Easy Vegan Chocolate Lava Cake

Chocolate lava cakes are a classic decadent dessert for Valentine’s Day! If you or your valentine are vegan or otherwise dairy-free, you don’t have to miss out on this chocolaty treat. This recipe looks fancy but uses basic ingredients that you likely have on hand already and is quick to prepare – perfect considering Valentine’s Day falls smack in the middle of the week this year. My official taste testers (husband & son) were a bit skeptical at the thought of a chocolate vegan cake but the cakes were quickly devoured and deemed delicious! 😉 I sincerely believe that if you didn’t know ahead of time, you wouldn’t be able to tell that they’re egg and dairy free.

This recipe will fill four tall ramekins.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened Silk almond milk)
• 1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (I highly prefer Equal Exchange – they’re better than the dairy varieties!)
• 4 tablespoons non-dairy milk
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance, plus one tablespoon for each ramekin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Add a tablespoon of Earth Balance to each ramekin, place the ramekins in a baking dish, and put them in the oven for a few minutes until the Earth Balance has melted. Remove from oven and set aside. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Pour in the cup of almond milk and combine thoroughly to form the cake batter. Set aside. In a microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips, four tablespoons of almond milk, and two tablespoons of Earth Balance. Microwave in 30 second increments until the ingredients are melted. Whisk together thoroughly – this is the chocolate lava filling. Using an oven mitt and taking care not to burn yourself, carefully spoon the batter into the ramekins until they’re about three quarters full. Add about two tablespoons of the chocolate lava filling into the middle of the batter. Place the ramekins back into the baking dish, and bake for 20 minutes. Garnish with powdered sugar or cocoa powder.

Thanks to Vivian from RickAndViv for pointing out a mistake in my recipe – it has since been corrected!