For those of you who love chocolate-filled snacks from Domino’s, I’m sure one of your favorite snacks is Dominos lava cake. As an extremely yummy dessert, it is a must-have to enjoy immediately after eating pizza for any true chocolate fan.

Chocolate lava cake is a delicacy that is super light, decadent, and gourmet, albeit surprisingly simple. From one restaurant chain to another, chocolate lava-crunch cake has grown to become a huge hit across the country. Aside from that, it seems as though almost every chocolate lover has their own version of this pleasing treat.

These cakes are suitable for Valentine’s Day (or any special day) or as desserts for a date night. They work equally well for fancy dinner parties or simple family gatherings. As a dessert to have after the main course, it is a pleasant way to finish off the meal.

One of the best parts of these cakes is the fact that they are moist and tender around the edges with a molten, gooey, rich center. The center—with its thick lava filling—gives a heaven-on-earth experience to those who love it. Though these lava cakes look fancy and complicated, they should not intimidate you as they are easy to make and can be made ahead of time.

The chocolate lava cake at Domino’s is capable of making you a true chocoholic.

Come to think of it, what could be better than the molten filling of lava cakes?

One thing Domino’s does well is its lava cake. Warm, gooey, and oh-so-full of chocolate, it is something you can easily reproduce at home. Someone once said that Domino’s lava crunch cakes taste like freshly-baked Oreo cookies, but instead of vanilla cream in the center, you have a warm, thick, sweet, chocolaty syrup. If you’ve ever tasted a good deep-fried Oreo before, that same soft and warm feeling you get from the inside is in the inside of Domino’s lava cakes.

When it comes to pairing options, there are lots of possibilities with these chocolate lava cakes that can switch up the flavor profile and plate presentation. One such option is to use a tablespoon of espresso powder that can be added to the batter for a mocha flavor. You can also use one or two tablespoons of a flavored liqueur such as Grand Mariner or Chambord. These would add a distinct taste to the chocolate treats.

This Dominos lava cake recipe is so quick to prepare and easy, you’ll want to make these babies straight away and every single time. As easy as it is, it is also super tasty and impressive. And unlike the many other recipes for lava cake out there, this copycat Dominos lava cake is expressly egg-free, as that is how the Domino’s version is.

Many experience difficulty trying to recreate Domino’s chocolate lava cake at home. One thing to note is the fact that Domino’s makes their cake in the pizza oven, and the secret to the gooey center is that the cake is baked at a very high temperature to solidify and crisp the outside.  This adds a crispy touch to the cakes while the chocolate lava center remains liquid and gooey. Overall, this makes for an elegant pick out of all the Domino’s desserts available.

As this can be easily recreated for friends or family, make sure to get credit for the preparation. Don’t let your guests assume you bought these cakes and are just passing them off as yours. Take care to ensure you have fun throughout the entire preparation of the dessert.

How to Make Domino’s Lava Cake

Below is the copycat recipe outlining the step-by-step process of the preparation of Dominos lava cake. These crunchy cakes have a preparation time of 15 minutes and a cook time of 10 minutes, making a total of 25 minutes.

Ingredients

Dry:

  • ½ cup Refined flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ cup castor sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Wet:

  • ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate
  • ½ cup butter
  • ¾ cup yogurt
  • ½ cup milk

Special equipment: four 6-ounce ramekins (if using these) or a muffin mold/pan.

Procedure:

  1. The first thing to do is to preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While preheating, sieve together the dry ingredients—the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder—into a small glass bowl.
  2. Put the butter and dark chocolate in another bowl and melt in a microwave oven for a minute. In the absence of a microwave, a double boiler can be used, but the microwave is simpler and faster. After microwaving, whisk the chocolate-butter mixture until it is well blended.
  3. Add the castor sugar to the chocolate mixture and mix thoroughly. Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate buttery goodness.
  4. Add the milk and yogurt to the mixture and stir until there are no lumps, indicating a smooth mixture.
  5. Pour the resulting mixture into four silicon muffin molds or ramekins, almost to the top (the silicone molds work great as they make it easier to remove the cakes when baked). In the absence of either of these baking utensils, you can make use of regular cupcake tins. All you need to do is to grease them with butter and dust flour all over, tipping out the excess. Bake in the preheated oven for seven minutes. Anything more than that and the setting of the lava will be put at risk, which ultimately defeats its purpose.

If using ramekins, before pouring in the mixture, make sure to spray each ramekin with nonstick cooking spray and dust with cocoa powder. This is to ensure the cakes come out of the ramekins seamlessly when inverted onto a plate.

  1. As soon as the time elapses, immediately remove the molds from the oven and let them cool slightly. Remove the cakes from the molds with the aid of a spoon or by inverting the molds. Serve them immediately, as the residual heat will continue to cook them and set the batter as well.

Some recipes make use of chunks of chocolate in the center, but that’s almost cheating, as the lava in a true lava cake comes from the under-cooked batter, which is what this recipe gives.

As you can see, the only thing that you need to be really careful about is the time, so don’t be scared of this recipe. Just ensure not to over-bake the cake.

Tips to note

So, aside from the baking time, how do you really know when the lava cakes are ready? Well, the signs are easy to know. First of all, the edges of the cakes become firm while the center remains jiggly.  Another way to know is, if you stick a toothpick in the cake a half-inch from the edge, it should come out clean. Lastly, for some of the cakes, they start to rise above the pan with sharp edges protruding.

With consistent practice, you will become familiar with knowing when the cakes are ready to drop. For starters, stick to the stipulated time of seven minutes.

Can chocolate lava cake be refrigerated for later use?

Well, if you need less than the amount that will yield from the recipe, you can bake as many as you need and return the batter to the fridge for later. This batter can be refrigerated for 2 or 3 days and your Domino’s molten lava cake can be prepared at a moment’s notice. Know also that baked lava cakes can be kept frozen for 3 months.

Allow them to cool completely before freezing them though. Reheat them in the microwave. If you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible to eat cold molten lava cake, consider that this goes against the whole idea behind the cakes. The idea is to have a warm cake with a center that is between molten. A cake at room temperature or worse, cold, just won’t do.

As is seen in many restaurants, these cakes are pre-baked and then put into the microwave or hot oven to warm them before serving. So this should serve as a standard when you set out to make these ahead of time at home.

The Domino’s lava cake ingredients, if used accordingly, will yield a cake that tastes like none other than Domino’s. However, if you want to experiment some more, being that this is the first time you’re making them, you can add some ingredients like eggs or coffee in different amounts. You can also add other things, like xanthan gum or GMS. Xanthan gum thickens the cake and gives it a stickiness that would otherwise be gotten from gluten, while GMS adds “body” to the cake.

Make sure you use high-quality chocolate, not chocolate chips. You won’t get much “lava” with chocolate chips. I suggest you use high-quality chocolate baking bars found in the baking aisle in stores. These include Baker’s, Ghirardelli, Nestle, or Lind. All are typically sold in 4-ounce bars.

Serving Options for Chocolate Lava Cake

The most popular serving that goes with chocolate lava cake is the trademark Domino’s powdered sugar. The cakes can also be paired with fresh raspberries or strawberries, which not only add additional taste but also give your plate a good presentation. Other options are fresh mint, a scoop of ice cream, whipped cream, or whatever else you so desire.

There are a lot of sweet delicacies that go with chocolate lava cake, aside from the ones above. The cake can be garnished with chopped roasted almond or topped with icing sugar with the help of a sieve.

If you are adventurous and would love to try out different options besides Domino’s lava cake, melted marshmallows can be introduced to the center of the cakes too, and sprinkled with powdered or icing sugar.

Calories in Domino’s lava cake

If you’re passionate about your health and the number of calories present in any meal you set out to devour, then I’m sure you would love to know Domino’s lava cake calories.  In one cake serving of Domino’s Pizza chocolate lava crunch cake, there are about 350 calories.

It’s not that much, right?

Well, this is derived from the different constituents of the cake. One cake weighs about 85 grams, and the calories from fat give a calorific figure of 150. There are other nutrients present in the cake, including fat (saturated fat with no trans fat), cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate (dietary fiber and sugars), and protein.

Aside from calories and numbers, many people are going gluten-free nowadays to improve their health. If you happen to be in this category, remember that just because you are avoiding gluten doesn’t mean you should avoid good taste. All you need to do in this Dominos lava cake recipe is to remove the refined flour and use all-purpose gluten-free flour.

Xanthan gum needs to be added if your flour doesn’t contain it already, and every other thing pretty much remains the same. After preparation, you can serve it warm with vanilla bean ice cream.

In conclusion, these directions on how to prepare Domino’s lava cake should not be so difficult to implement. From the Domino’s lava cake ingredients to what it is served with, Domino’s lava cake recipe never looked so easy.

So what are you waiting for? If you have a party coming up soon or you want to surprise your family with a new treat, bring out your baking pan and get going! Baking has never been so easy, especially with lava cakes.

Make this your dessert option. Prepare it right in your kitchen and enjoy the treat. Make sure not to get too addicted to it though. Seeing that it is decadent, we don’t want to have that issue…

Author

Peter's path through the culinary world has taken a number of unexpected turns. After starting out as a waiter at the age of 16, he was inspired to go to culinary school and learn the tricks of the trade. As he delved deeper, however, his career took a sudden turn when a family friend needed someone to help manage his business. Peter now scratches his culinary itch on the internet by blogging, sharing recipes, and socializing with food enthusiasts worldwide.

3 Comments

  1. Domino’s lava cakes do have eggs in them, it’s definitely listed in the ingredients and as an allergy alert. It also has “cake crumbs” and “cookie crumbs” in it, along with a LOT of other ingredients. But eggs are definitely listed in the ingredients.

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