Chocolate Caramel Lava Cakes

Chocolate caramel lava cakes, oozing with molten chocolate and melted caramel, is surprisingly easy to make and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

I say this all the time, but it bears repeating: we don’t keep a lot of junk food in the house. I don’t buy cookies or cakes or ice cream for a couple reasons. Mostly because I’ll eat it if we have it, and we try to be healthier than that. The other reason, though, is I’m kind of a food snob. When you know how to make perfect chocolate chip cookies from scratch, the store bought kind no longer cuts it.

Here’s the problem: I love to bake. So even though we don’t usually have a pint of ice cream in the freezer or a package of cookies in the cupboard, I have no qualms about whipping up a dessert treat for J and I. Because I love to be in the kitchen, I don’t give a second thought to making a batch of cookies or, in the case of these chocolate caramel lava cakes, experimenting with a new recipe.

Baking is my idea of fun and these individual cakes are my idea of a heaven. The outside is just as baked and cake-like as you’d expect, but the inside… the inside combines two of my favorite flavors, chocolate and caramel, in a warm, melted mass of richness. The recipe takes less than 30 minutes start to finish and is the perfect indulgent treat for any night of the week.

Chocolate Caramel Lava Cakes

adapted from Tip Hero

Ingredients

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. plus 1 tsp. butter
2 tsp. cocoa powder
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 c. powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1/4 c. flour
8 caramels

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add chocolate chips and half cup of butter to a large bowl. Microwave for 15-second increments, stirring between each, until chocolate and butter are melted together. Use remaining butter to grease four six-ounce ramekins. Sprinkle a small amount of cocoa powder in each ramekin and shake it around until the entire inside of each ramekin is dusted. Tap the remaining cocoa powder into the garbage.

To your melted chocolate mixture, add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add salt and powdered sugar, mix just until combined, and add flour. Mix well. Your batter will be thick and shiny. Divide half of the batter evenly between the four ramekins. Place two caramels gently in the center of each ramekin and divide the rest of the batter over the top, taking care to cover the caramels.

Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until outside of cakes are set and inside is barely shiny. Allow to cool for two minutes and then gently turn over onto plates (place the plate over the ramekin, gently invert both, and then carefully remove the ramekin using a pot holder). Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

If decadent individual desserts are your thing, don’t miss chocolate chip cream cheese dessert quesadillas or Oreo cupcakes!

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