This Instant Pot Lava Cake is a chocolate lover’s dream – rich and decadent, with the gooey molten chocolate flowing out. The best part is that they can be made in just 20 minutes; great for those late-night cravings or a party!
There are days when you just want some chocolate therapy! On those days, I love to make my instant pot brownies, almond flour brownies, or this molten chocolate lava cake.
They are easy to make and need very little active effort. The best part about lava cake is that it is much quicker to make. Just 8 minutes in the instant pot, and you can’t wait for it to cool enough to dig in!
The gooey-flowing molten chocolate inside is so good. It is like love at first bite! The liquid chocolate center is called chocolate moelleux (which means soft in French).
Top with ice cream or not. Top with some strawberries or raspberries. We love to dip the strawberries into the molten chocolate….so good!
This is a perfect dessert for a weeknight, as a treat to the family for Valentine’s Day (my girls loved it!) or to serve to guests. In my opinion, this lava cake is the best instant pot dessert you will ever have!
This recipe makes two lava cakes, but you can easily double this recipe, and it will work perfectly!
Table of Contents
Watch How to Make Easy Instant Pot Chocolate Lava Cake
Ingredients
Before the ingredients, let me mention the bowls you will need to make this lava cake. I have tried this in the instant pot with ramekins (the image of the lava cake topped with ice cream), pyrex, and corolle bowls (the image with strawberries above). Small oven-safe bowls of 6oz size work great for this recipe.
This lava cake has very basic ingredients Chocolate, Butter, Sugar, Eggs & Flour. The add-ins are vanilla extract and salt.
For a lava cake, you don’t typically add baking powder like in other cakes. But lava cakes have egg yolk added in addition to eggs. We also add very little flour.
I used semi-sweet chocolate to get a balance of flavor that the whole family can enjoy. You can use dark chocolate in this recipe, too, for a richer taste.
Top with fruits or ice cream as you prefer. We love to add strawberries or raspberries for a pop of color. Vanilla ice cream pairs perfectly with warm, gooey chocolate.
How to Make Lava Cake?
Start with greasing the ramekins with a cooking spray or melted butter. Add a little sugar to each ramekin and spread it evenly on the bottom and sides. Dust any excess sugar. This helps ensure the cakes come out easily from the ramekins. (Note: I have tried with only butter and also butter+dusting with flour, but dusting with sugar makes it most effortless to take out the lava cake)
Melt the butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Mix the chocolate and butter until smooth. I just microwaved for 30 seconds. If you need to microwave longer, do it in 15-second intervals.
In another bowl, whisk the egg and egg yolk well. Then, add the melted chocolate and butter. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt. Stir well using a spatula.
Fold in the flour with a spatula. Now the batter is ready.
Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins. Then, tap the ramekins against the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles.
I like to cover the bowls with a foil so excess moisture does not get into the cake.
Prepare the instant pot by pouring water and placing the trivet. Place the bowls on the trivet and you are ready to pressure cook them.
It is important to quick release the pressure right away and take out the bowls from the instant pot, as otherwise, they might get overcooked, and you won’t get the molten interior of the lava cake. Use mitts to take out as they are super hot.
If you double the recipe to make four lava cakes, you can stack them. Place 3 on the bottom and stack the fourth at the center. (I love using the instant pot to the fullest and stack bowls – see this instant pot baby food recipe).
If the lava cake bowls seem to have liquid batter when you open them, then you want to put them back and pressure cook for 1-3 minutes more. This can happen for various reasons – altitude or different sizes pressure cookers can heat differently.
Place the bowls on a cooling rack, then serve immediately once they are cooled enough to touch.
Lava cakes continue to cook when they rest, so it is best to serve as soon as possible!
You can serve the molten lava cake in the bowl or ramekin they were cooked. It is more convenient and easy to enjoy!
Or take them out on a plate to see the flowing molten chocolate.
Run a small knife around the edges of the bowl. Then, place a plate on top of the bowl and flip it. Tap on the bowl to loosen the cake, then pick out the bowl from the top.
Serve with strawberries or raspberries on the side. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
You can drizzle a little salted caramel or chocolate syrup on the top.
Now is the time to dig in and get the first bite. Remember, it will be hard to stop at one bite!!
Pro-Tips
Grease the bowls/ramekins well with butter and sugar. This will make it easy to get the lava cake out to serve.
Do not overheat the chocolate and butter when melting. Melt in small bursts of 15-30 seconds.
Use good quality chocolate. I prefer a bar over chocolate chips for this recipe.
Cover the bowls/ramekins with foil so excess water does not get into the cake.
Quick release the pressure as soon as the instant pot beeps, and take out the lava cake bowls using mitts. The lava cakes can overcook easily; hence, you want to take them out quickly and let them cool.
Enjoy them as soon as they are cool enough to touch. We prefer them when they are warm and gooey!
Variations
Peanut Butter Lava Cake: Fill the ramekin halfway, then spoon in 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter (or almond butter). Then, top with the rest of the prepared batter. Cook for 9-10 minutes on high pressure, and follow the rest of the recipe.
If the peanut butter is too thick to spoon in, microwave in a small bowl for 15 seconds before topping on the batter.
See below the picture of the lava cake with peanut butter. My family enjoyed the peanut butter lava cake more than the almond butter cake.
Common Questions
Most likely, you won’t have any leftovers for this small portioned lava cake recipe for two. They are hard to resist. But if you do and want to save for later. Let them cool completely, cover them with a cling wrap, and refrigerate. Remember, they would be as molten lava-y when reheating.
It is best to reheat lava cake in the microwave for 20-30 seconds until they are warm.
I won’t recommend making the cakes in advance. It is best to prepare the batter and refrigerator for 1-2 days. Then, before you start preparing, take the batter out and leave it on the counter to come to room temperature before cooking.
Enjoy these decadent Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes, and don’t forget to share how they turned out!
More Chocolate Recipes You’ll Love
Easy Instant Pot Lava Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Unsalted butter, plus more to grease the bowls
- 1/2 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate, about 3oz, small pieces from a bar or chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup Powdered Sugar , 1.2oz, plus more to coat bowls
- 1 Egg, large
- 1 Egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 3 tablespoon All purpose flour, 0.88oz
- 3/4 cup Water, to add to instant pot
Topping options
- Powdered Sugar , sifted
- Strawberries , or Raspberries
- Mint leaves, optional
- Vanilla ice-cream, optional
Instructions
- Prepare bowls: Take two oven-safe ramekins or bowls. Coat the inside with softened butter and dust with sugar making sure entire bowl is coated with sugar. Remove any extra sugar. Set aside.
Make the batter:
- In a microwave safe bowl, mix butter and chocolate. Microwave 30 seconds to melt. Mix till smooth. Add more time if needed.
- In a large bowl, add the egg and egg yolk. Whisk till mixed.
- Add the metled butter and chocolate to the bowl.
- Add sugar, vanilla and salt. Mix well.
- Add flour and fold it in.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared bowls. Cover each bowl with aluminum foil.
Cook in Instant Pot:
- Add water to the instant pot steel insert. Place the trivet.
- Place the covered bowl on the trivet.
- Cook on pressure cook or manual mode on high pressure for 8 minutes.
- When the instant pot beeps, quick release the pressure manually. Remove the lid and carefully take out ramekins using oven mitts.
- Let bowls sit on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Remove the foil.*
- Enjoy as is or take them out on a plate to serve.
- Run a small knife along the inside of the bowls to loosen lava cake. Carefully place a small plate over one of the bowl and flip it. Tap on the bowl so the lava cake loosens. Remove the bowl from the top. Repeat for other ramekin.
- Top with sifted powdered sugar and strawberry. Optionally, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
I’m really enjoying making desserts in Mason Jars in the IP – would that work for this recipe? What size mason jar would you recommend? I think I have 4oz mason jars that I used for cheesecake (they are small desserts). Would the cooking time change?
Hi Lisa – I think 4oz mason jars would be perfect for this lava cake. Hope you enjoy them!
Hi , I tried this recipe using 1 cup Pyrex glass bowl and the center was still liquid after 8 mins . So I tried pressur ecooking it for another 3 mins as you have suggested but still the same . Any suggestions where I went wrong ? Pls help . Thank you .
Hi Lavanya – Sorry to hear the lava cake did not work well for you. I wonder if you added water to the instant pot steel insert and it came to pressure (the pin moved up)? I feel it should typically get done in 8-10 minutes.
Thank you Meeta for the recipe.
Tried it today and they came out beautifully.
Although I have used a 70% dark chocolate it was still a bit too sweet so will use less sugar next time. We ate them with vanilla ice cream.
Hi Lidia – So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂
Can we use pyrex bowls instead of ramekins?
Hi Shruthi – yes, oven-safe pyrex bowls work too for this recipe. Hope you enjoy the lava cake.
They were easy and yummy. A great Valentine’s day dessert.
Can I use the silicone egg mold for this recipe?
Hi Janell – I have not tried in the silicone egg molds. But I think it could work well. Cook for 2 minutes less as the molds are smaller in size. Hope you enjoy the lava cake!
Doubled the recipe and made these today for my family. Came out delicious and everyone enjoyed them thoroughly with a scoop of ice cream. Thanks 🤩
HI Meeta,
That looks so gooood! Thank you for the recipe. Let you know the results and the compliments after making it.
Thank you Laura. Hope you enjoy it!
hi can you suggest an eggless version of this please? We dont eat eggs. also is it done using the cake button in an instapot? I have a mealthy by the way? can you please let know a substitute?
regards
Anusha
Hi Anusha – I have not tested this recipe without eggs. But search for an eggless lava cake and you will find some options. I used the pressure cook button, so Mealthy will too.
Hello, I’m planning to try this recipe tomorrow but I have the regular C&H sugar. Can I use that or do I need powdered sugar?
Thanks!
Hi Pree – I have tried and regular sugar will work well too in this recipe. Hope you enjoy the lava cake!