This Mexican Chocolate Lava Cake is a twist on the classic with a touch of cinnamon & cayenne. It comes out perfect because it’s made in a pressure cooker! (Jump directly to the recipe.)
This post was sponsored by The Crock-Pot® Brand. I was compensated for this post and for developing the recipe. However, all opinions below are completely my own.
The chocolate lava cake gets a bad rap. It’s one of those desserts that you see everywhere, from fine dining establishments to chain restaurants. Pastry chefs often groan at the idea of putting it in on the menu, but the general public loves it. And honestly, it’s one of my favorite things to make and eat as well.
Because here’s the thing. Just because something is super popular, doesn’t mean that it’s not good. The chocolate lava cake, with the dense fudgy cake outside and warm gooey inside is everything good about a chocolate dessert. It’s what all chocolate desserts aspire to be. And you can quote me on that one.
It’s also deceptively easy to make. But using the Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker, it’s even easier. One of the issues with baking a chocolate lava cake is that you need to have the heat high enough in the oven to bake the outside, but not cook the inside. That’s how you get the gooey center. Often though, this can lead to a dry or overdone outside. But using the pressure cooker eliminates this issue. Especially since the Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker already anticipated that folks would want to use it to make desserts, as one of the 8-built in preset buttons is for desserts! The Express Crock is one of those multi-purpose devices that allows you to cook and make food up to 70% faster than the regular way, basically all week long for any meal or course. I use the 6-Quart model, and it’s even available in 4-Quart and 8-Quart sizes. Making a dessert in a pressure cooker seems totally counter-intuitive to me, but with this lava cake, I’m sold.
Mexican Chocolate Lava Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate 155 g
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 115 g or 1 stick
- 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder optional but recommended
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 100 g
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder not Dutch-process
- 3 large eggs
- Powdered sugar to finish
Instructions
- Place the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Cook chocolate and butter in the microwave, in 30 second increments, stirring between cook time, until completely melted and smooth.
- Add the instant coffee powder if using and stir until dissolved. Add the vanilla extract, cinnamon, salt, and cayenne to the melted chocolate and stir until the dry ingredients are absorbed completely.
- Place the sugar, flour, cocoa powder and whisk together until uniform in color. Add the eggs into a large bowl and whisk together until there are no more dry pockets. Pour the chocolate into the mixture and stir in with a spatula.
- Spray 4 6-ounce oven proof ramekins with cooking oil. Divide the chocolate batter inside the ramekins. The batter should only fill up the ramekins 3/4 capacity. Don’t overfill.
- Place the wire rack inside the Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker pot. Pour 1 1/2 cups of water inside the pot. Place the ramekins on the wire rack. If the ramekins don’t all fit on one level, you can carefully stack them in a “pyramid” formation, making sure the bottom three ramekins aren’t touching but are close enough together to support the top ramekin.
- Cover and seal the lid, making sure the pressure valve on top is in the “Seal” or closed position. Press the Dessert button and adjust the pressure to high. Make sure the button is set on 10 minutes and press the Start/Stop button. Once the cooking is complete, do a quick release of the pressure by using a wooden spoon or another heat proof kitchen utensil to carefully flick the pressure valve to the “Release” position. Do this cautiously, as hot steam will be released from the valve. Once there is no more steam being released and the lid opens easily (with minimal force), it’s safe to open up the Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker.
- Using tongs or a heatproof oven mitt, remove each ramekin from the pot. Let sit on a cooling rack for 1 minute, then place a small dessert plate upside down on the top of the ramekin. Using a clean dry kitchen towel or oven mitts, invert the plate then carefully remove the ramekin. Repeat with the remaining cakes, dust with powdered sugar, and serve immediately.
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