Red Velvet molten-lava cakes

By daiseyduck

A gooey, warm, chocolate center. The perfect pairing with the red velvet!

Serve these warm, with a little powdered sugar dusting for garnish. Or ice cream. Whatever.

It’s truly magical. Like the tooth fairy. Only yummier.

Ingredients

• 1 box red velvet cake mix, plus ingredients called for to make the cake
• (I used Duncan Hines and the cake mix called for 3 eggs, 1 1/4 cups water, and 1/3 cup oil.)
• 8 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Powdered sugar, for garnish

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from crazyforcrust.com

Preparation

Step 1

When I was a kid, I seriously thought that chefs did something magical to make the chocolate “lava” flow out of the center of a cake. Why didn’t it bake? How is it melty like that? It must be magic!

I started with a red velvet cake mix. You could totally make your own favorite recipe from scratch. I hate making red velvet from scratch. One reason: food coloring.

Anyway. I made a red velvet cake mix and lined a cupcake tin with liners. Fill up the liners only about halfway – not the usual 2/3 full, otherwise they will spill over. {Believe me, I did it.} Then the secret ingredient goes inside: chocolate ganache!

You make a simple truffle mixture for the center of these cupcakes. Equal parts chocolate and cream, melted, stirred until smooth, and chilled. The ganache is another magical thing I love. Each cupcake gets a tablespoon-sized ganache ball in the center. When you bake the cupcakes, they grow up and over the ganache, but it doesn’t dissolve into the cupcake. It says chocolatey and gooey and good.

1 box red velvet cake mix, plus ingredients called for to make the cake

(I used Duncan Hines and the cake mix called for 3 eggs, 1 1/4 cups water, and 1/3 cup oil.)

Chop or break up baking chocolate and place in a medium sized bowl. Heat the cream over low heat until it just simmers. Pour over the chocolate. Stir until melted and smooth. (If it’s having a hard time melting, place it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.) Chill chocolate mixture until hardened, at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. (About 24)

Mix up cake batter according to the box directions. Fill each liner about 1/2 full of batter. (You don’t want to fill them as full as 2/3, or they will spill over. A little less than is called for on the box is good.)

Remove chocolate ganache from the refrigerator. Scoop 1 tablespoon balls (I used a cookie scoop) and place one ball in the center of each cupcake batter.

These are best served warm. If they cool off, just heat them for a few seconds in the microwave to heat.