Eggless Chocolate Fondant Cakes / Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe

My little one is having her vacation now and it 's been a month i had baked something. So i set my apron to dig into these warm molten cakes. This dessert is also described as lava cakes, fondant, souffle cakes because of it's dense and moist texture. They have a rich chocolaty flavor and these cakes rise beautifully as they bake and will slowly settle down once removed from oven. They have a firm crust on top but yet the centers will be slightly wet and wobbly.

You can enjoy that stream of warm chocolate that oozes out as you dig in these cakes. As said they are served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream , or a dollop of whipped cream or a simple chocolate sauce.
These cakes are normally made with eggs and very less flour which gives it a binding effect and is more rich and chocolaty. I went in for the eggless version and was too skeptical, how it might turn out.

I  baked my first batch for a extra 2 mins and i could not see the lava though it was moist and tasted great. So baked the second batch exactly for the given time. I should admit it was bit tricky for me to unmold the cake on to a plate. Anyway mithu enjoyed it to the core and for me anything chocolaty is yumm....
Egg-less Chocolate Fondant / Lava Cake Recipe - Ingredients:
Preparation time: 30 mins | Cooking time: 10- 12 mins | Recipe cuisine: International | Recipe source: Easy cooking | Recipe category: Dessert/bakes

Maida - 1cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Cocoa Powder - 6 tbsp
Salt a pinch
Chocolate chips - 1/4 cup (dark chocolate)
Cherries - 1/4 cup (chopped)
Butter - 1/2 cup
Curd - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Coffee powder - 1 tsp

Method:
1. Sift the dry ingredients (maida, baking powder, soda, cocoa and salt) together once and keep aside.

 

2. Mix the chocolate chips and cherries in  bowl and keep ready.

 

3. Mix milk and coffee powder in bowl .

 

4. Beat butter, curd and sugar together in a bowl until creamy.  Add the sifted dry ingredients to the curd mixture and add milk alternately and mix well till you get a smooth batter.

 

5. Grease ramekin or individual muffin molds with butter and cocoa powder.

 

6. Pour 2 tbsp of batter in each molds and layer it with choco chip and cherries. Pour another 2 tbsp batter on top of it.  Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 deg C for 10 mins.

 

7. Bake it in the preheated oven for 10- 12 mins or until the outside edges of the cake are set but the middle looks slightly wet and jiggles when you shake the ramekin.

 

Remove from the oven and let them rest for a minute or two. You can either serve them in the ramekin itself or run a sharp knife around the edges of cake and carefully invert onto the center of a serving plate.

 Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve warm with  a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

 Note:

• If planning to serve for guests, you can prepare the chocolate mixture a day ahead ,cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bake just before serving. 
• The baked ones can be stored in refrigerator upto 6 days. To serve them just microwave them on medium-high for 1 min.
• Based on the size of ramekin you may get 6-8 cakes. I used ramekins and silicon muffin molds. 

 Linking this to Gayathri's Kid's Delight event of Srivalli