This post has been created in partnership with Food Thoughts.

An indulgent decadent and warm chocolate cake that simply melts in your mouth and is so easy to make you’ll be baking it as soon as you get a chocolate craving. Topped with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel, it’s the perfect dessert for when you really want a sweet treat but don’t have the time to commit to a full cake baking session.

What are Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes?

Molten Chocolate cakes are individual chocolate cakes cooked at a high temperature for a short amount of time and eaten warm, which makes them have a gooey chocolate centre that flows out once you cut into them. Made with high quality dark chocolate, they have the perfect balance of bitter and sweet. I love serving them with with vanilla ice cream, which quickly melts over the cake and turns them into the perfect chocolate cake.

So, what are these made of?

When I tell you these cakes are incredibly easy to make and require hardly any ingredients, I am not exaggerating. These are made with only 7 ingredients and it takes as little as 5 minutes to prepare, and 10 minutes to cook, if you have very basic baking ingredients in your kitchen, these are for you. All you’ll need is:

• Dark chocolate chips – I love using Food Thought’s Luxury Chocolate Chips, using good quality chocolate is super important to have the right consistence and a soft chocolate centre
• Cocoa powder – we don’t need a lot of it, but good quality cocoa powder will take this a long way. My choice of is Food Thought’s Organic Cocoa Powder
• Eggs – I like using large eggs, we’ll only need one full egg and an egg yolk
• Flour – just a bit of plain flour to give these cakes some structure
• Granulated sugar – the perfect amount for a great bitter/sweet balance
• Vanilla extract – because obviously!
• Butter – just to add the perfect amount of moisture to this indulgent dessert

A few tips for success

• Use good quality chocolate and chocolate chips – I can’t stress how important this is, it may feel like it’s not, but I have had way too many situations in which I have used old, not great quality chocolate and the whole structure of my dessert has simply not been right. I recommend using Food Thought’s chocolate chips and organic cocoa powder.
• Be patient! – these cakes need to rest for 10 minutes after they have been taken out of the oven, this is an important step, as it will help them keep their outside structure while keeping a gooey interior.
• Eat them hot – if you let them cool down completely, the interior will harden and it won’t be the same effect.
• Be careful – this is really important, cover your hands when taking them out of the ramekin as these will still be really hot.

Super Indulgent Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes for two

Ingrendients (makes 2):

• 110 gr of dark chocolate chips
• 55 gr of unsalted butter
• 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
• 45 gr of granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp of plain flour
• 1 tbsp and 1/2 of cocoa powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees celsius.
2. Melt the chocolate chips and butter either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pot with simmering water making sure the bowl does not touch the water.
3. While the chocolate and butter are melting, use a hand mixer to mix together the eggs and sugar until frothy and pale in colour, this should take 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add in the melted chocolate mix and the vanilla extract to the eggs and mix using a spatula.
5. Fold in the cocoa powder and flour with a spatula using circular movements, make sure your spatula scrapes the bottom and sides of the bowl so the mix is well incorporated.
6. Grease 2 ramekins and cover them with cocoa powder, the cocoa powder should stick to the greased ramekins easily and will help when it comes to taking the cakes out of the mould. Divide the batter evenly between 2 ramekins and bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the edges are cooked and the centre is still gooey.
7. Allow the cakes to rest for 2 minutes before inverting them into a plate to take them out of the mould. Eat them like that or top with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, salted caramel or your favourite topping!