![Chocolate Layer Cake](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/27/multimedia/27cakerex-plzm/27cakerex-plzm-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Molten Chocolate Cake
![Molten Chocolate Cake](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/05/05/magazine/05eat2/05eat2-articleLarge-v5.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ½cup unsalted butter, plus more for buttering the molds
- 4ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- 4large eggs
- ¼cup sugar
- 2teaspoons flour, plus more for dusting the molds
Preparation
- Step 1
Put the butter in a medium bowl and melt it in the microwave. Add the chocolate to the hot butter and stir until melted.
- Step 2
Crack 2 eggs into a bowl, and add 2 more yolks (discard the extra whites). Add the sugar, and beat or whisk until light and thick, about 1 minute. Add egg mixture and 2 teaspoons flour to the melted chocolate; beat until combined.
- Step 3
Butter and lightly flour four 4-ounce molds or ramekins (make sure not to miss any spots, or the cakes will stick). Tap out the excess flour. Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can refrigerate them for up to 3 hours; just bring them back to room temperature before baking.)
- Step 4
When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 450. Put the molds on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the cakes have puffed up a bit, the tops are barely set and the cakes still jiggle slightly when shaken, 7 to 9 minutes (better underbaked than overbaked). Let sit for 1 minute.
- Step 5
Put a plate on top of the ramekin and (with a potholder to protect your hand) carefully invert the cake onto the plate. Let it sit for 10 seconds, then lift up the ramekin. Serve immediately, with ice cream, sorbet or whipped cream.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Paula,
I used to work as a pastry cook in a restaurant and the chocolate molten was the most popular dessert (we could do 60 in one batch of batter.) Make the batter all the way through and fill the cups, then refrigerate or freeze. They can go into the oven directly from the fridge or the freezer. If they're going in frozen, you may need to bake them just a little bit longer. I usually took them out when the surface (what would become the bottom) had just become matte.
Good, but butter and dust with cocoa powder instead of flour - otherwise, white streaks are left on the cake upon removal.
I accidentally used 4 whites and 2 yolks. OOPS, I always mess that up. It's probobly because I know non the basic rules of baking. I mean hey, I'm still in school. BUT this recipe is delicious and I love making it. B.T.W Im like eleven so don't judge me. I'm still learning about conjigating verbs in Spanish.
For a dinner party, what's the order of march? Have the ramekins filled and chilled early in the day, take them out to come to room temp while eating dinner, then bake just before serving? I'd love to hear some real-life stories of how it all goes.
Totally delicious but needs salt! I have made these several times and bake them for 8.5 minutes at 450, ensuring that my oven is indeed 450. They are always perfectly gooey inside with a sufficient layer of cake on the outside. The quality of the chocolate and butter is paramount.
Made these tonight and they were perfect at 8 min. I used 6oz of Valrhona 66% cacao after finding several other recipes online (specifically for Jean-Georges’ molten lava cakes), which all called for 6oz of chocolate. This is also what he states in the video. I wonder if the 4oz listed in this recipe is an error?
My Secret Revealed
Make extra. Remove from ramikin as normal but put directly in fridge. After overnight in the fridge the next day it is a thick chewy chocolate decadence cake. I was amazed. Two deserts from same process
I added a couple tablespoons of espresso to mine. Delish!
This is delicious. I made it in ramekins because this is what I had. In that spirit, let me say that it is offensive to read "discard the extra egg whites." What world do you people live in that you would throw away good food--and egg whites at that! You can save extra egg whites, whip them up and cook them in butter with herbs and cheese for a delicious breakfast. I did that just this morning. Or make them into simple meringue. Or add another couple of eggs and make a souffle. Discard them? No.
Just before baking add a sprinkle of coarse sea salt on top. Really makes a difference and adds eye appeal as well.
I use Valrhona Noir Amer (71%) chocolate bars for this recipe. This is a high quality French chocolate that is very reasonably priced - at Trader Joe's. I think it was $3 for a 3.5 oz bar. That's cheaper than you'll find it in France. Incidentally, you can pretty much ignore the "use by" dates on really good, dark chocolate. They will last for years without spoiling because they have no dairy in them.
Silicon molds work really well if you want an easy unmolding, plus I sprayed the molds with a flour cooking spray, no tearing or pushing , they just slid out of the molds perfectly
Made this for a casual Thursday dinner party after work. Everyone raved about them! I prepped the day before, soooo very quick to make. i used bakers spray on the ramekins which easily released with no flour marks. I wrapped each ramekin in plastic wrap and froze, put them on their baking sheet on the counter as I finished cooking dinner, and when we were ready for dessert just baked an extra few minutes. Little effort for amazing dessert.
Based on reviewers I made a few adjustments.
sugar; I increased by 1 Tsp.
freeze dried espresso: added 1/2 Tsp.
Added 8 choc. chips to each cup AFTER adding batter, pushing into batter w/toothpick.
In one cup the chips were room temp. In another I froze the chips. In another I used SWEET chips and another used White Chocolate chips.
I served the cake on a pool of raspberry sauce and sprinkled with powered sugar. My family Loved it and DEMANDS to include in my dessert repertoire.
Sift cocoa into greased ramekins.
The video says to use 6 oz of chocolate, however the recipe calls for 4 oz. Anyone know which one is best?
I don't have ramekins so I used silicone cupcake liners. Made 6. Cooked perfectly at 7 min. Cupcake size was perfect for such a rich dessert. Delicious. Not too sweet.
Use 6 oz chocolate, 4 of semisweet chips, 2 unsweetened baking chocolate Dust with cocoa powder.
Do you think this could work with Earth balance (or even coconut oil??!) to make it dairy free?
It’s nice to add a shot of expresso. It’s necessary to offset the additional liquid with an extra teaspoon of flour or it won’t bake properly.
I prepared these individual molten chocolate cakes yesterday and refrigerated then until today. I followed the recipe to the letter and baked them for 9 minutes at 400 F after leaving them at room temperature for 45 minutes. They are extraordinarily delicious and easy to prepare! My (grown) children and 2 grandchildren raved about these lava cakes! Thanks Mark Bittman! This is a fantastic dessert!
This halves perfectly, tastes wonderfully chocolaty but not too sweet, and you can make it in 30 minutes for real. I've made as few as two, and as many as eight at once.
I have made this multiple times. Delicious no matter the chocolate quality. I’ve used every thing from Hersheys to Godiva Yummy!! I add a pinch of salt.
This has become my signature dessert. I make it with 4 1/2 ounces 70 chocolate and 1/2 shot of expresso. I bake it in OXO Good Grips silicone baking cups. I put the cups on a sheet pan. The cups are terrific for this as you don’t have to butter/flour them and they are lightweight and much easier to handle than a traditional ramekin. This recipe fills 6 of them. Fill with batter up to 1/4 inch from the top. The smaller serving is preferable as it’s quite a rich cake.
I prefer it with 5 ounces of chocolate rather than 4. Some cooks prefer 6 (as per notes) but not me.
113.49 =4 Oz
Whisk the eggs before you melt the chocolate, otherwise, very good.
I used the original ingredient list: 6 oz chocolate and a pinch of salt. I prepared the cakes one hour before guests arrived and refrigerated them. In my oven it took about 14 minutes till they turned matte. They were delicious!
For metric system: I used 150g each of butter and chocolate. 1/4 cup sugar = 60cl or 4 Tbls. My changes: added a pinch of salt and used cocoa powder instead of flour, both in the batter and to coat the ramekins. Oven 230°C for 9 min. Came out perfect.
I thought I was careful with my buttering and dusting but they still stuck. Know what? Couldn't care less! They were wonderful! Easy! Impressive! Next time, I'll leave 'em in the ramekins and forget about it. Thank you again, NYT C.
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