My love affair with chocolate lava cake started as a teenager. Growing up in Nepal, we didn’t have any Domino’s chain in the country. I was on a school trip with my friends to Delhi, India and as a bunch of teenagers who had never had Domino’s before, we went berserk. I distinctively remember the Molten Lava Cake from Domino’s. That rich chocolate cake, with the perfectly warm gooey chocolate puddle in the centre….I was in love.

After that moment, I gave it a few tries of my own. Sure, I could recreate that, I thought. Except, there was no chocolate puddle centre…ever. I always seemed to overcook it, ugh. Fast forward to a couple years later, I’m in culinary school and I have just managed to cook my first chocolate lava cake…to absolute perfection! You should have seen the joy on my face haha.

It was also at this moment that I gained my snobbishness about a good lava cake or chocolate fondant as the French call it. Now that I’ve cooked a perfect lava cake a total of 1 time, I was too good for Domino’s lol. Just kidding, I’ll always remember my first love <3

And while I still love the Domino’s version for nostalgic reasons, there is something utterly satisfying about the moment you cut into your chocolate fondant and the hot chocolatey centre oozes out with absolute perfection. Bliss, I think.

Not too get too poetic about it, but isn’t that the whole reason why we like to bake? To experience those moments of bliss. Making this chocolate fondant certainly is one of those moments.

This particular recipe has no gimmicks. There is no cheat chocolate snugged in the centre, no frozen ganache tucked in. So the margin for error is quite little. And so are the rewards. It is a test of your skills, one that is very easy to pass, especially because I’m giving you the cheatsheet.

The trick in getting this chocolate fondant right is chilling it. Yup.

Ideally, it is best to chill the batter overnight or at least 8 hours in the refrigerator. If you don’t have the liberty of time, a quick 2 hours freeze will do. Here’s why. We bake this cake at a very high temperature (220°C) or a very short time (10-12 minutes). Chilling the batter reduces its temperature, meaning now it is going to take longer for the cake to bake & form structure. This is how we are able to get away with baking it for 10-12 mins to allow for the exterior of the cake to set as it heats up first, while still maintaining the molten centre because it is relatively colder. If we didn’t chill the cake, 12 mins in the oven and you’d left with just a cake, with no molten centre as the core of the cake is the same temperature as the exterior. Does that make sense?

And that’s quite literally the only tip you need to know to get this right. It’s THAT easy, I promise. But for any reason, you’re not 100% confident, how about we bake it together? Here’s a video tutorial of me making this. Let’s do it together, shall we?

Recipe

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the chocolate lava cake:

• 100g good quality dark chocolate, min 60% (see note*)

• 100g unsalted butter

• 2 large eggs

• 2 egg yolks

• 60g castor sugar

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 50g plain flour

For the vanilla chantilly:

• 100g heavy cream

• 20g castor sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the macerated strawberries:

• 150g fresh strawberries

• 15g castor sugar

• 8g balsamic vinegar

Method

For the chocolate lava cake:

• Grease 4 x 8cm ramekins with soft butter. Coat with cocoa powder and dust off the excess. Keep aside.

• Melt the chocolate and butter together in a small bowl, over a double boiler. Keep aside to cool completely.

• Using a stand mixer or a handheld beater, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract until thick and pale in colour ~ribbon stage.

• Add the cooled chocolate & butter mix and fold gently using a spatula, careful not to deflate the batter.

• Lastly, sieve the plain flour into the batter and fold gently.

• Divide the batter equally ~110g per ramekin~and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.** If in a hurry, freeze for minimum 2 hours.

• At the time of serving: Preheat oven to 220°C and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool in the ramekin for 5 minutes and then un mould onto a plate to serve.

For the chantilly:

• While the cake batter is resting, prepare your chantilly. Whisk the cream, sugar and vanilla together to medium-stiff peaks. Serve with the warm lava cake.

For the macerated strawberries:

• While the cake batter is resting, prepare your strawberries. Wash and rinse the strawberries. Cut the tops off and cut into quarters.

• Place the strawberries in a bowl and toss with sugar and balsamic vinegar. Let them sit in the refrigerator for minimum 30 minutes. You can prepare this upto 1 day in advance.

To serve:

• Scoop a generous dollop of chantilly next to the warm lava cake.

• Garnish with macerated strawberries. If you want, you can also dust the lava cake with icing sugar. Bon appetite!

Notes:

*- I use a mix of three different types of chocolate. 30g of Inaya (65%), 40g of Jivara (40%) & 30g of Manjari (64%).

**- The lava cake batter can be prepared and stored in the freezer for up to 1 week in advance.