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Instant Pot lava cake is rich, gooey, and done in 30 minutes! Perfect quick fix for when those chocolate cravings hit.
Featured with this recipe
- Ingredients for Instant Pot Lava Cake
- Steps to Make Instant Pot Lava Cake
- Toppings for Instant Pot Lava Cake
- Getting The Right Consistency
- Recipe Tips
- Variations and Additions to this Instant Pot Lava Cake
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Storing Instant Pot Lava Cake
- More Decadent Chocolate Desserts
- How to Make Instant Pot Lava Cake
- Instant Pot Lava Cake Recipe
Instant Pot lava cake comes together in just a few minutes and is made with simple ingredients. This is the best dessert to whip up when it’s late, you’re wandering around the house craving something sweet and a handful of chocolate chips from the pantry just isn’t going to cut it. It just as easily can be a centerpiece dessert after a special Valentine’s Day dinner. Super versatile, gooey, and full of chocolate flavor, this is one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes!
This Instant Pot Lava Cake just happens to be one of our favorite things to bake right in the Instant Pot. No need to heat your ovens for this treat. It’s the perfect dessert for Valentine’s Day or any other special occasion!
Ingredients for Instant Pot Lava Cake
Instant Pot lava cake ingredients are very simple. Chances are, you probably have everything you need in your pantry right now!
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips – I like to use semi-sweet but you could add dark chocolate, milk chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, or a combination of both.
- Unsalted butter – For the perfect consistency, you will melt the butter with your chocolate chips. This gives it a ribbon-looking effect!
- Sugar – Regular, granulated sugar for the recipe. You can dust some powdered sugar or a dusting of cocoa powder on top if you like.
- Eggs – Use both the egg yolks and the whites for this recipe.
- Flour – This is the base of the cake. There is not much flour but it does go a long way. All-purpose flour gives it depth and thickness.
- Vanilla – Use good quality vanilla extract for the best flavor.
Steps to Make Instant Pot Lava Cake
Inside an Instant Pot lava cake is an overflowing amount of chocolate that is going to be running through the cake. It is the perfect combination and gives depth and flavor to this cake. Learn the steps to making this dessert!
- Microwave – Place chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, remove from microwave, and stir. Place back in the microwave for another 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
- Whisk – In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, flour, and vanilla together until smooth.
- Combine – Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and stir well to combine.
- Prepare and assemble – Spray four 6 to 7-ounce ramekins with cooking spray. Fill each ramekin 2/3 of the way full with batter. Put a steam rack in the bottom of the Instant Pot and add 1 cup of water. Place ramekins on the steam rack, placing 3 of the ramekins directly on the rack and one over the top and in the center of the 3 ramekins.
- Instant Pot – Place lid on Instant Pot and place tab to “sealing”. Manually set the time to 8 minutes on “high” pressure. Quickly release the pressure and carefully remove ramekins from the Instant Pot.
- Serving – Serve with ice cream and add mint leaves and raspberries for garnish.
Toppings for Instant Pot Lava Cake
Once you have your instant pot lava cakes, you can top it any way you like! Use all your favorite toppings and enjoy so many different ways to make this decadent dessert. The options are endless!
- Sauces – Spoon caramel sauce over the top or an extra chocolate ganache drizzled over the instant pot lava cake.
- Powder – Dust with cocoa powder or confectioners’ sugar to give a light sweetness.
- Berries – Top with fresh berries and a dollop of whipped cream. This is always my favorite!
- Ice cream – Add a big scoop of vanilla ice cream to the hot cake. It will melt nicely into the cake.
Getting The Right Consistency
Do you like your chocolate lava cake with more melted chocolate lava flow like chocolate cake batter or do you like your cake gooey, but a little more intact? The center “lava” consistency depends on the amount of time it is cooked. In the picture above, I cooked the lava cake in the Instant Pot for 8 minutes. In the picture below I did 9 minutes with a 1-minute slow-release.
Recipe Tips
Follow these helpful tips when making this chocolate dessert in the Instant Pot for the best results!
- Instant Pot tip – Dessert in the Instant Pot or a pressure cooker can be tricky. Trust me, this recipe came about after three failed attempts to pressure cook. With Instant Pot desserts you need to be fairly exact with your cooking times. You also need to consider that cooking times will be different at different elevations.
- Liquid – When cooking dessert or anything in the Instant Pot, you need to make sure you have enough liquid. To make this easier, I like to place the steam rack in the instant pot first. Then, I like to add a couple of cups of water to the bottom. Lastly, I place the dessert containers on the steam rack. This places the 6-ounce ramekins out of the water and makes them easier to remove from the Instant Pot when they are finished.
- Stacking – Since this molten lava cake recipe makes 4 dessert cups, you will have to place 3 cups on the bottom and one cup over the top. Don’t worry, they will all still cook perfectly, even if they are stacked!
- Elevation – I cooked these instant pot lava cakes for 8 minutes and did a quick release. I live at a fairly low altitude so this time was perfect for me. If you are at a higher elevation, you may want to add a minute to the cooking time or allow it to slow-release for a minute or two. Just don’t let it slow release for too long or it will overcook and you won’t get that liquid chocolate center.
Variations and Additions to this Instant Pot Lava Cake
This Instant Pot lava cake is perfect in every way! There are times that there needs to be variations and additions to a recipe and these are great to choose from. You can’t go wrong with these changes for this instant pot lava cake recipe!
- Chocolate – For this recipe, I like to use dark chocolate because I think it makes it extra rich. You are adding sugar to the batter so it will still be plenty sweet. If you simply won’t use dark chocolate or if you don’t have it, you can also use semi-sweet.
- Toppings – If you aren’t a fan of having fruit with chocolate, instead of adding raspberries, you can drizzle a little salted caramel or whipped cream on the top.
- Espresso powder – We don’t drink coffee, but a little espresso powder in this recipe enhances the chocolate flavor and tastes absolutely delicious.
- Peanut butter – If you’re a peanut butter fan, melt some in the microwave and drizzle on top of the chocolate lava cake.
- Glueten-free – This recipe uses VERY little flour. Only a quarter cup! That is great news for those who want to make a gluten-free version. Just swap out the flour for your favorite GF flour and you are good to go! If you have good GF flour, you won’t even be able to tell the difference because the flour amount is so small. Namaste flour from Costco works great or if you have a homemade flour blend that you like, that will work great too!
“Super easy and quick to make. Rich but just the right amount with some berries! Kids loved! Thanks for the terrific recipe.”
-Julie
Frequently Asked Questions
A chocolate lava cake is a cake that has a center filled with a chocolate ganache addition. This will help the chocolate melt away from the chocolate cake. It looks like lava is flowing from the cake.
The cake is formed, shaped, and baked with a center that is filled with ganache. Once the cake is broken into by a fork or spoon, the ganache will flow out of the cake similar to a lava flow. It is pretty and decadent. Usually served at fancy restaurants or special occasions in our home.
No, instant pot lava cake is served warm. You will want to remove it from the instant pot as quickly as possible and enjoy it right away. That way the lava of the chocolate cake will still be melted and flow through the cake.
They both have the same appearance and look they also have a few differences that help them stand out. A chocolate lava cake has a runny center whereas a chocolate souffle has a puffed-up middle in the cake.
For this instant pot lava cake recipe, we used chocolate chips and melted them down for a type of chocolate ganache for the filling made in the lava cake.
Storing Instant Pot Lava Cake
Once you have baked this instant pot lava cake it will be hard to save any for leftovers! It is rich and flavorful when baked. Release the cake from the ramekin and carefully place it in an airtight container. Store the instant pot lava cake in the fridge for two to three days. When ready to enjoy, reheat in the microwave or oven until it is warmed through. Enjoy!
Read Next: 27 BEST Instant Pot Recipes
More Decadent Chocolate Desserts
If chocolate is your love language, welcome to our blog! We are huge chocolate fans here too. Try one or all of these sinfully sweet and rich chocolate treats next time the craving hits.
How to Make Instant Pot Lava Cake
Instant Pot Lava Cake
Video
Equipment
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
- Whisk
- Mixing Bowls
- Measuring Cups
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, remove from microwave, and stir.
- Place back in the microwave for another 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, flour, and vanilla together until smooth.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and stir well to combine.
- Spray four 6-7-ounce ramekins with cooking spray. Fill each ramekin 2/3 of the way full with batter. Put the steam rack in the bottom of the Instant Pot and add 1 cup of water. Place ramekins on the steam rack, placing 3 of the ramekins directly on the rack and one over the top and in the center of the 3 ramekins (as seen in the photo above).
- Place lid on Instant Pot and place tab to "sealing". Manually set the time to 8 minutes on "high" pressure (see notes above for consistency times). Quickly release the pressure and carefully remove ramekins from the Instant Pot.Serve with ice cream and add mint leaves and raspberries for garnish.
I followed the recipe exactly using gluten free flour. The edges were cooked but the centre was more liquidy. Could it be the gluten free flour? I’m tempted to add a bit more flour in the mix, because I increased the time for the second batch and it didn’t make any difference. Taste was amazing and my daughter wanted that for her birthday instead of cake with fresh whipped cream.
What kind of GF flour are you using? That is most likely the issue.
Just got an instant pot for Christmas. Celebrating the New Year by making Chocolate Lava Cake as our first instant pot achievement. Let you know……
Let us know how it turned out!
I just got the installer for Christmas. I am trying this recipe for the first thing I make in the instapot. Do I use the cake setting or pressure cooker setting?
You should use the manual setting for this recipe. Hope this helps!
I followed exact steps and it didn’t come out good. There is no lava in my cake. Cake was fully cooked from inside. I used semisweet chocolate chips with 63% cocoa in them. I also didn’t have that spongy texture at all. Don’t we need to add baking powder or soda in the recipe. I have a 8 qt instant pot. What might i have done wrong? Please suggest.
It must have been the baking times. We haven’t experimented with cooking times at different elevations. That could have had something to do with it? What elevation are you at?
There is nothing better than a really good lava cake, and it looks as though this one hits the mark! Can’t resist that melted chocolate. Regards MasterCakes
Agreed! Thank you for the 5-star rating!
My husband is making this for my birthday dessert tonight! Sounds delicious! Can’t wait! There are 5 of us.. Have you ever put less than 2/3 cup in each ramekin to stretch it to 5? Or doubled the recipe to make 8?
You can reduce the amount in the cups, just make sure you reduce the cook time as well. You can definitely add more ramekins and stack as many in there that will fit- if you add more you don’t need to change the pressure time. Hope this helps!
I have to be honest; mine was absolutely disgusting- soggy, eggy just horrible.
Followed recipe step by step and it came out disgusting. not wasting money on this again. sorry.
I am so sorry this didn’t work out for you! I don’t know why it turned out that way for you– have you tried our Carnival Melting Cake recipe? That one is done in the oven and might work better for you?
I never review recipes, but this turned out so incredibly good, I just had to comment and say how heavenly (and easy to make!) this is! Thanks for an amazing recipe! 😊
Wow! Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment 😀 So glad this lava cake was a hit for you!
Mmmm great recipe would be a hit at a dinner party! Definitely recommend a scoop of ice cream or fruit just to cut the richness of the dark chocolate.
can you substitute cocoa powder for flour?
Are you asking if you can use cocoa powder instead of flour? I am not sure if it would rise the same if you made that substitution. It isn’t a substitution I would recommend but if you try it let us know how it turns out!
I just made this for my birthday cake in my new instant pot. I put all the batter in a bigger glass dish because I don’t have ramekins and cooked for 13 minutes on the rack with 2 cups of water as directed, and it was divine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!! Yum! I will save this and make it again and again.
So glad you liked this recipe, and happy birthday to you!!! Good to know that you can also make it in a bigger glass dish– we haven’t tried it that way before so I’m sure our readers will appreciate this comment! Thanks Heather!
Hi heather! What size dish did you use?
Ok great! I want to use one big dish too!
I have Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa (100% cacao). Do you have any ideas on how I can use the cocoa to substitute for the 1 cup of dark chocolate chips? I used this dark cocoa to substitute for bittersweet and semisweet chocolate in a molten lava cake recipe years ago, and it turned out really dark in both taste and color!
We haven’t tried it that way before so I can’t tell you for sure what I would do. They are different consistencies so it makes it hard. You would have to add some sugar and probably some extra butter to get the creamy texture but I can’t tell you the exact amounts unless I try it. If you give it a try, let us know how it turns out!
If I cut the recipe in half and make two cakes, do you know for how long I should put them in the instant pot?
The time should be close to the same if you are just cutting the recipe in half. If you do reduce the time, I wouldn’t do it for more than a minute. Hope this helps!
Do you use self rising or all purpose flour?
I’d just make the entire recipe and freeze the rest! When you eventually thaw the ones that are frozen, they won’t be as gooey- but still delicious!
Can you make batter ahead of time (say 1 day) and put it in the fridge? Or will the chocolate harden?
I don’t know if the chocolate will harden, but it might throw off the consistency. We haven’t done it that way before so I don’t know for sure. IF you try it, let us know how it turns out!
I am making the batter right now a few hours before and prepping the ramekins. I hope it works!
Hi Juli- How did it turn out?
I was skeptical, but this turned out extremely good. Thanks!I
So glad you liked it!
This desert was delicious! Ours was more of a “pudding” than cake, which is basically what’s shown in the photo, but it was so good. We did eat it right away, and it might have set up a little more on the outside if we had waited, but no necessary. So simple and wonderful. I used semi-sweet chips because my husband is not a dark fan.
Dessert and “not” necessary. Should always check before posting 🙂
I followed exactly and weren’t cooked after 8 mins. Just slightly above sea level so that shouldn’t matter. Strange. After 8 mins on high I found it to be mostly gooey all the way around. Any ideas?
That is strange.. 8 minutes was perfect for us. If it turns out too gooey next time, maybe just bring to pressure once again for a minute or two and then quick release. Hopefully the extra time will make it cook through better. Hope this helps!
I just did this and mine weren’t gooey. It was cooked all the way though. Elevation 17ft
I’ve been dying to try these but don’t know if there’s changes to be made if they are done in 4 oz mason jars.
We haven’t made them in mason jars before but since the size is smaller than what is in the recipe, I would definitely reduce the time by at least a minute or two. You may have to experiment with it a little. The nice thing about the Instant Pot is that you can re-try without losing much time!
I love this recipe!!!! My family actually substitutes coconut oil for butter and it’s amazing. It’s the perfect ooey gooey treat, I’m seriously obsessed with it.
Can i use silicon muffin cups to make this?
Yes! You should be able to use them in the Instant Pot. 🙂
I want to know calories
We don’t have calories available yet for our recipes. Hopefully soon! If you plug this recipe into a calorie calculator online you should be able to find calories. Hope this helps!
Ha ha ! I DON’T want to know the calories. That would definitely take most of the fun out of it. Different strokes for different folks I guess. LOL
haha amen! I always seem to turn a blind eye when I am out at restaurants and they have the calories listed on the menus. Ignorance is bliss LOL
Love this recipe! This was the first time making lava cakes at all much less in an instant pot.
I used semi sweet chips so just added 1/3 c sugar and I used 2 4 oz ramekins plus 2 4 oz ball jars. I cooked it for 7 minutes because I didn’t want to over cook any. Next time I will do 8mins I think that time is spot on.
I’m so proud of my attempt I’m going to post a picture on my social tagging FFR for the fabulous recipe.
Yay! That is awesome, so glad you liked it, and thanks for the sharing!
Tom—it’s a short ingredient list—add them together. Google each item, like, “calories in 3 eggs” and it will pop right up for you easily.
On another site with a very similar recipe there was about 450 calories per lava cake.
Did you cover each ramekin with tin foil?
We loved it! Will be making again soon.
Oh so glad you liked it!!! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Did you use self rising or all purpose flour?
Did everything 100% it tastes like rubber didnt like this recipe sorry nope…
Yes, it tasted like rubber. Will not make this again.
It must have cooked for too long. What elevation are you at?
Made this and it was delicious! Do you use a 6 qt or an 8 qt instant pot? I had difficulty fitting 4 ramekins in my instant pot.
I have an 8 qt!