This keto lava cake has a deliciously decadent gooey molten chocolate centre. A quick keto dessert with only 5 ingredients! This easy recipe is is gluten free, low carb and sugar free and contains only 2.8g net carbs per portion.
Who doesn't like a chocolate lava cake? Especially when it's a totally guilt-free, sugar free keto lava cake?
But first things first.
What is a chocolate lava cake?
Glad you asked. It's a single serve chocolate cake that is under-baked so the inside stays uncooked, molten and soft. You eat it warm and straight from the oven. It's wonderful with a scoop of sugar free vanilla ice cream, but equally good all on its own.
Is molten chocolate cake safe to eat?
In the UK it's safe to eat raw eggs that are produced under the Lion code of Practice. However, in some countries you still need to worry about salmonella in raw eggs. But there is no need to worry about this cake: The bacteria is killed instantly at temperatures over 160F / 70C. Which means the hot gooey centre is perfectly safe to eat!
5 Ingredients for Keto Lava Cake
The best things in life are simple. And this low carb lava cake is one of them! In fact, you only need 5 ingredients for this easy sugar free dessert. Let me go into more detail:
1. Chocolate.
Get the best you can afford, with a high cocoa solids content. 90% is great, or go the whole 9 yards and get 100% unsweetened chocolate.
This is a generously sized dessert and if you're interested in keeping a low carb count, this will make a difference. It will also affect the taste - a cheap choccie full of vegetable oils just won't make you swoon.
I used 100% unsweetened chocolate, so added 3 ½ tablespoon sweetener. If you use 90% chocolate, 2 tablespoon sweetener works well. Adjust accordingly if your chocolate already contains sweetener. If you're in the US, Lily's sugar free chocolate is always a good option.
2. Butter.
Organic, grass-fed is what we're looking for here. I love the buttery taste of this dessert. But if that's not your kind of thing, you can sub with virgin coconut oil.
3. Almond flour.
The almond flour for your gluten free lava cake should be super-fine. Almond meal or ground almonds are too coarse and will alter the texture (would still work though).
4. Eggs.
Beat them till they're FLUFFY!
5. Sweetener.
Make sure you choose powdered sweetener and not granulated. Stevia drops would work in this recipe too. Definitely taste your batter and adjust the sweetener according to the type of chocolate you're using. I've given my measurements in the notes. As we all have a different perception of what the perfect sweetness is, do whatever rocks your boat here.
Low Carb Lava Cake Variations
Simply adjust the baking time depending on how runny you would like the centre of the Keto lava cake. Here are your options:
Molten lava cake - 9 minutes: This is the texture I aimed for. After 9 minutes, the cake will be set at the top and on the sides and bottom, but the inside will be molten chocolate batter. When you cut it with a spoon, the gooey enter oozes out.
When you gently shake the ramekin you'll see the insides jiggle!
Note - in traditional ceramic ramekins the lava cake may take an additional minute as they have thicker walls than the metal ones I used.
Moist and gooey lava cake - 11-12 minutes: If you don't like the idea of a soft, runny centre, simply keep the lava cake in the oven for a further 2 minutes. After 12 minutes you have a moist keto chocolate cake that is fully cooked through.
BAKER'S TOP TIPS for keto lava cake:
If you want to invert your lava cakes onto a plate, grease your ramekins REALLY WELL! If you are only after the taste, there's no stress - just serve in the ramekins.
My ramekins measured 2 inch at the bottom and 3 at the top. If you want to make 1 larger portion, you might need to increase the time in the oven by 2-3 minutes.
Do not over-bake! The top needs to be set, but jiggly. My first round of cakes baked for 12 minutes and they were firm in the middle. Don't deprive yourself of that gooey centre 🙂
But even more importantly, don't be afraid to take this cake out of the oven when it's still super-jiggly.
It'll keep on cooking and firming up in the hot ramekin so serve it as soon as you can touch it with your hands to turn it out onto a plate.
Eat these cakes straight out of the oven! If you leave them in the ramekins for long, they will continue to cook and set more than you might like.
This keto lava cake is delicious enough, gooey enough and wonderfully chocolatey enough to create a romantic moment any day of the year. I imagine it would be great with a scoop of sugar-free low carb ice cream.
How to store keto lava cake
Chocolate lava cake with a molten centre should be eaten hot and straight from the oven.
It is possible to prepare the batter ahead and store it in the fridge overnight. Be sure to bring it back to room temperature before you bake it.
Another option would be to bake the cakes for 11-12 minutes until you have a fudgy keto chocolate cake. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Check out these chocolate keto dessert recipes:
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5 Ingredient Keto Lava Cake (Low Carb)
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary. ***As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate (55g), at least 85% cocoa solids
- 1 tablespoon super-fine almond flour ***see notes
- 2 oz butter unsalted, plus more for greasing ramekins
- 2 eggs
- 3.5 tablespoon powdered sweetener or more, depending on the chocolate you use - see notes
Instructions
- Heat oven to 175 Celsius/350 Fahrenheit.
- Grease 2 ramekins with butter.
- Melt the chocolate and butter and stir to combine.
- Beat your eggs well - best with a mixer.
- Add to the chocolate/butter mix together with almond flour and sweetener and stir. You'll get a dough-like consistency that is pourable.
- Pour into 2 ramekins.
- Bake 9 minutes until the top is set but still jiggly. Do not over-bake!
- Turnout onto plates and serve with a dusting of powdered sweetener and pomegranate seeds or a couple of raspberries. A mint leaf would round off the look nicely!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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anne
hello, is the nutrition facts for this recipe per portion or total of. 2 ramekins?
thank you kindest 🙂
Katrin Nürnberger
The nutrition is always calculated per portion.
Sarah in CA
This came out wonderful. I did not have solid chocolate on hand, but I did have high quality unsweetened cocoa powder. So for every once of solid chocolate I substituted 3 tablespoons cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon butter. I worked out really very well. For my husbands I swirled in a tablespoon cherry jam. He does not need to be as careful as I.
Jennifer Adams
Does this microwave well?
Katrin Nürnberger
No, you cannot microwave this recipe because microwaves cook cakes from the inside out and not from the outside in, like an oven. You would never get a soft centre like this. I do have a recipe for a lava mug cake though! It uses a neat trick to achieve the gooey centre.
Jo
Hi
Could you make this as a large cake ?
If so what size would you sat 7" tin ?
Thank you
Jo
Katrin Nürnberger
I don't think it's ideal to make this recipe as a large cake. You'd have to quadruple the recipe, meaning you'd use 8 eggs. That's just too much. I recommend that you take a look at my sugar free birthday cake. It's a delicious, moist chocolate cake and you can scale up and down the recipe to your requirements.
Andrea
During my first weeks on keto I was dying for any kind of a sweet cake. This recipe saved me, it is so good! Just like a regular lava cake (which btw, I have never made). I used 95% chocolate with 3tbsp of sweetener, and 10 min in my oven.
Jehrica
I’m excited to make this for my nephew! Thank you
GOD Bless!
Janice
I love all of your recipes that I have tried but I am confused as to the calories per serving.
When it says serves two people is the calorie count given 2 seruvings at x or is the amount for the whole recipe.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Janice, the calories and nutrition are always calculated per 1 serving.
Mia
Looks yummy! When you say super-fine almond flour, do you mean the defatted version?
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, I used defatted almond flour in the first version when I took this photo. But I have made it since with regular almond flour (ground almonds) and used a little more - I've put it in the notes.
Ann
I live in the states and tried this recipe. After 12 minutes it still was too runny. I don’t know if it’s an altitude difference as I live in high altitude. Do you have any suggestions?
Katrin Nürnberger
It's possibly that you'd have to increase the temperature when cooking at high altitude. It may also be that the ramekin you used may have an impact, if it's very thick and takes longer to heat up.
Karen
So good! Worked great with Swerve Powdered.
Carrie
This is just like a non keto molten lava cake!
Jules
Made these tonight and they were fantastic! Had to bake them longer though 13 minutes and they turned out perfect. Will be making them again!
Carmen
Delicious, I used allulose. They came out great at 9 min.
trish
Is it possible to make batter and pour into ramekin dishes then bake the next day.
Katrin Nürnberger
I think it's best to make this fresh. The butter and the chocolate will start setting when cooled.
Joyce Stoneman
I used 100% Bakers unsweetened cocoa and Stevia packets as l had no powered sweetener at the time. So good!
Dani Hart
Made this last night, it was quick and easy to make and they turned out perfectly. I used Montezuma 100% dark chocolate and 3.5 tbsp erithrytol. Honestly as good as any chocolate fondant cake that I’ve had in a restaurant. There is no way that you can tell this is low carb or that it is sugar free. Delicious! Thank you so much!
Christy Samarel
Hi, can I use regular form of monk fruit sweetener instead of the powdered form? Will it change the texture of the cake? Thanks, looking forward to trying this dessert. lava cake is my fav!
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Christy, I think you'll get a better/smoother texture using powdered. But the regular will still work okay.
Esther Brinkman
I always grind regular Swerve or monk fruit in a coffee grinder before using it. It is too gritty for me if I don't.
Claire
The texture was perfect but it was too bitter for me. I used 85% chocolate and erythritol as sugar. I will try again with more sugar next time. Thanks for the recipe!
Dawn Bridgewater
So so good. Thank you!
Katrin Nürnberger
Glad you enjoyed it!
Tina
All I see is Dutch processed cocoa powder. Is that the Dutch cocoa you're talking about? Also what brand to I use or what exactly do you use? I dont want to buy the wrong thing.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Tina, depending on which part of the world you're viewing this, Amazon may show you different things. Sorry about that! I used Montezuma's 100% unsweetened chocolate. But I also like and often use Lindt 90% chocolate. I've given amounts of sweetener needed for both. Minimum cocoa content I recommend is 85%. If you don't have these brands where you live, choose the best quality chocolate you can get.
Taryn
My biggest problem with keto baked goods is the gritty nature of the almond flour. This absolutely did not have that! This thing is DANGEROUS I tell you! I was hopeful that it would be good, but they're usually not, and it was amazing. I used Bake Believe stevia sweetened chocolate chips and I'll probably be making this everyday. Lol
Rhonda
Hi Katrin,
Thank you for the great recipe. I was craving a chocolate low-keto dessert and this recipe did not disappoint. However, like others i let mine cook 12 minutes and they were still a little to runny, but excellent tasting. My batter did not look as thick as the batter in the video. Are you sure it's only one tbls of almond flour and not two? The video looks more like 2 tbls. Just wondering what I may be doing wrong. Thanks again for the great tasting recipe!
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Rhonda, thanks for your comment. The 1 tbsp almond flour is correct, but I did use extra-fine almond flour in the recipe. I think that's where the issue was, that yours may have been a bit coarser and therefore the dough ended up runnier. I'll make it clearer in the recipe which flour to use.
Patrick K
Can the batter sit in the ramekins in the fridge all day or even overnight? I know it goes together quickly, but I would like to prep ahead....
Katrin Nürnberger
I think that should be no problem. Just make sure you bring the batter back to room temperature before you put it in the oven.
Kathy
The taste was good. But when I turned them out of the ramekin onto a plate, it just went everywhere.
I cooked them 9 minutes, and I was almost afraid they were over cooked, because the tops were set, but almost seemed too set and had a little jiggle, but didn't seem like a lot. So I was surprised that it just spread when I turned them onto the plate.
I thought maybe I was supposed to let them cool more, but in the tips it says they're best eaten right out of the oven. But again, it did taste good, mine was just all 'lava'
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Kathy, maybe they needed just another minute in the oven. Or maybe you can try greasing the ramekin really well next time so they release easier. But good to hear you like the taste!!
Juanita
The best keto lava cake ever
Tina
Hi Katrin,
Made the chocolate lava cake tonight for the first time. It was really good! I was very conservative on the sweetener (I used MonkFruit) because I was afraid it was going to be too sweet, so I used less than half the quantity recommended in the recipe). Next time I will add more. It was the first time I made a keto dessert but I'm sold. Will definitely continue ... (lol) Thanks, Katrin! The next one is the pumpkin brownie.
Katrin Nürnberger
Glad you liked it! And good for you that you used less sweetener. Too little is always better than too much! The pumpkin brownies have a lot of friends, so hope you'll like them, too!
Petra Jorgensen
Hello, a general question here: what is your opinion on using the new, up & coming, sweetener Allulose? How can I substitute Allulose for Erythritol? Thanx much.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Petra, you can substitute erythritol with allulose 1:1. Allulose creates soft, moist baked goods so it would work well in this recipe. I've only used it in caramel so far, which I'll post soon - it does not re-crystallise like erythritol can, so it's perfect for anything liquid. However, if you want to make anything with a crunch, like cookies, then erythritol would be better.
Daniela
Hi Katrin,
I want to make these for our anniversary dinner tomorrow, but wonder, what size exactly are your ramekins?
Do the cakes rise while baking?
I could either use Muffin molds or 15 oz ramekins and wonder if I have to double the recipe or the ramekins.
Thanks!
Daniela
Katrin Nürnberger
My ramekins measured 2 inch at the bottom and 3 at the top. They hold 6.5 oz water filled right to the top.
Caroline Nielson
Hi Katrin,
Thanks so much for this recipe! It was absolutely delicious and my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed
them. I decided to top them with some cream. Very yummy 🙂
Next time I'm going to try using orange oil so they can be my Terry's chocolate oranges 🙂
Loving all the deserts I've missed since starting Keto last August.
Hope you're staying well in the UK. I actually originate from Reading.
Caroline
Katrin Nürnberger
Orange chocolate = love it, too. We're holding up fine here, thanks 🙂 Wondering when it will be all over ???
Wantrice
I halved the recipe to avoid leftovers and it turned out perfectly. I made a little raspberry sauce to drizzled on top, and it was great!
Thank you for the recipe, it's definitely a keeper!
Katrin Nürnberger
Mmmmmh, I love the idea of drizzling this cake with a raspberry sauce. Great idea!