft in the center. Once you remove them from the heat, allow them to rest for 1-2 minutes. Place an inverted plate over the HOT ramekin, flip it over, and count to 10 before removing the ramekin. Top with fruit or dust with powdered sugar. Or, you can create your own powdered sugar by blending 1 cup coconut sugar and 1 tablespoon arrowroot in a blender and…blend until it’s powder. Serve immediately.
You can prepare these in their ramekins ahead of time and keep the uncooked batter in the fridge, just bring them up to room temperature prior to baking.
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 6-12 minutes |
| Servings |
ramekins
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- 4 oz. Virgin coconut oil butter is fine
- 6 oz. dark chocolate
- 1/4 c coconut sugar regular sugar is fine
- 1/4 tsp real salt, fine
- 2 Tbsp gluten free flour or flour blend Flour blend with Kfibre is 1 Tablespoon EACH GF flour and Kfibre
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon optional, see notes
- dash cayenne optional
Ingredients
Chocolate
Base
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- Combine chocolate and coconut oil or butter in a glass or ceramic bowl, or double boiler, and place over simmering water. Stir until smooth, remove from heat and set aside.
- Combine flour (or flour/Kfibre if you're using that) and spices. Set aside.
- Mix together the eggs, egg yolk, sugar and salt and blend on high until the entire mixture becomes lighter in color and thickens. Add melted chocolate mixture and whisk or stir by hand just until it's combined. Add the flour mixture all at once and stir until it's completely incorporated and thick like brownie batter.
- Pour batter equally into greased pans that have been dusted with cocoa or cacao. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 6-10 minutes - this depends on the accuracy of your oven. Remove from oven when the outer edge is firmer but center is still slightly soft. Cool 1-2 minutes, place an inverted serving dish over the ramekin and tip it over. Allow it to rest for a few seconds before removing the ramekin. Top with fruit or dust with powdered sugars.