Lava Cake

Ingredients

• 1 Egg
• 25 g Flour
• 25 g Butter
• 75 g Chocolate

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C. The lava cake depends entirely on a molten centre, which means you're not cooking for a set doneness — you're cooking for a specific structural moment where the perimeter is just firm enough to hold a liquid core. Start this now so the oven reaches temperature while you work.

Melt the butter and chocolate together over a low heat or in short microwave bursts, stirring until completely smooth. Don't overheat; chocolate scorches quickly and tastes bitter. Once combined, let it cool for a minute — this prevents the egg from scrambling when you fold it in. Whisk the egg thoroughly in a separate bowl, then fold it into the chocolate mixture along with the flour in two additions. The batter should be smooth and thick, without lumps of flour.

Butter a small ramekin or mould (roughly 150–200 ml capacity) generously — the butter-cake needs to release cleanly. Pour the batter in until three-quarters full. At 200°C, the cake will bake for 6–7 minutes; watch for the moment the edges appear set and slightly risen whilst the centre still wobbles visibly when you gently shake the ramekin. The top should look barely dry, and if you insert a skewer at the edge it should come out clean — but the centre must jiggle. This is the technical crux of egg-cookery and baking: the surrounding proteins and starches have set, trapping moisture in the middle. Remove it the moment this happens. Overbaking by even thirty seconds transforms the molten centre into a dense fudge cake, which isn't wrong but defeats the point.

Run a thin knife around the edge and invert onto a warm plate. The cake should slide out cleanly; if it sticks, give it another ten seconds in the oven. Serve immediately. The residual heat from the cake will warm the plate and keep the centre flowing. Vanilla ice cream melts into the warm chocolate and sharpens its flavour through contrast — this is standard practice, not optional. Fresh berries add acidity that cuts the richness. Don't let it sit: the cake firms as it cools, and you've lost the defining texture.