The Tip You Need For A Guaranteed Molten-Centered Lava Cake

If there's one dessert perfect for an at-home date night, it's a decadent molten lava cake. While the outside looks like your standard, moist chocolate cake, cutting into it spills out a rich, gooey center (chocolate lava, if you will). The only difficulty is that getting a perfectly melted center can be tricky, with it being too easy to wind up with a chocolate core that either isn't completely melted or full enough.

The good news is that there's an easy tip to ensure your molten chocolate dessert turns out how you were hoping. All you have to do is use something called the Bras method. This method was named after French chef Michel Bras who patented the individual molten lava cake in 1981; the technique essentially calls for placing frozen ganache in the middle of your lava cake batter. You then freeze the cake batter and ganache for six hours (yes, a double-freeze) before baking the individual cake, then serve it warm from the oven. This creates a dessert with the perfect balance of melty, gooey ganache, and moist, firm chocolate cake.

When making lava cake using the Bras method, you want to get the right amount of ganache in the center. You'll want to use high-quality chocolate to make the ganache. Although chocolate chips might seem easy, they often contain stabilizers that can make them more difficult to melt, which is the opposite of what you want for a molten dessert. Also, because they are smaller pieces of chocolate they sometimes create an inconsistent chocolate center of the cake instead of being jam-packed with molten chocolate.

Another consideration is the amount of frozen ganache you use in your cake. Scoop the ganache into small balls after you've whipped up this chocolatey filling and let it cool. They should be around one inch in diameter – not so large that they'll take up all the space in your ramekins, but still big enough to ensure you get melted chocolate in each bite. You can also use cylindrical molds to create well-sized chocolate pieces or grab an ice cube tray in a pinch.

While the Bras method is one key to getting a delicious molten lava cake, it's not the only trick to have up your sleeve. There are a few other tips for getting a dessert that will make it difficult to put the spoon down. One is to add a little bit of instant coffee or espresso powder to your cake batter, for instance, intensifying the chocolatey flavor, leading to a darker, richer dessert.

Or, rather than playing around with the standard chocolate lava cake, you can introduce other flavors. You can freeze a teaspoon of raspberry jam, peanut butter, or other nut butter with the chocolate ganache filling. The result helps ensure a liquid center and adds succulent new flavors to your dish that complement the chocolate.

Finally, you could also try using a different type of chocolate ganache. Go for a sweet, creamy white chocolate ganache filling. Or, experiment with flavor extracts like hazelnut or peppermint to give it a different taste. You could also add a splash of Kahlua, Baileys, or other dessert liqueur to add a boozy adult finish to your lava cake.