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.
Jump to:
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. Erythritol blends, Bocha Sweet or allulose all work. Stevia drops would work in this recipe too.
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
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.
Serving Suggestion
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 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.
More Chocolate Keto Dessert Recipes
- Chocolate Fat Bomb Recipe (Keto)30 Minutes
- Sugar Free Chocolate Mousse40 Minutes
- Keto Chocolate Cake40 Minutes
- Sugar Free Chocolate Birthday Cake1 Hours
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Recipe
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.
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!
Glenys
Love this chocolate mug recipe! So easy and delicious.
Nancy Porter
can i use coconut flour instead of almond flour in the lava cake recipe?
Katrin Nürnberger
I have not tried this yet, but in theory it should work. Try 1 - 1.5 teaspoons of coconut flour.
Joyce K
This was my first time ever making a lava cake. My honey requested it for his birthday. These came out AMAZING! I baked them for exactly 9 minutes and almost thought to leave them in an extra minute but so glad I didn't. They came out of the ramekins easily and the center was like a pudding texture. SOOOOO DEE-LISH !!! It was so rich I could only eat half of one. The next day I lightly reheated my leftovers in the micro for a few seconds and the middle was more like a fudge filling and still awesome! I am so glad I tried these.This will be my go-to recipe for lava cakes now.
Katrin Nürnberger
So happy you enjoyed the recipe, Joyce!
Happymom
This was my first time to try to make a Chocolate Lava Cake. I have been craving for one but I wanted a low-carb version and found your recipe. I used what I already have in our pantry: I added 30% more to the sweetener since I'm using 100% chocolate. And baked them for 9 minutes. The middle top part of the cake stuck to the ramekin but they ended up still in nice shape and wondefully tasting. Your recipe is defintely a keeper. Thank you for sharing this.
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 keto lava mug cake though! It uses a neat trick to achieve the gooey centre.
The baker
So goood