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!
Mavis
Made this tonight for my husband for valentine's day. We just started back on keto and he recently mentioned he has missed lava cake. I thought this would be a great surprise. It was so easy to make and we thoroughly enjoyed.
Katrin Nürnberger
Wonderful! I'm so glad you all liked it. I wouldn't want to be responsible for a failed dessert at Valentine's!!! 😉
April Arizmendi
I made these tonight and they are AMAZING!
I will definitely be making these many more times!
Tammy
So easy and yummy. Cant wait to try more recipes from this site. Thank you for keeping it simple.
Katrin
So glad you liked the cake Tammy! Thanks for your comment 🙂
Bharat
I don't have dark chocolate bars but I have cocoa powder, coconut oil. Could you tell me how I can replace the dark chocolate?
Katrin
Hi Bharat, this is a similar issue to the same question you asked about the Keto brownies. I have made my own low carb chocolate with a ratio of 50g cacao butter and 3 tbsp cocoa powder plus sweetener. I assume the quantities with coconut oil would be similar, bearing in mind that coconut oil is softer and will never taste as smooth and lovely as cacao butter. I have never attempted to replace the chocolate and I do feel that a good quality chocolate is integral to the recipe. You'd have to experiment and I guess this recipe is better for a try than the brownie recipe because you'll be using less ingredients. I'd love to hear how you get on with it, so please let me know!
Brenda
I loved your recipe.i have a silicone cake pan thats dividd in 4sections.worked beautifully.i added. Chcolate stevia drops as well.and 8 chocolate chips..whipcream and a hnit of pecons.im calling this one my crack cake.lol..i lightly wiped my silicpne with olive oil.didnt hesitate to pop right out.oh..i also added a 1/8 tsp almond butter ontop before baking.these were fun..raised my blood sugar 25 pts.not really to bad.As long as i stay under 140 is game o.im Not diebetic.i just play with foods on keto to see what they will do and this ones on my list of keepers.ty
ROBIN C SMITH
I love this recipe! I make it often when I need a quick chocolate fix! However today I was needing a cherry cheesecake with a chocolate cake bottom fix! This hecame a chocolate cake bottom for my cheesecake in a jar. I used this recipe but halved it and added in the egg without beating it first .
I put the cheesecake batter right on top of the cake batter and cooked it in the instant pot for 12 minutes. Perfectly done!!
Thanks for your yummy recipes.
Katrin
That sounds AMAZING!!!
Carolyn
I'm making this dessert for a friend who is allergic to nuts, swill coconut flour work in place of almond flour? In the same quantity?
Thank you so much! Can't wait to try this!
Katrin
Hi Carolyn, try using half the amount of coconut flour in place of almond flour. Coconut flour is more absorbent than almond flour, that’s why you need less.
QueenJellyBean
I used brazil nuts, which I finely ground myself in a coffee bean grinder
Katrin Nürnberger
That sounds delicious! It’s always so interesting to hear how others adapt my recipes and make them their own, so thank you for your comment 🙂
Ms. B Haven
Excellent!!! Made tonight & was perfect. Under 3 net carbs?!?! Halleluj. Just need to make my own low carb ice cream for next time to knock it outta park. We were also able to enjoy with just one scoop of Hagen Daaz. The lava cakes we normally buy from Trader Joe's frozen section usually require 3+ scoops to balance out the chocolate. I'd prefer not feeling like death after dessert, which happens after those. Tonight I feel great & thrilled about uber low carb/sugar. Only change, I need to really go harder on buttering ramekins, as was recommended. Highly recommend this recipe. It's one I'll be making again and again and again.
Laura
Can you microwave this if so how long.....
Katrin
I don't think it would work in the microwave because it does not heat food the same way as an oven (=from the outside in). So you may get the same taste, but wouldn't be able to turn it out onto a plate. I do have a yum chocolate microwave cake though that you might want to try!
Alex
A couple notes about this recipe:
- How well is "beat your eggs well"? Needs more specificity.
- 175 Celsius/350 Fahrenheit fan forced or conventional?
- Always butter and cocoa ramekins for chocolate lava cakes.
- Adding vanilla and a pinch of salt will vastly improve any chocolate dish.
This recipe is lacking when it comes to instructions that are easily followed by beginners but still produces a pretty damn tasty lava cake without the sugary guilt.
Katrin
Hi Alex, first of all, I'm glad you like the recipe.
With "beaten well" I mean frothy and totally combined.
When I state oven temperatures, it's always for conventional ovens and never for fan. I've never had anyone else tell me this is unclear, but it's a good idea to add this in the future, so thanks for the tip.
What are butter and cocoa ramekins? I did not know there were differentiations...
You're right! Vanilla always works well in chocolate recipes. Personally, I'm not such a big fan of adding salt, but if it's just a tiny bit I can see how it enhances taste. I've just made some homemade chocolate and added orange zest, which was AMAZING. Espresso could also work in this recipe. Or a spoonful of brandy.
🙂
Alex
As in grease with butter and coat in cocoa. It releases the cakes better
Katrin
Oh, I like the idea of coating it in cocoa. I haven't come across that - makes total sense!!
Julie
These were amazing! I made them for my family, namely for my adult daughter's birthday and I was intimidated because I've never made them before but she had made them years ago non-keto and we all loved them. Since then, we've all been eating cleaner and as sugar free as possible. Needless to say, she loved these!! I was a little worried about the fact that I didn't have unsalted butter and I used 100% baking chocolate but I added more erythritol and some liquid stevia. Paired these with some fresh berries and oh so good!!
Katrin
How wonderful! I remember wondering whether I could pull it off - it's the kind of recipe people order in restaurants (at least that's what I used to do!)! I'm glad it all worked out fine and thanks for letting us know your recipe alterations. It's always really useful for other readers