On the way to a great recipe, there are often a lot of disasters. I don’t usually highlight my recipe failures, however I decided to share my Vegan Molten Lava Cake recipe creation process with you. A lot of work goes into coming-up with one of my new recipes. It is rare that a recipe comes together on the first try, but it does happen from time to time; My PB Chocolate Chip Dessert Hummus was one of the rare exceptions in that I really liked the results of my first recipe version.
I sometimes feel like I am in a chemistry lab when I attempt to bake vegan and gluten-free. Gluten-free flours work so differently than standard wheat flour and when you throw in the monkey-wrench of not using eggs, everything changes yet again.
The photo collage above tells the story of my first and second recipe attempts. Version one used flax eggs and almond flour as the base. I thought I would try to see if I could make this molten lava cake in the microwave and… let’s just say I got the “lava” part spot-on. I had some more batter left, so I tried baking it in the oven and it completely puffed-up only to deflate all the way back to the bottom of the ramekin. So, for version two I switched to using baking soda and vinegar eggs (I got the tip from Chef Chloe’s website) and added some more blanched almond flour. It looked so promising while baking, like a beautiful soufflé, and then TOTALLY deflated when I took it out of the oven.
When I am in the middle of the recipe writing process I get a bit obsessive and tend to think about it constantly. After stewing about this for yet another day it came to me; everything started to make sense. I needed to take out some of the blanched almond flour, add in some gluten-free flour mix, a little xanthan gum, and some baking powder. Voilà, vegan and gluten-free Molten Lava Cake.
That being said, isn’t it so true that those missteps make the successes all that more sweet? I set-out to create a molten lava cake that was vegan and gluten-free while also being easy on the waistline. I am really proud of this recipe.
My honey LOVES molten lava cake and now I have a much healthier version to serve to him. Some people buy their men electronics or cologne for Valentines, I made mine a cake.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (I used a toaster oven).
Whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave. If melting in the microwave, do it in 30 second intervals and stir in between (this will prevent the chocolate from burning). It usually takes about 90 seconds to melt the chips completely.
Once the chocolate is melted, whisk it together with the rest of the wet ingredients. The coffee crystals are included in the wet ingredients so you can make sure they melt into the mixture properly and are completely disbursed.
Whisk the wet and dry ingredients together. The batter will be very thick like brownie batter.
Lightly oil and flour a small (approx. 4 1/4 inch) springform pan. When flouring the pan use a mixture of flour and cocoa in order to preserve the gorgeous brown color of the cake. I used a heart springform pan by Wilton that I found at Homegoods. I also saw that the pans are available at Target (Click HERE to see them on Target online).
Pour the batter into the pan making sure to only fill the pan 2-3 full. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The top and edges of the cake should be set while the middle will be slightly loose. After the cake has baked for 10-12 minutes, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool on the counter for 5 minutes.
Serve the cake immediately after it has cooled for 5 minutes. This cake is best HOT from the oven and would be awesome with some Vanilla So Delicious coconut milk ice cream and strawberries.
For a printable version of this recipe click here.