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This recipe for Healthy Instant Pot Lava Cake is so easy to make and great for when those chocolate cravings hit, but you’re also trying to eat healthy.
It’s the perfect dessert – our Instant Pot Lava Cake recipe is a healthier twist on the classic molten chocolate cake lava cake. With simple ingredients and a gooey center, it’s one of our most popular dessert recipes, and definitely the perfect decadent chocolate dessert for everyone.
Calling all chocolate lovers! Our gluten free Instant Pot Lava Cake is seriously delicious, especially with some banana “nice cream” or homemade coconut whipped cream on top. The Instant Pot makes this dessert so easy because you can stick it in the pot while you’re eating dinner!
The best part about this recipe is that it is served in prepared ramekins, which makes it the perfect single serving dessert for any special occasion, including date night!
Where’s the Recipe?
Here at My Crazy Good Life we want every one of our readers to feel successful and confident while recreating our recipes. Because of that, we strive to include a lot of helpful information in our posts.
If you’re comfortable in the kitchen and want to skip past the ingredient information, cooking instructions, recipe tips, and healthy eating plan calculations, you can simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you will find our easy to print recipe card for our Instant Pot Lava Cake.
Ingredients in Instant Pot Chocolate Lava Cake
- Eggs: We recommend using whole eggs for this recipe.
- Ghee or butter: Either one works great for this recipe, whatever you have on hand is perfect.
- Dark chocolate chips:
- Coconut milk: (or almond if you prefer)
- Rice flour: Using rice flour allows this recipe to be gluten free. You may substitute whole wheat flour if you prefer.
- Salt: There are so many different types of salt – each has different benefits and uses depending on the use.
- Honey: We love using honey as our natural sweetener for these instant pot molten lava cakes. It provides the right amount of sweet without being overwhelming.
- Baking powder: Baking powder is different than baking soda. Be sure to read carefully so the lava cakes will turn out great.
- Cocoa powder: Who doesn’t love the sweet chocolate flavor?
- Additional dark chocolate chips for the center: (optional) We like to include chocolate chips in the center to ensure that the lava cake cooks evenly. We’d rather have the melted chocolate in the center instead of having undercooked batter.
Instructions for Healthy Lava Cakes
- In a large bowl (microwave safe) add ghee and dark chocolate. Microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate is melted, no more than 1 minute.
- Whisk in the remaining ingredients into the melted chocolate and butter.
- Lightly grease 4 ramekins with coconut oil. Fill each ramekin 3/4 of the way with batter. If you would like to add additional dark chocolate into the center of each cake, fill half way add a few pieces chocolate, then top with batter to the 3/4 full mark. Cover each ramekin with foil.
- You can also use milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate but know that it will change your calories and Weight Watchers Points–make sure to recalculate.
- Add the trivet or a steamer to the bottom of the inner pot of the Instant Pot with 1 1/2 cups water. Arrange the ramekins on top of the trivet with 3 in a single layer on the bottom and one stacked on top in the center.
- Lock the lid into place and turn the pressure valve to the sealing position. Cook the lava cakes on high pressure for 4-5 minutes. 4 minutes will leave the center very gooey, while 5 minutes will have a little more cake texture around the center.
- Release the pressure using the quick release method. Remove the ramekins by placing a small plate upside down over the top of the cake bowl, then gently flipping over. Your lava cake might break open on the bottom but that’s ok.
- Serve while hot. Top with homemade coconut whipped cream or fresh banana ice cream.
Recipe Tips
- You can modify the recipe to include peanut butter inside. Highly recommend, 5/5 stars! Our Peanut Butter Lava Cake recipe is equally delicious.
- If you have any questions about the techniques used to make this recipe, take a peek at the Lava Cake video recipe in this post.
- You can also top these Molten Lava Cakes with powdered sugar, coconut sugar, or drizzle with peanut butter.
- Adding the extra chocolate chips to the center of the cake is optional–it just makes it a little gooier and creamier.
- Not cooking the cakes all the way or not using chocolate chips in the center is not the best idea because of the raw eggs in the batter–instead of a chocolate filling in the center of the lava cake, you’ll end up with an undercooked center which isn’t a good idea to eat.
- Tips for releasing: Lay a small plate upside down over the top of the cake bowl, then gently flip over. Your lava cake might break open on the bottom but that’s ok!
- I’ve had many chocolate lava cake recipe fails! One might think it’s easy to simply undercook something but it’s really not–you have to make sure the bottom and the top of the cakes are cooked enough to hold the liquid center without breaking.
- I highly recommend cooking this recipe a few times in your pot to perfect the amount of time before making this for guests. This is a great recipe, but might require you to increase or reduce the cook time by a minute or so depending on your elevation and a few other factors.
- Like I’ve mentioned before, each Instant Pot model is slightly different. Some differences are the size of your pot and how hot or cold your pot is–when you’re talking about a minute difference in cooking time, it’s important to know how your specific Instant Pot cooks.
- If your lava cakes are under cooked, cover them again with foil and put them back in the pot. Close the lid, but do not turn the pot on. Give it a minute or two and then take them out again–they should be perfect.
- If your cakes are not gooey in the middle, you can cook them for a minute or two less next time.
- If you are having trouble getting the times to work right for your recipe it might be the location difference! See this post about higher altitude cook time adjustments.
Healthy Eating Plans
21 Day Fix Healthy Instant Pot Lava Cake
As soon as you introduce chocolate into a recipe it becomes a treat swap. Why? Since chocolate isn’t on the food list, but it’s on the list for treat swaps.
Treat Swaps allow those who follow the 21 Day Fix to have a ‘treat’ three times a week in place of a yellow container. I try to keep my treats clean and around 200 calories.
These lava cakes have about 300 calories each so while I’d eat these as a treat swap, I wouldn’t do so every week or probably every month. These are great for special occasions like a birthday or celebration.
I’m going to count this as a treat swap: 1 cake = 1 treat swap. The calorie count is a little high, so I wouldn’t eat these super often if you’re trying to lose weight. They’re definitely a healthier treat, though.
Weight Watchers Plan Points
1 Cake (Recipe Makes 4)
13 2023 Points | 12 Blue Plan Points| 13 Green Plan Points | 12 Purple Plan Points
More Instant Pot Dessert Recipes
These are some of my favorite healthy Instant Pot dessert recipes:
- Healthy Rice Pudding I love making this classic recipe and recently gave it a healthy update! It’s perfect for breakfast or dessert, and it’s so easy to customize with different toppings and different levels of sweetness.
- Healthy Lemon Bars I love lemon and lime flavors, and these lemon bars are one of my favorites on my site. I’ve also made this recipe with limes, and it’s just as delicious. Lots of coconut products are used, and that flavor definitely comes through.
- Healthy Key Lime Pie Bites These are the most fun to make! I love how pretty they are, and how the whipped cream topping tops them perfectly.
Healthy Instant Pot Lava Cake
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6 qt
- Sealing Rings
- Ramekins
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp butter or ghee
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate pieces
- 2 eggs
- 4 tbsp coconut milk or almond milk
- 1/3 cup rice flour or whole wheat flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- additional dark chocolate for the center optional, but highly encouraged
Instructions
- In a large microwave, safe bowl add ghee or butter and dark chocolate. Microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate is melted, no more than 1 minute. 4 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup dark chocolate
- Whisk in the remaining ingredients into the melted chocolate and butter. 2 eggs, 4 tbsp coconut milk, 1/3 cup rice flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tbsp honey, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- Lightly grease 4 ramekins with a nonstick cooking spray.
- Fill each ramekin 3/4 of the way with batter. If you would like to add additional dark chocolate into the center of each cake, fill half way add a few pieces chocolate, then top with batter to the 3/4 full mark.
- Cover each ramekin with foil.
- Add the trivet or a steamer to the bottom of the Instant Pot with 1 1/2 cups water. Arrange the ramekins on top of the trivet with 3 on the bottom and one stacked on top in the center.
- Lock the lid into place and turn the pressure valve to sealing. Cook the lava cakes on high pressure for 4-5 minutes. 4 minutes will leave the center very gooey, while 5 minutes will have a little more cake texture around the center.
- Release the pressure using the quick release method.
- See blog post for description of how to easily remove cakes. Serve while hot. Top with coconut whipped cream or fresh banana ice cream.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
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This sounds great! I would love to make this tonight. I have coconut flour, would that substitute for the rice flour? Or should I whiz some white rice in my Vitamix dry container to make rice flour?
I was wondering the same thing…. I guess nobody checks the comments on the page :(
No, I’m sorry—it’s not that nobody checks the page. But with hundreds of posts and comments to check on it’s easy to miss one.
Yes, coconut flour would be just as delicious :)
What if I don’t own an instant pot? Is there another cooking method?
This looks yummy. Where do get the dark chocolate pieces. Thanks!
I got mine at Frys!
By coconut milk do you mean canned coconut milk or coconut milk beverage? If it is the latter, have you tried almond milk too?