Homemade peanut butter chocolate lava cakes are the ultimate dessert decadence. Each rich, fudgy, and warm chocolate cake is filled with melty peanut butter and topped with vanilla ice cream. You’ll be surprised at how quickly this indulgent dessert comes together!
Welcome to the best dessert on earth! I’m pretty sure we haven’t lived until we’ve all had a peanut butter chocolate lava cake. Today’s peanut butter version is just like my chocolate lava cakes recipe, only filled with peanut butter. The great news is that this recipe makes 4 individually sized peanut butter chocolate lava cakes and the bad news is that this recipe makes 4 individually sized peanut butter chocolate lava cakes. Let’s be honest here… self control fades fast when you have 4 chocolate lava cakes in the house.
These Peanut Butter Chocolate Lava Cakes Are:
- Rich and fudgy
- Easier than you think
- Made with only 7 ingredients
- Super quick—only 12 minutes in the oven (it joins 30+ others in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipes—ready in 1 hour or less!)
- Decadent and indulgent
- Gooey in the center
- Perfect for small dinner parties, date night, or as a Valentine’s Day treat
- Peanut butter + chocolate!!
I worked at Chili’s throughout college—I know a good molten lava cake when I see one. While the molten cakes came to the restaurant frozen, a quick zap in the microwave made that chocolate completely ooze out with the first bite. Molten cakes are obviously a crowd favorite, but believe me when I say this: they’re 78,439x better made fresh at home with pure chocolate and lots of butter.
Ingredients in Peanut Butter Chocolate Lava Cakes
You only need 7 basic ingredients for today’s peanut butter chocolate lava cakes. I adapted this recipe from Food and Wine. Let’s review:
- Chocolate: Pure chocolate is the base of these lava cakes. Use quality chocolate—no cheap varieties and absolutely no chocolate chips. (Save them for your chocolate chip cookies!) You will be dreadfully disappointed if you use lower quality chocolate. I prefer Ghirardelli or Lindt.
- Butter: Butter is melted with the chocolate for incredible taste and decadence.
- Flour: We only use 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour for added structure—too much and the cakes would dry out.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: A little confectioners’ sugar sweetens the cake—don’t expect a super sweet chocolate cake. These are very rich as opposed to very sweet. In my recipe testing, I preferred confectioners’ sugar over granulated sugar. I found the cakes had a grainy texture with granulated.
- Salt: Salt adds flavor.
- Eggs: The most important ingredient! There are 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks in this recipe (2 egg whites and 4 egg yolks total)—an entire egg yolk in each cake. The egg yolks provide unique moisture and richness to each cake and the egg whites give structure, combining all the ingredients into one smooth batter and 4 sturdy cakes.
- Peanut Butter: Each lava cake is filled with creamy peanut butter. Do not use natural style peanut butter, crunchy peanut butter, or any other nut butter. The best, in my peanut butter lava cake experience, are commercial brands like creamy Jif or Skippy.
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Lava Cakes
They may look fancy and complicated, but peanut butter chocolate lava cakes are incredibly simple to make. Let’s review the quick and easy steps:
- Prepare 4 ramekins.
- Make the chocolate cake batter.
- Spoon the batter evenly into each ramekin.
- Top each with peanut butter. Use a spoon to slightly press it down into the batter.
- Bake. The high oven temperature cooks the outside of the mini cakes but leaves the center slightly gooey. 12-14 minutes and they’re done! The tops may look slightly soft.
- Invert the ramekins. Carefully flip the freshly baked lava cakes upside down onto plates.
- Add toppings & enjoy! Top with melted peanut butter, chocolate ganache, ice cream, sprinkles, salted caramel, or whipped cream… choose your favorites 🙂
Best Ramekins to Use
I highly recommend using ramekins for these lava cakes. Here are the 6-ounce ramekins I use and suggest you pick up as well. They’re the perfect size for these lava cakes. Grease each ramekin with a little non-stick spray and a dusting of cocoa powder before filling with batter. This preparation helps the baked lava cake release seamlessly from the ramekin onto the plate for serving.
Conveniently, you can use the same ramekins for other recipes we have published like chocolate fudge cakes, chocolate soufflé, chocolate lava cakes, lemon pudding cakes, and upside down key lime pies.
If you don’t have ramekins, you can use a muffin pan: Grease 6 muffin pan cups and dust with cocoa powder to prevent the lava cakes from sticking. Your lava cakes will be slightly smaller—you’ll get 6 lava cakes instead of 4. Bake at 425°F (218°C) for 8-10 minutes. Use a spoon to release the cakes from the pan and place each upside down on plates.
I included this recipe over on my Valentine’s Day dessert recipes page, but they’re just as rich and tasty without a holiday on the calendar. 🙂
More Chocolate Peanut Butter Recipes
- Monster Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cupcakes
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars
- Peanut Butter Balls (Truffles)
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Lava Cakes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 cakes
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy recipe for peanut butter chocolate lava cakes is the ultimate dessert decadence!
Ingredients
- 6 ounces (170g) high quality semi-sweet chocolate, such as Ghirardelli or Lindt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup (60g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 8 teaspoons (42g) creamy peanut butter (about 2 teaspoons per cake)*
- optional for serving: ice cream, melted peanut butter and/or chocolate syrup for drizzling
Instructions
- Spray each ramekin with nonstick cooking spray and dust with cocoa powder. This ensures the cakes will seamlessly come out of the ramekins when inverted onto a plate in step 6.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Coarsely chop the chocolate. Place butter into a medium heat-proof bowl, then add chopped chocolate on top. Microwave on high in 10 second increments, stirring after each until completely smooth. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt together in a small bowl. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks together until combined in another small bowl. Pour the flour mixture and eggs into the bowl of chocolate. Slowly stir everything together using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. If there are any lumps, gently use your whisk to rid them. The batter will be slightly thick.
- Spoon chocolate batter evenly into each prepared ramekin. Top with peanut butter and use a spoon to slightly press it down into the batter. Some may still be exposed—see photo above for a visual.
- Place ramekins onto a baking sheet and bake for 12-13 minutes until the sides appear solid and firm. The top may still look slightly soft. Allow to cool for 1 minute, then cover each with an inverted plate and turn over. Use an oven mitt because those ramekins are hot! The cakes should release easily from the ramekin. Top with ice cream and melted peanut butter and/or chocolate syrup for serving, if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: This batter can be prepared through step 4 ahead of time. Cover tightly and keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. Allow to come to room temperature before continuing with step 5.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 6-Ounce Ramekins or 12-count Muffin Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula or Wooden Spoon | Baking Sheet
- Peanut Butter: Do not use natural style peanut butter, do not use crunchy peanut butter, do not use any other nut butter like almond butter. The best for this recipe is commercial brand peanut butter like creamy Jif or Skippy. I use Jif creamy.
- Plain Lava Cakes: I’ve gotten some questions about making these plain, without peanut butter. Yes, it’s possible! No changes necessary, just don’t add the peanut butter and bake for only about 12-13 minutes.
- Ramekins: I like these 6-ounce oven-proof custard cups or these 6-ounce ramekins). I’m unsure about the bake time for ramekins any other size than 6 ounces. I highly suggest just buying the specified size if you do not own them already. The good news: this standard size is typical for other dessert recipes like custards, soufflés, creme brûlées, chocolate fudge cakes, and mousse.
- Adapted from Food and Wine.
Hi Sally, I want to make this recipe today. But I have just 85g of dark chocolate. Can I use the balance with baking cocoa powder, by mixing it with water? There are instructions on the box to make baking chocolate from the powder. Please let me know . Thanks
Hi Jessica, did you end up trying it? How did it work out? We do recommend using baking chocolate for best results.
Could I use something else such as say caramel in place of the p.b. since there is a nut allergy. But these sound so amazing I will try as is for my own use.
Hi Cheryl, I recommend you try this chocolate lava cakes recipe, and you can always add some salted caramel to it (either in the middle or drizzle on top after baking). Enjoy!
These are SO GOOD! My fam was craving some late-night deliciousness, so I threw these together, and they did not disappoint! The lava cake base itself was one of the best I’ve tasted, but the saltiness of the Peanut Butter kinda cut the excessive rich sweetness and added a whole new dimension of flavor. I loved these! They also were super quick and simple to throw together, not to mention that they only took a few minutes in the oven. I’ll make these quite a bit from now on!
I just made these and they are amazing! My husband loves peanut butter! I have made him almost all your peanut butter desserts! He also like these cold! They tasted just as good that way! And they are so easy to make that i did extra and froze them! Thank you for this great recipe that only took about twenty minutes total to make!
Yum!!! Just made these for Valentine’s Day delicious!!!!!!!
Hi Sally, I’m at my daughter-in-law‘s getting ready to make this dessert for tonight. She does not have ramekins, so I’m going to use a muffin pan. Just curious why I would not fill four instead of six? And make the cakes the same size as the ramekins would be? Thanks! From a peanut butter and chocolate loving family.
Hi Patti! The ramekins are larger than a typical muffin cup, so they would overflow if you made 4 in a muffin pan.
Thanks!
Is there an issue using a darker chocolate bar with this recipe or do I need to alter another ingredient? I have 70% Lindt.
Hi Erin, you can use a darker chocolate bar for a deeper chocolate flavor. Enjoy!