Things Neniell Made: Chocolate Lava Cake

I made Joe dinner and dessert for his birthday. The dinner was a nice lasagna and the dessert was a failed attempt at chocolate lava cake. I only put one egg in the batter instead of two. The result was a really mushy brownie. It still tasted good and went well with vanilla ice cream.

I tried to make the lava cake again and, of course, I failed. I didn't coat the glass cup with enough cooking spray so only half of the lava cake came out of the cup. It baked correctly and everything, it just broke in two after baking. Maybe next time I will do everything properly!

I acquired this recipe from about.com's dessert/baking section. Here is the recipe tailored down to make just one lava cake which is enough to share. It will fill one 8 oz custard cup or two 4 oz custard cups. Simply adjust the cook time according to the size of cup you use. The dark chocolate I used was 65% cocoa. Different strengths of chocolate will affect the flavor of the cake, so try a variety until you find the perfect one for you.

Chocolate Lava Cake (Printer-friendly PDF Recipe)

3 oz dark chocolate

3 T butter

1/4 C sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 C flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If your custard cups are oven safe to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, you can use that temperature instead. Coat the custard cup(s) with a generous amount of cooking spray or butter.

In a small sauce pan, melt the chocolate and butter together over low heat. Do this until just melted.

Remove from heat and stir in the sugar.

Slowly stir in the egg. Be sure to mix this in completely.

Mix in the flour.

Pour the batter into the custard cup(s).

Place the custard cups on a cookie sheet. Bake the lava cakes for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the oven temperature and size of the custard cup. Once the top of the cake has firmed up, bake it for a few more minutes.

Let cool for 2 minutes and then place a plate upside down on top of the custard cup. Carefully flip the cup with the plate. Since the cup was coated so well, the cake will fall out easily (or should!), so be careful.