Swim in a warm pool of oozing chocolate with this decadent lava cake

After unsuccessfully searching for the perfect lava cake in Karachi, I decided not to give up and try making it myself

While doing my undergrad in Lahore – one of Pakistan’s most beautiful cities which is rich in cultural heritage and offers the best food you can find in the country – I remember getting into a rickshaw at night and taking a bumpy 30-minute drive to the famous Coffee Tea and Company (CTC) for their distinguished rich, moist and chocolatey lava cake with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

We always ended up ordering order two or three and would share it amongst the eight or nine of us. Although each person would only manage to get just six bites between the girly chatter and giggles, that lava cake was the bomb.

It kept bringing us back to it almost every two weeks and they would always get it right. I had a friend who once had such a bad craving for it that she started crying because it was too late at night to go to CTC on a rickshaw.

After moving back to Karachi after school, I tried lava cakes at three different places, but none of them were close to the one CTC served. They were either very floury or not quite moist. There also could never get the taste of the chocolate right; they tasted more sweet rather than chocolatey. After unsuccessfully searching for the perfect lava cake in Karachi and now in the Bay Area, I decided not to give up and try to make it myself using a recipe from a magazine I came across and tweaking it to my own liking.

The key to getting a perfect lava cake is to use high quality baking chocolate and to grease your ramekins or custard cups well. Also, you can add a little piece of white chocolate in the middle of the ramekin before baking to achieve a white swirl in the middle of your lava stream.

Ingredients: (Serves eight ramekins or four custard cups)

Ramekins – 8 (6 oz – or 4 standard custard cups)

Semisweet chocolate - 8 ounces (chopped coarsely - I used Ghirardelli)

Unsalted butter - 8 tbsp

Eggs -5 large (Use 4 and use only the yolk of the fifth one)

Granulated sugar - ½ cup

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Salt - ¼ tsp

Flour - 2 tbsp

Icing sugar- for dusting

Method:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat your oven to 400F or 200C. Grease the inside of each ramekin generously with butter and then dust with flour or cocoa powder and set aside.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over slightly simmering water until smooth (stir only occasionally). Once it is smooth, set it aside.

3. In a separate bowl, using a whisk or stand mixer, whisk together the eggs, yolk, granulated sugar, vanilla and salt. You will need to whisk on medium to high speed for five minutes till the mixture lightens in colour and becomes smooth and thick.

4. Pour the egg mixture over the chocolate mixture or vice versa, and add the flour. Using a spatula, fold all of the ingredients together until they are mixed well. Pour the batter into the ramekins so they are almost full.

5. Stick the ramekin into the oven (placed on a rimmed baking sheet/tray) for about 13 minutes or until the cake has risen to about half an inch above the rim. You will have to adjust the time according to your oven, so keep checking after every 12 minutes.

6. If the top has a thin crust and the cake jiggles in the centre, they are done.

7. Run a thin knife round the edges of the ramekin to loosen the cake and then invert each cake onto a plate and let it sit until the cake releases itself. This might take up to a minute or two.

8. Do not shake it to release. You can dust the cakes with icing sugar and add strawberries or raspberries on top with a scoop of your favourite ice cream on the side.

Photo: Zainab Khan

Photo: Zainab Khan

I hope you enjoy baking and eating this delicious chocolate lava cake! Do not forget to share this recipe with your loved ones – they will love you for it.

This post originally appeared here.