Coconut Oil Chocolate Lava Cakes for 2
Dairy free coconut oil chocolate molten lava cakes for 2 – crispy outside, oooey gooey melted inside. This will definitely curb your chocolate craving. Made with coconut oil instead butter. And ready in less than 30 minutes!
This is the perfect Valentine’s Dessert that I must insist that you make for you and your sweetie!
These chocolate lava cakes (some call them melting cakes, some call them molten lava cakes) are packed with chocolate flavor, and have a gooey and delicious surprise once you cut inside.
I started working on this recipe last Valentine’s Day. Shawn and I had a 2 month old baby, and a night in sounded much easier and cozier than a fancy night out. (Or more likely, I couldn’t fathom doing my hair and makeup and fitting into my date night clothes. Ha!)
I made us a fancy dinner in, and wanted to follow it up with a sweet dessert. I was really craving molten lava cakes, since that is the dessert I normally order when we went on out on Valentine’s Day. I looked to a bunch of recipes online for lava cakes, and sort of combined all the best parts of them to be what would work for us. I wanted it to be a scaled down recipe just for 2 (I didn’t want a ton of sweets around the house that I would snack on), and it had to be dairy free since Josh had issues with dairy.
I tweaked and mashed together a few different versions, and the resulting lava cakes were just about perfect! The recipe was so good, and so EASY I found myself making these about once a week after Josh would go to bed. Nothing like a melty chocolate dessert to reward myself of getting the newborn to bed!
The biggest difference with these chocolate lava cakes is that I use coconut oil instead of butter. Not only does that make these dairy free, but it also adds a subtle sweetness that compliments the chocolate perfectly! It doesn’t add any coconut flavor, so don’t worry about that if you don’t like coconut. I actually like these better than ones made with butter.
I like serving mine with my coconut whipped cream (also dairy free!), and fresh berries.
Dairy Free Coconut Oil Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup dairy free semi sweet chocolate chips, I like Trader Joe's or Kirkland brand!
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon flour
- coconut whipped cream and berries for topping, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees with the oven rack in the middle. Rub two 6-oz glass Pyrex baking cups (linked to the ones I use in Notes) with coconut oil. Set aside.
- In a small glass mixing bowl, combine the chocolate chips and coconut oil. Microwave for 1 minute, and let stand.
- While the chocolate chips and coconut oil are standing, in a small mixing bowl add the egg, egg yolk, sugar and salt. Beat with a fork until combined.
- Stir to combine the melted coconut oil and chocolate chips.
- While stirring the egg mixture, slowly pour in the melted chocolate mixture. Stir until combined.
- Add the flour. Stir to combine.
- Divide the mixture between the 2 cups, and put on a baking sheet. Bake for 13-14 minutes, until the cakes have puffed up and the outsides are set.
- Take out of the oven, and let the cakes sit in the cup for no longer than a minute (otherwise they'll keep baking). Transfer the cakes to a plate. Serve right away while still warm with coconut whipped cream and berries.
Notes
-You can make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate it in the pyrex cups! Just remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before baking to bring to room temperature, then bake as usual.
More Dairy Free Desserts:
19 Comments on “Coconut Oil Chocolate Lava Cakes for 2”
I’ve used your recipe probably 15 times over the past couple of years and it always leaves guests impressed. The first time I was going to make it, my guest was lactose intolerant hence I was glad to find your recipe. I bought a huge jar of coconut oil thinking I’d use it regularly. So happens that I’ve used up almost the entire jar but only for making chocolate lave cake! :) Thanks so very much for making my dinners special!
Hi! Can I sub avocado oil for the coconut oil? Thanks
I’ve never tried this, but I think that work just fine! Same amount needed for avocado oil.
Let me know how it turns out!
This was SO easy and SO good! I made them in 4 silicone heart shaped muffin molds – and they were the perfect bite sized dessert for 4 of us!
Awww thank you! I am so glad you liked this recipe! And the heart molds sound so cute!
This recipe looks great, and I’m hoping to make it for my almost 10-year-old’s birthday next week, but I can’t find non dairy chocolate chips where I’m at. (We’re traveling, and I can’t find all of my normal products at the local grocery store.) Could I use a dark chocolate bar chopped up instead? If so, any idea how much by weight I should use? Thanks so much!
You could definitely use chopped dark chocolate! I would think it would be about a 5-ounce bar of chocolate. You can chop it up and still measure the 1/3 cup after the chocolate is chopped!
Can these be made without eggs? I’m vegan
Sadly I don’t think so. The egg is what gives them lift. But! There may be vegan lava cake recipes elsewhere on the internet!
I made these for my daughter’s birthday last night ( tripled the recipe since needed 6) and they came out fantastic. She was so pleased because she loves lava cakes and recently needed to be dairy free.
This makes me so happy! Happy Birthday to your daughter! So glad she loved the lava cakes!
Turned out perfect!
So glad to hear that Kristen!
These were delicious! My teenage daughter made them without my help and they turned out perfect. Will definitely serve these to guests!
I am so glad you liked my lava cakes Bonnie! Even better that your daughter made them and they turned out perfect!
Delicious recipe that is so quick and easy to make!
I am so happy you liked my lava cake Emma! I am so glad to hear it was easy to make and tasted delicious!
If you switched the sugar for monk fruit sweetner would these work for Keto? We are planning Valentine’s Day desserts and one of my daughters requested lava cakes :)
I haven’t recipe tested the lava cakes to make them Keto, but my guess would be it should work just fine Dianne! That is so sweet that you celebrate Valentine’s Day as a family. I sure hope it is a special day for all of you.