Magic Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe | Chocolate Fondant
Step 1: Serve the dessert to the guests at the table.
Step 2: Add some hot chocolate sauce.
Step 3: The sauce magically drops down into the middle of the dessert.
Step 4: Take a spoonful and chocolate ganache oozes out of the centre like molten lava onto the cold plate.
Sydney is home to some great chefs, one of them Peter Gilmore came up with this impressive chocolate dessert idea. The real thing has 8 different textures and will set you back $175 to try it as part of his set menu at his restaurant Quay. I have greatly simplified the idea for you but kept the ‘magic’ and added lava. This recipe makes 6-8 lava cake desserts depending on the size you cut your circles.
Chocolate Lava Cake recipe
Chocolate Discs
140g (4.94 ounces) tempered chocolate
Chocolate Brownie Base
300g (10.58 ounces) or 1 1/3 cups plus 2 tspns butter or margarine
6 eggs
3 cups or 654g (23.07 ounces) sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
dash of marsala (optional)
3/4 cup or 90g (3.17 ounces) cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups or 360g (12.7 ounces) plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
(optional – you can add nuts, dried fruit or chocolate chips)
Line a baking tin 26cm (10.24 inches) x 38cm (14.96 inches) with baking paper, if your tin is not deep use the baking paper to make a wall around the edge and staple into place. This prevents it overflowing in the oven.
Melt butter in the microwave, beat in sugar, eggs, cocoa, flour and baking powder until just combined.
Add the vanilla and marsala, pour into baking tray and sprinkle with chopped chocolate or nuts.
Bake at 356°F (180 degrees Celsius) (or 180°C (356 degrees Fahrenheit)) until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean
Ganache
200g (7.05 ounces) milk chocolate
80g (2.82 ounces) dark chocolate
100millilitres (3.38 fluid ounces) cream (if you can’t get hold of cream you can use milk but use slightly less)
Place chocolate pieces in a bowl, melt the chocolate (if using a microwave be careful not to burn it, do 30 seconds, stir, 20 seconds, stir, 10 secs stir then 10 secs until melted). Then pour in your cream and keep stirring until it comes together to make a nice smooth ganache.
Make sure your ganache is warm when you place it on the dessert.
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Can you use pure cream? And how does it make 6
Hi Nicole, Yes you can.
Hey Ann! Love your recipes. For the ganache, do you need fake or real chocolate? Or does it not matter? Thanks!
Hi Phillip, you can use fake chocolate in ganache though it can set firmer. If it is too firm, you an add more cream later to get the consistency you need.
Hey! Can I make brownies without chocolates? Just marshmallows like in the photo?
Hi Anonymous, what recipe are you using. You don’t have to have chocolate in brownies, but you have commented on the chocolate lava cake which definitely needs chocolate.
Hi, I’m Chikara and I’m 12 years old. Do we need to use 645 grams of sugar cuz that sounds quite a lot of sugar!
Hi Chikara, yes that is correct it makes a large amount
HI I’m Kayla and I’m wanting to make this for Mother’s Day today and I was wondering does make enough for 5 people and if so is one cake small enough for 1 person to eat a cake by themselves? Thank you.
Hi,I’m Kayla I’m 13 and I am wanting to make this for Mother’s Day and I was wondering does this recipe make enough for 5 people and if so is one cake small enough for one person to eat by themselves?
Hi Kayla J. This recipe will make 6 serves with one lava cake per person.
what is dash of marsala ?? i’m going to bake it but i don’t know what is dash of marsala so i cannot bake it
Hi Jason Kee, Marsala is a dry or sweet fortified wine, originally from Sicily. it is often used in small amounts in cooking. You can leave it out if you prefer.
Could I use a store bought brownie mix?
Hi Ann, I am 13 years old and I made this at a dinner party for my parents work friends. They absolutely loved it and the next time they came over they begged me to make it again. Thankyou so much for this amazing recipe!
That is great to hear Georgia. Keep baking!!
Hiw many does this count as how many can you bake with this recipe
Hi Rubey, this recipe makes 6 serves.
Hiya!its a lovely recipe…I tried it…every one liked the idea of magic molten lava….its taste was really great…I made it for six people…but now I want to make it for two…so can you please tell me the quantities which I should to use..???
I was watching your videos for years and I am going to try and make this recipe
Hi Ann,
I’ve been watching your youtube videos for years! I was wondering if I cut the recipe in half, and baked it in a 9×13 pan, how long would it take to bake? Thanks!
Hi Kaila, the pan Ann used is only a little larger. I wouldn’t recommend halving the recipe. How long it takes to cook will depend on your oven which is why you find Ann rarely gives exact time frames.
Do you have to use tempered chocolate?
Yes, I tried to make this recipe without tempered chocolate and it doesn’t work, The Chocolate is to Flimbsy.And it melts easily even if the Brownie is Cooled.
Hi Keith, To ensure the chocolate holds it’s shape it will need to be tempered.
Hi, I’m Samantha and I love your videos. I want to try and see if I could use this dessert for my home ecs exam. However, we have a time limit. I was wondering how long it would take to bake this?
Do you think it’ll work if I make the hole heart-shaped? I’m trying to make it for Valentine’s Day.
It will, but you might not see the heart shape so clearly. Sorry for being so late!
I made this and when i served it to the table all i heard was “WOW” and “YUUM” thank you ann reardon you are so amazing and beautiful!!!!!
That is great ayanna!
How long did it take for your brownies to bake?
Hi. I’m 12 and I LOVE your videos. Is the lava cake easy enough for me to make for my mums birthday? How long does it keep?
Hi Rache, Cakes are designed to be eaten fresh, but you could make them the day prior.
is it possible to use heated chocolate instead of a ganache?
Hi Vanessa, You could melt some chocolate to melt through the disk, but to get a lovely decadent, oozy, lava-like sauce you will beed a ganache, which has cream mixed with the chocolate.
Hi Ann! I was just asking if there was a way to make this way smaller for fit somewhere… I have tight spaces in my fridge etc.
Thank you.
what type of sugar did you use?
Hi Vanessa, Ann used standard white table sugar.