Eggless Molten Lava Cake

My 100th post - yay!!!!.. I wanted to share a sweet or desert for my 100th post and so happy to share this yummy and delicious molten lava cake. What is a lava cake – well it looks like a normal cake, but when cut, chocolate lava flows from inside.. yummy!!! Chocolaty!!! I have tried this once before but the lava inside was very little gooey but not overflowing. I searched a lot on the web for an eggless version of this recipe and my first one was not as as lava oozing.. When Gayathri accepted my suggestion for this month’s Eggless Baking Group challenge, I was so happy and excited. I got this recipe from Master chef 2 made a few changes and the results were awesome!!! The chocolate lava was so drool worthy and yummy!! I got 2 4” inch cakes and a small 2 inch cake out of this batter. I made in a spring form pan.

 

 

Couple of points to note are
1. Spring form pan will be very critical in this recipe as the top of the cake will little shaky in the center and to invert it to a plate could be a task.
2. The amount of chocolate that goes inside should be sufficient enough.
3. One more point to remember is that the chocolate that goes inside should be in the center only and not to the sides as the sides will not be strong when unmolded.  It should look like a normal cake, so the walls of the cake should be strong enough to hold the lava inside.
4. Grease and butter the pans well as the cake is little fragile and a well greased and floured pan plays a major role in it not breaking.

I remember some websites giving recipes that tell you to cook on a high temperature for 10 minutes or so and remove it, so the center is uncooked and that is a lava cake. I strongly feel - NO THAT IS NOT THE LAVA CAKE. That is just uncooked cake. A lava cake should be fully cooked like cake with just loads and loads of chocolate inside waiting to come out as a lava when cut..

 

Ingredients
All Purpose Flour – ½ cup + some for dusting
Butter – ¼ cup + some for greasing
Milk – ½ cup + 1 table spoon
Powdered Sugar – ¼ cup + 2 table spoons + some for decoration
Cocoa – 3 table spoons + some for decoration
Baking Powder – ½ tea spoon
Baking Soda – ½ tea spoon
Salt – A pinch
Oil – 2 table spoons
Cherry – 2 table spoons + some for decoration
Chocolate Chips – ½ cup
Curd – ¼ cup + 2 table spoons
Vanilla Extract– ½ tea spoon

 

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Grease and flour 2 4” spring form pan and set aside on a baking sheet
In a mixing bowl, sieve dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt) well
In another bowl, beat together powdered sugar, butter until creamy
Add oil, vanilla, curd and beat until smooth
Add little dry ingredients and little milk and gently fold (DO NOT OVER BEAT THEN THE CAKE WILL NOT RISE)
Fold gently until all combined
Pour the batter until 1/3 rd of the pan and drop in the mixture of cherries and chocolate chips and cover them with more batter such that the pan is about ¾ full.
Do the same with the remaining batter to the other pan and gently tap the pans and place it on the baking sheet into the preheat oven

Bake for around 16 – 18 minutes. Mine took 17 minutes.
Like the normal cakes, you cannot insert a toothpick to test doneness, as the center will have the gooey chocolate in it. Your cake will be ready when the edges start to leave the sides and about ½ inch of the outer radius becomes porous and looks done.
Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes

 

Meanwhile ready the serving platter by dusting the cocoa powder over it
Run a butter knife around the edges and slowly open the spring form pan and transfer the cake with the bottom of the pan to the serving platter
Dust it with powdered sugar and decorate with the cherries
Now the fun part, cut the cake and you will see the lava flowing from it!! Enjoy the visual and the delicious treat!!

Sending this to my own Guest Host event - Eggless Bakes and Treats, Surabhi's page, Bake Fest #13, Vardhini's page, Let's cook - Potluck, Healthy Baking, Indrani's page, Cakes and Cookies, Christmas Celebrations, Christmas annoucement, Cook like a Celebrity Chef, Know your Flour, Jagruti's page, Dolly Bakes, Laura Loves Cakes,  Christmas Food Fair, Innovative recipes, Siri’s Anniversary Event