I thought lava cakes seemed super intimidating, but I had no idea how easy they are until I made these ultimate Gooey Homemade Red Wine Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes. You could start making these red wine-infused chocolate melting cakes now and be eating them in less than 30 minutes. This simple recipe makes four individual cakes with liquid chocolate centers oozing out, perfect for an intimate gathering with those you love most!
Why this recipe works
When you combine the rich, luxurious chocolate with a fruity and velvety red wine, the filling that flows from the moist, delicious, and indulgent cake is absolutely romantic and divine. And when you realize how easy it is too, you can have them at home any time! I highly recommend putting this on your Valentine’s Day menu to impress your loved ones, and quite honestly, to impress yourself!
Ingredients and notes
Chocolate Chips - This molten lava cake recipe has no cocoa powder, so the chocolate chips are the chocolate for this cake. You can also use chocolate chunks or melts, or chopped chocolate. It will be melted with butter so as long as you can melt it, you can use it!
Eggs and egg yolks - The eggs and yolks contribute to the texture of the individual cakes, and also give the them their structure. The extra yolks also contribute to a moist cake that will hold its structure. This keeps these epic molten chocolate bombs from collapsing when you remove the ramekin!
Red Wine - You can't have red wine lava cake without red wine! If you've made any of my other recipes with alcohol, you know I'm an advocate of using what you like and using what you have. Any red wine will work for this recipe, and you'll have most of the bottle left after making these single-serving cakes so make sure you use something you'll enjoy so nothing goes to waste! Or make more red wine recipes!
How to make this recipe
Step 1
Melt butter and chocolate together over low heat, whisking frequently until smooth, then remove from heat.
Step 2
Stir in powdered sugar till completely mixed, then add eggs and yolks and whisk till combined.
Step 3
Stir in wine, then flour, and then divide evenly among four ramekins.
Step 4
Bake until the sides are firm, but the center is still soft, about 12 minutes. Don't overbake or you'll lose that molten lava center!
Step 5
Let the mini cakes stand for one minute, then carefully flip each single-serving lava cake out onto a plate.
Recipe FAQs
A lava cake is like a little chocolate volcano! It's individual-sized chocolate cakes with a gooey liquid chocolate center that oozes out like lava when you stick your spoon in. It's rich, indulgent, dark, fudgy, and oh so luxurious!
You can certainly make lava cake ahead of time and reheat them when you're ready to eat them, but lava cake is best served hot and straight from the oven. And they're so quick and easy to make, there's really no need to make them in advance - you could put them in the oven after dinner, and have the best warm, chocolate lava cakes in just 15 minutes!
These boozy lava cakes are absolutely perfect, straight out of the oven. Ideally, they should be flipped out onto a plate to serve, but you could certainly leave them in the ramekins. They'll still have the gooey molten lava center, they'll just lose a bit of the oozing effect that you'll get when you dive in if the lava is not constricted by the walls of the ramekins! Because they're served hot, my go-to is topping them with vanilla ice cream, but they're truly so incredible on their own that they don't need anything added!
Absolutely! You can use whatever type of chocolate excites you most! I tend to bake with darker chocolates, but you could absolutely use dark, semi-sweet, milk, or whatever chocolate you like best (or whatever you have on hand)!
Tips & Tricks
- To flip each individual lava cake out onto a plate, put the plate upside down on the top of the ramekin, then, carefully, holding the plate and the ramekin together, flip them both over so the ramekin is now upside down on the plate. You should then be able to easily remove the ramekin and the cake should hold it's shape on the plate.
- Be sure to use a plate with a lip so that the ooey gooey liquidy filling doesn't ooze off the edge of the plate!
- To make these small chocolate cakes without ramekins, the recipe should also work in a muffin tin or cupcake pan, but because the cups are smaller than a ramekin, it will likely make more than 4 and you'll probably need to reduce bake time to keep that ooey gooey liquid chocolate center!
Related Recipes
Red Wine Chocolate Brownies
Red Wine Flourless Chocolate Cake
Red Wine Chocolate Creme Brulee
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Gooey Homemade Red Wine Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes
Equipment
- 4 ramekins
- 1 Baking sheet
- 1 Saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter
- ¾ cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ cup red wine
- ½ cup flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F. Spray 4 ramekins with non-stick spray and place ramekins on a cookie sheet.
- Melt butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat, whisking frequently until smooth. Remove from heat once butter and chocolate is melted.
- Stir in powdered sugar completely.
- Add eggs and yolks and whisk till combined.
- Stir in wine and then flour.
- Pour into ramkins and bake for about 12 minutes, until sides are firm and center is soft.
- Let stand for 1 minute, then carefully (ramekins will be HOT!) flip out onto plates.
- Add a scoop of ice cream and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted on January 21, 2019, but was republished with new photos, additional information about the recipe, step-by-step instructions, FAQs, and tips and tricks in January of 2022.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know what you think!