- Hey, everyone, it's Natasha of natashaskitchen.com

and today I'm gonna teach you how

to make chocolate lava cakes.

These are so easy to make.

They come together in about 30 minutes

and they have the most decadent surprise inside.

You're gonna love this recipe.

Let's get started.

(hands tapping) (bell dinging)

You'll need four eight ounce ramekins.

Grease those with butter then dust the insides with

a little bit of flour, tapping out the excess.

This quick prep will keep the cakes

from sticking to the cups.

Place those on a baking sheet and set them aside.

Also, preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Next, set up a double boiler

and you don't need any fancy equipment,

just a medium saucepan.

Add some hot water to the bottom

and place a medium mixing bowl over the top.

You wanna make sure the bowl is over the steam

and not over the water.

Add six ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips

and one stick or half a cup

of unsalted butter, cut into pieces.

Keep that at medium, low heat,

you just want the water below to stay at a simmer.

Stir constantly for about three to five minutes

or until the butter and chocolate are completely melted

and well blended then take it off the heat and set it aside.

Now in a second large mixing bowl, combine two large eggs

and two egg yolks.

You can keep the egg whites for breakfast the next day,

we have a great recipe on our blog for an egg white omelet.

Next, add 1/4 cup of granulated sugar

and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Beat those together with an electric mixer for five minutes

or until the eggs are lightened in color and whipped.

You can see how thick and fluffy that mixture is

when you pull up on the whisk.

Pour all of your warm chocolate sauce into the egg mixture.

Also add one teaspoon of real vanilla extract

and we use a homemade vanilla extract.

I have the tutorial linked in the notes.

Fold that together until it's mostly combined

then fold in three tablespoons of all-purpose flour

and continue folding until it's very well-blended.

As soon as that flour is well incorporated,

stop mixing and divide the chocolate batter

between the four prepared ramekins

and I love using my trigger release ice cream scoop,

it makes this process a little less messy

and a little bit easier.

I'll link to this and all of our favorite tools

for making this recipe in the notes.

Make sure you get every last drop of that tasty batter

and once they're evenly portioned,

bake in the center of a preheated oven

at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 to 12 minutes.

My oven takes closer to 12 minutes.

You want the outsides to be firm and dry

and the centers should be soft and just barely wobbly.

All right, these are out of the oven and they smell so good.

Super chocolatey.

So what we're gonna do is, let them rest for one minute

and then as soon as that minute is up

you're gonna transfer them to plates.

My plates don't match, don't judge me.

(laughing)

All right, and then take one of them

and use protection for your hands

because the bowls are still hot.

And.

I'm just gonna take that.

And invert it onto a plate.

(plate clanking)

Oh, there it goes.

(laughing)

Uh-oh, that's not something you wanna hear.

(giggling)

Normally these come out really easy.

Normally, I dunno what's going on today.

(bowl clanking)

Okay.

And our second one.

And you wanna bake these until they've puffed up nicely.

They should be dry on the outside

but soft inside with just the slightest

bit of jiggle in the center.

That's how you know they're done.

Voila!

(laughing)

And when I put them on the plates.

I do like to put them off to the edge of the plate

because I like to put a little bit of ice cream

and berries to serve.

So let's just scooch those over a teensy bit.

And I'm gonna go get some ice cream.

Be right back.

All right, I'm so excited.

I got a fresh tub of ice cream

that's just the best thing ever.

(giggling)

Okay, and I don't like putting ice cream on top

because I don't want the flavors to compete

and it cools down the cake and this is best served warm

so you've got that ooey-gooey filling.

You don't wanna cool it down too quickly.

So what I love to do is

I like to dust the top with powered sugar.

Which looks so pretty.

Generous amount.

And then.

A scoop of ice cream on the side.

Okay.

And that's gonna start melting

a little bit next to the warm cake.

And, of course, some fresh berries,

because they looks so pretty and chocolate

and berries just goes so well together.

We're gonna cut them in half to make it prettier.

The easiest way to dress up dessert.

Throw a few raspberries on there.

Just to fancy it up and that's all there is to it.

We're gonna dig in 'cause I cannot wait.

Okay, here we go.

Find my spoon.

(giggling)

Okay.

(exhaling loudly)

Deep breath.

(giggling)

Oh!

Come to mama!

And you can see how that chocolate lava

just pours out of the cake.

So yummy.

Yum.

I want some of that filling

with some of that ice cream.

It really is a good combination.

Such a treat.

That is so decadent and creamy.

It's kind of like having a built in frosting in your cake.

(laughing)

And I can't believe there's only three tablespoons

of flour in this whole cake but, wow, it's good.

This is such a romantic and decadent dessert.

They serve this in restaurants all the time

but homemade, I'm telling you, homemade is so much better

and can you believe how easy that was?

Like, ridiculously easy.

(laughing)

This is pretty failproof

and I hope it becomes your new favorite chocolate dessert

because this is seriously every chocolate lovers dream.

That's me right here.

(laughing)

All right, I'm gonna enjoy the rest of this.

Hope you enjoyed this episode and,

hey, before you go, before you go!

Make sure you check out some of our all time favorite,

special occasion worthy desserts, right over there

and don't miss that one right down there

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We'll see you on our next video.