This rich vegan lava cake with a gooey molten chocolate center is made without egg, dairy, or oil, and is even gluten-free! It’s the perfect vegan quick treat for every chocolate lover!
Rich and gooey Vegan Chocolate Lava Cake
I am a “chocoholic” which means I adore everything made with chocolate (anyone else?). Therefore, you have probably noticed that I share a lot of chocolate recipes on my blog. One of my favorite chocolate cakes is this Chocolate Zucchini Cake and this Vegan Chocolate Pie. But I also love smaller chocolatey snacks like these Vegan Chocolate Muffins and these Flourless Chocolate Fudge Cookies.
Even though all these vegan chocolate desserts are super delicious, none of them have a runny chocolate center like this vegan molten lava cake! If you never tried such a treat, you are really missing out!
What is a Molten Chocolate Cake?
According to Wikipedia, “Molten chocolate cake is a popular dessert that combines the elements of a chocolate cake and a soufflé. Its name derives from the dessert’s liquid chocolate center, and it is also known as chocolate moelleux (from French for “soft”), chocolate lava cake, or simply lava cake.”
Traditional molten chocolate cakes contain butter, eggs, sugar, chocolate, and flour. My vegan lava cake recipe ditches the dairy, eggs, and regular flour and instead uses healthier plant-based ingredients like oats, almonds, banana, etc.
The Ingredients
This vegan chocolate lava cake requires just simple pantry ingredients and uses banana in place of butter/oil for a lighter treat.
The Dry Ingredients:
- Ground oats: You can use store-bought oat flour (regular or gluten-free) or make your own, by blending rolled oats into flour. If you aren’t gluten-free, you can also use whole wheat flour.
- Ground almonds: Use store-bought almond flour (100% ground almonds) or make your own by blending blanched almonds into flour. Any ground nuts or seeds (e.g. sunflower seeds) should work, though.
- Sugar: I used unrefined coconut sugar. However, use the sugar of your choice. A sugar-free option like granulated Erythritol may also work.
- Cocoa powder: Use unsweetened cacao or cocoa powder.
- Baking powder + soda: Baking powder and baking soda will provide the lift and texture for this gluten-free vegan lava cake.
- Salt: Just a pinch to enhance the cocoa flavor.
The Wet Ingredients:
- Plant-based milk: Any dairy-free milk should work (almond milk, soy, coconut, cashew, etc.). For a more decadent dairy-free chocolate cake, use full-fat coconut milk.
- Banana: Use a small ripe banana. Unsweetened applesauce may work as a substitute.
- Apple cider vinegar: You can use lemon juice instead.
- Vanilla extract: Use natural, pure vanilla for the best (non-artificial) flavor.
Chocolate Filling:
- Dairy-free chocolate: It depends on the type of chocolate whether you will have a lava-like runny center or not. I did melt 30 grams of dairy-free chocolate chips with 1/2 tbsp coconut milk in a double boiler and poured the mixture into a silicone muffin mold. Transfer it to the fridge for about 30 minutes, or until firm. Then use it like regular chocolate.
How to make vegan Chocolate Lava Cake?
- Preheat the oven to 360 °F (180 °C) and grease one big ramekin (5 1/2 inches diameter) or 4 small ones with oil.
-
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 20-22 minutes. If you use small molds, the baking time will be approximately 15-18 minutes.
-
Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the mold. Dust with cocoa powder and enjoy!
How to serve?
This vegan lava cake tastes incredibly delicious even without toppings. Nevertheless, it can be made even more decadent. Here are some serving options:
- A scoop of ice cream (vanilla, peanut butter, chocolate, coffee, etc.)
- Add a dollop of whipped coconut cream and some berry compote.
- Drizzle some nut butter over the top
- Drizzle caramel sauce over it
- A dusting of cocoa powder
FAQs and Recipe Tips
Mini lava cakes: If you have a muffin tin, you could also make mini chocolate cakes or muffins with a lava center. Simply fill the dough into the muffin pan (grease it beforehand) and then put a few pieces of chocolate into each muffin.
Optional add-ins: Add 1/4 tsp of instant coffee powder to the batter for a stronger chocolate flavor.
Flavorings: Boost the flavor of the chocolate lava cake with natural food flavorings/oils like orange, almond, peppermint, etc.
How to store: This vegan lava cake is best enjoyed immediately, as long as the chocolate center is still runny.
More Vegan Chocolate Recipes
- Healthy Vegan Brownies
- Vegan Zucchini Brownies
- Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
- Chocolate Keto Chia Pudding
- Healthy No-Bake Brownies
- Vegan Chocolate Pudding
- Chocolate Stuffed Pancakes
- Chocolate Stuffed Cookies
Should you give this fudgy vegan gluten-free lava cake recipe a try, please leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan #elavegan because I would love to see it.
Vegan Lava Cake
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 slightly heaped cup (100 g) oat flour gluten-free if needed (see notes)
- 1/2 scant cup (50 g) almond flour (see notes)
- 5 1/2 tbsp (70 g) coconut sugar or sugar of choice
- 3 1/2 tbsp (20 g) cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 Pinch of salt
Wet Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) plant-based milk
- 1 small (80 g) banana (see notes)
- 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling:
- 1.5 oz (40 g) dairy-free chocolate of choice (see notes)
Instructions
- I recommend using the metric measurements (grams) for exact results. You can also watch the video in the post for visual instructions.
- Preheat the oven to 360 °F (180 °C) and grease/oil 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 blend again until combined.
- Pour the mixture into the ramekin and place the chocolate into the center.
- Bake in the oven for about 20-22 minutes. If you use small molds, the baking time will be approximately 15-18 minutes.
- Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the mold. Dust with cocoa powder and enjoy!
Notes
- Oats: Use oat flour or process oats (regular or gluten-free) in a blender or electric coffee/spice grinder until you have flour.
- Flour substitute: One reader reported that whole wheat flour works great instead of oat flour.
- Almonds: You can use ground shredded unsweetened coconut (or ground coconut flakes) instead of ground almonds (almond flour).
- Banana: 1/3 cup applesauce might be a good substitute for the banana.
- Chocolate: It depends on the type of chocolate whether you will have a lava-like runny center or not. I did melt 30 grams of dairy-free chocolate chips with 1/2 tbsp coconut milk in a double boiler and poured the mixture into a silicone muffin mold. Transfer it to the fridge for about 30 minutes, or until firm. Then use it like regular chocolate.
- The recipe serves 4. Nutrition facts are for one serving.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Simple and Delicious Vegan Cookbook by ElaVeganCLICK HERE to order!IF YOU ARE USING PINTEREST, FEEL FREE TO PIN THE FOLLOWING PHOTO:
Hello,
First off , I want to say how I love your recipes.
I would love to make this but I don’t own a microwave for health reasons- could this recipe be done in the oven? If so, how many minutes at what temperature?
Thank you 😊
Hi Tina, this cake is actually being made in the oven. All instructions are on the recipe card. 🙂
They were good. Not the best I’ve ever eaten but considering the fact that they’re vegan, wheat-free, can be easily made glutenfree and are rather healthy, I definitely recommend this recipe! They were sliiiightly dry, really only a little bit, but that might have been because I used only 60g apple sauce instead of 80g banana…. The sweetness was perfect and they didn’t fall apart, which often happens when making lava cakes.
So if you want a healthier/gluten-free lava cake, I do recommend this recipe! Just don’t expect them to taste EXACTLY like one you’d get in a restaurant. Oat flour simply has a slightly different texture than wheat flour.
I made them in a muffin tray and I got about 7 “muffin lava cakes” out of the recipe. I baked them for 13-15 minutes.
Thanks for your feedback, Marie.
Oh heavens yum!! Make this now! So good!
Hehe, I also made it today (again) as I love it. 🙂
Hi Elaine. Rita here. I want to try your recipe of Gooey Chocolate Lava cake made in a loaf pan. Am not able to find the recipe . Can you email it to me
Rita, it’s the same recipe, just baked in a mini loaf pan.
Ela
Thank You Ela. Fir the tip of baking in a loaf pan. Shall be making this cake in a day or two
You are welcome. I prefer a round bowl though, as shown in the recipe, as the cake cooks faster. 🙂
I can’t find the video
Tammy, it’s in the post. It loads once you start scrolling down as a small pop-up but also appears in a larger size on top of the post. You will only see it if you don’t use an ad blocker though.
I made this with whole-wheat flour and I really liked the texture, but I could really taste banana and it put me off a little- did anyone else find this?
Next time might try the applesauce instead. It was SO gooey and amazing though! Thanks!
Sure, you can use applesauce next time. I didn’t taste the banana but it wouldn’t bother me if I did, since I love bananas. 🙂
Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Hi Ela, it’s me again. ????
Would it work if I remove the almond flour and add more oat flour then add nut butter for the fat source?
By the way I tried the recipe using desiccated coconut and it was delicious. The coconut flavor was dominant though so I was thinking if I could just remove it completely and use nut butter for fat source.
Yes, that should work, however, I never tried it. 🙂
I’ve tried a vegan donut recipe before and it is kind of similar to your recipe. I got the idea of replacing the fat source from that recipe. ????
THIS is such a great recipe, I’ve made it so many times now and love it every time. Mostly I replace the oats flour with whole wheat flour and it turns out great still. Thank you so much for this!
Yay, that’s awesome! And I am glad it works fine with whole wheat flour. Thanks for your feedback! 🙂
Hi Ela!
Can I skip the ground almond/shredded coconut and just purely use oat flour?
Hi! No, I wouldn’t recommend it. You need some fat in the recipe and that comes from the nuts. 🙂
Thanks Ela! Is ground shredded coconut the same as desiccated coconut?
Yes, that’s typically the same. 🙂
Thank you ????
Hi Ela
As per my daughter’s request I made chocolate lava cake:) it came out great except my center was not runny as we used pieces of chocolate from big dairy free bar,
Some how I did not think of melting them in coconut milk!!!
Do I have to melt them in milk anyway?
But overall ‘it was great ????????
Thanks ????
Hey Roopa, I used dairy-free chocolate chips and melted them in coconut milk which worked fine. 🙂
For the oat flour, I have some pre-ground. About how much in cups would that be? This looks amazing, can’t wait to make!
Hi Rebecca, it will be one cup of oat flour. 🙂
I had a question? What’s the best way to store these cakes? Fridge? For how long? Can you freeze them? How long? How do you defrost? Not that these would last very long when I make them! They look amazing! Love the recipe <3 Thank youuu
Hi Camille, it’s mentioned in the recipe instructions: “Store covered in the fridge for up to 5 days.” But I always eat it right away haha. I assume freezing for up to 2 months is fine too. 🙂
Hi ????. I have all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips. What I have is a huge bar of dark chocolate. Can I use that ?
Hi Chana, yes, that should be fine. 🙂
Thanks ???? should I melted with the coconut milk as the original recipe or just put the Piece of chocolate bar in the middle ? In case that I have to melted should I add any sugar to the chocolate ? Sorry … so may questions ????
Hi Chana, no worries. You don’t need to melt it if the chocolate is sweetened. If it’s not, then I would melt it with the coconut milk and add a little powdered sugar or maple syrup. 🙂
Hi,
I have 2 Qs before baking this yummy receipe..I only have baking soda, can I substitute it for the baking powder? I am not vegan so if I don’t have plant based milk can I use regular milk?
Hi, use 1/2 tsp baking soda in total and add a little lemon juice to activate it. Yes, you can use regular milk.
Hi! Can i use water to replace plant based milk? Thank youu.
If you use water, I would suggest adding 1 tablespoon of oil. 🙂
Also do I need to change the cocoa powder measurement if I use cacao powder?
Hey, I would use a little less if you are using cacao powder. 🙂
Can I split this recipe and instead of making one giant chocolate lava cake make 4 little ones in ramekins?
Omg I just saw the instructions says we can do that lol!
Hey Tanaya, I totally missed your first comment! And yes, it’s totally fine. 🙂
Love it! Thank you for the recipe!
I am so glad you loved the cake, Viktoria! 🙂
I made this recipe with whole wheat flour instead of oat flour and water instead of milk. Absolutely gorgeous! I’ll make it again. Thanks for the recipe!!!
That’s amazing! I am so glad it turned out delicious. 🙂
Thanks for your feedback.
Hi! Are you able to tell me the diameter of the pan you used? I am excited to try it!
Hello! The bowl I used is 5.8 inches (ca. 15 cm) in diameter. 🙂