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Have you been looking for a vegan lava cake recipe which is furthermore gluten-free, and surprisingly easy to make? Have a look at this delicious Molten Chocolate Lava Cake recipe, I am sure you will fall in love with it!
Vegan Lava Cake
Stop everything that you’re doing right now! First, we need to talk about this vegan chocolate lava cake. And then you gotta rush into your kitchen and start making this delicious vegan dessert. Once you are done, you can eat it (don’t tell anyone because you want to eat it all by yourself) and then you can continue doing what you have done before you found the recipe. Just kidding, haha, but you should really consider giving this lava cake recipe a try as soon as possible.
Molten Chocolate Lava Cake
So what exactly is a “Molten Chocolate Cake“? Well, it’s a popular flourless cake with a liquid chocolate center, aka heaven! Sounds good?! Absolutely! And tastes even better! The best part is, that this decadent Molten chocolate cake is vegan, which means it doesn’t contain eggs or dairy. Are you also excited? I know, I am! That’s why I made this lava cake recipe three times in one week (not kidding).
Ok, it was also part of the recipe testing process because you know I have to test my recipes a couple of times before I share them on my blog. Anyway, I could eat this luscious vegan chocolate cake with a lava center every single day and maybe I would also share it with my loved ones (not sure though).
Vegan Lava Cake Ingredients
The ingredients are oats, almonds, banana, a sweetener (you can use coconut sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, Xylitol, Erythritol….), plant-based milk, cocoa powder and that’s basically it. The other few ingredients are baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract. I bet you have all these ingredients at home already. And if not, you should be able to buy them in any supermarket.
How to make a vegan lava cake? It’s super simple to make this vegan chocolate cake! Watch the video below (beneath the recipe instructions) to find out how easy it is to make this lava cake recipe!
Gluten-free Recipe
At first, I made a version with a combination of rice flour and oats but after more testing, I preferred the version with oats only. I tested ground almonds and ground shredded unsweetened coconut but didn’t notice a big difference. For a nut-free version definitely, use the coconut. Ground sunflower seeds or hemp seeds would be other nut-free options.
You could experiment with buckwheat flour or sorghum flour (instead of ground oats). Both might work. Also, regular all-purpose flour (wheat flour) or spelt flour should work as well. Just make sure you add a little bit less milk at first since different flours absorb different amounts of liquid.
Liquid Chocolate Center
The liquid chocolate center is probably the best part, right. Why would someone call this vegan chocolate cake a lava cake when the center is not liquid? The problem is that not every brand of chocolate will result in a liquid center (don’t ask me how I know). These dairy-free chocolate chips worked for me but you might also have success with a different brand/different type of chocolate. I melted the chocolate chips with 1/2 tablespoon of coconut milk in a water bath, filled it into a silicone muffin mold and put it into the fridge until it was firm. Then I used it like regular chocolate.
This Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Is:
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Fudgy
- Decadent
- Luscious
- Very Chocolatey
- Great as dessert
- Healthier than most lava cakes
Should you recreate this fudgy vegan lava cake, please leave a comment below and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I would love to see your lava cake recreations. Also, if you love chocolate, definitely also check out my other chocolate recipes.
Vegan Lava Cake
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 100 g (1 slightly heaped cup) oats (ground into flour) gluten-free if needed (see recipe notes)
- 50 g (7 tbsp) finely ground almonds (see recipe notes)
- 70 g (5 1/2 tbsp) brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 20 g (3 tbsp) cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- Pinch of salt
Wet Ingredients:
- 160 ml (2/3 cup) plant-based milk
- 80 g (one small) banana (see recipe notes)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling:
- 40 g dairy-free chocolate of choice (see recipe notes)
Instructions
- Watch the video (scroll down a bit) to see all instruction steps.
- Preheat oven to 360°F (180°C) and grease one big ramekin (5 1/2 inches diameter) or 4 small ones (you can also use silicone muffin molds or aluminum muffin molds or mugs).
- Process all dry ingredients in a food processor or blender.
- Add the wet ingredients and mix again until combined.
- Pour the mixture into the ramekin and place the chocolate into the center.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. If you use small molds the baking time will be approximately 15 minutes.
- Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the mold. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Simply process oats in a blender or electric coffee/spice grinder until you have flour.
- You can use ground shredded unsweetened coconut (or ground coconut flakes) instead of ground almonds (almond flour).
- 1/3 cup applesauce might be a good substitute for the banana.
- It depends on the type of chocolate whether you will have a lava-like runny center or not. I have successfully used dairy-free chocolate chips. This is how: Melt 30 grams of dairy-free chocolate chips with 1/2 tbsp coconut milk in a water bath and pour the mixture into a silicone muffin mold. Put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until firm. Then use it like regular chocolate.
- Recipe serves 4. Nutrition facts are for one serving.
Nutrition
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Ela! My gosh this looks decadent, elegant and truly is easy! Brilliant recipe, I can’t wait to try it! Dee xx
Thanks so much, Dee! I hope you will like it. ???? Much love! ????
My niece is allergic to bananas. Do you have any substitutions for the banana?
Hi Joey! Yes, it’s actually mentioned in the recipe notes. Applesauce! 🙂
Totally missed the notes at the bottom. Thank you so much!
No worries! 🙂
Another delicious and beautiful looking Vegan recipe! Low ingredient recipes are so simple and clean and it’s all already in my pantry. Cannot wait to try it. And thank you for always including substitute suggestions and cooking tips in the notes. Your recipes are the best!
Thanks so much for your kind words! 🙂
I can’t wait to try this!! Question: Do you think it’s OK to use flour if GF isn’t necessary? I have all of the ingredients on hand except for the oats!
Yes, it should work. I actually mentioned it in the blog post. 🙂
Thank you! I will report back. 🙂
Thank you for a fantastic recipe!! My partner has a massive sweet tooth, but I can’t have any dairy or wheat, which occasionally makes parties and such a bit tricky, so this was absolutely perfect! Really enjoy and appreciate all your other recipes too, thank you so much!!
Wonderful! Would you mind leaving a rating for the recipe? Thank you very much. 🙂
Hi Ela, my mum is coeliac and very sensitive to oats regardless if they say gluten free of not. Can normal gluten free flour be used instead?
Sorry, just re-read comments and you have already answered it 🙂
Yes, please give it a try and report back. 🙂
Absolutely delicious ! I’ve loved and won’t hesitate to make it again !
So happy you loved the recipe, Enzo! 🙂
This recipe is so easy I love it !! I made it in cupcakes and they are fabulous! Thank you
That’s awesome! Thanks a lot for your feedback. 🙂
Can I use buckwheat flour instead of oats?
I never tried it but it should work! Let me know if you give it a try. 🙂
Hello! Would using any other plant milk besides coconut milk to melt the chocolate with work?
Also, do you by any chance know how long would the cooking time be in an air fryer?
Yes, absolutely! You can use any other plant-based milk. Unfortunately, I don’t know if the recipe works in an air fryer! 🙂
Thank you for replying 🙂
However, I made it tonight and don’t know what went wrong. It looks identical to yours from outside. But there’s literally no melting from the center 🙁
Still tasty tho!
Hi Maret! Which chocolate did you use? I will copy and paste what I wrote in the recipe notes:
“It depends on the type of chocolate whether you will have a lava-like runny center or not. I have successfully used dairy-free chocolate chips. This is how: Melt 30 grams of dairy-free chocolate chips with 1/2 tbsp coconut milk in a water bath and pour the mixture into a silicone muffin mold. Put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until firm. Then use it like regular chocolate.”
I used a good quality dark chocolate 72%. Really only thing I can think of that I accidentally put too much milk in there because everything else was 100% same as the recipe. I will give it another go tomorrow with different chocolate just to see if there is difference. I won’t give up, loved the taste!
Awesome! Enjoy. 🙂
Sorry for the spam haha!
Just had to give an update in case anyone ever would have similar issue- I used tiny bit of coconut oil when melting the chocolate and it turned out perfect! So exciting, this will be repeated MANY times from now!
Yay! So happy it turned out amazing with a little bit of coconut oil! Thanks for reporting back, Maret. That’s actually so helpful and no spam at all! 🙂
Are finely ground almonds actually almond flour? Because usually ground almonds aren’r really fine at all! So is it almond flour?:)
Yes! Almond flour consists of 100% finely ground almonds. 🙂
hi, I cant find vegan chocolate chips in my city. Can i make chocolate compound from scratch using cocoa, coconut oil and honey and add the 1/2 tbsp coconut milk as you mentioned.
please do let me know if this will work or please recommend another option.
Thanks a ton!
You don’t have to use chocolate chips, you can use any dairy-free chocolate of choice. But making your own chocolate will work too. 🙂
This looks amazing! What would make the cake come out more fudgy and gooey?
It’s actually pretty fudgy and gooey depending on which mold/pan you use and how long you cook it. A smaller/taller mold will definitely make it even more fudgy.