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Home » Air Fryer Desserts

Air Fryer Lava Cakes

By Karly on April 11, 2023 | Updated April 11, 2023 | 4 Comments

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These air fried lava cakes are simple perfection!  This is a go-to desert on my next date night!These air fried lava cakes are simple perfection!  This is a go-to desert on my next date night!These air fried lava cakes are simple perfection!  This is a go-to desert on my next date night!These air fried lava cakes are simple perfection!  This is a go-to desert on my next date night!

This recipe for air fryer lava cakes is a keeper! You’ll love the molten chocolate center that oozes out once you cut into these chocolate lava cakes! These look and taste so impressive, but they’re ready in about 20 minutes!

Close up of a lava cake in front of strawberries.

Molten lava cake is so rich with chocolate flavor that no chocolate lover would turn it down! The soft, moist cake on the outside filled with that wonderfully gooey, molten chocolate center is the thing dreams are made of!

We created our lava cake in the air fryer, so there’s no need to heat up the whole kitchen using your big oven, it preheats so much quicker, and these lava cakes bake in just 8 minutes thanks to the way the air fryer works!

These would be perfect to make for a special occasion, like Valentine’s Day or a special anniversary, but believe it or not – they’re just as easy as any other cake and can be prepped and in the air fryer in about 10 minutes and on the table in 20!

We like to sprinkle on a bit of powdered sugar before serving these up. They’re delicious with fresh berries on the side!

Table of Contents

  • Ingredient Notes:
  • How to Make Lava Cakes in an Air Fryer:
    • Shop our Favorite Air Fryers!
  • Recipe Tips!
  • FAQ:
  • Topping Ideas
  • Other Air Fryer Dessert Recipes
    • Air Fried Reese’s
    • Snickers Egg Roll Recipe
    • Air Fryer Peanut Butter Cookies
    • Apple Galette in the Air Fryer
  • Air Fryer Lava Cakes
    • Equipment
    • Ingredients  1x2x3x
    • Instructions 
    • Notes
    • Nutrition
      • Did You Make This Recipe?

Ingredient Notes:

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Ingredients for lava cakes on a white countertop.

Cake ingredients – Unsalted butter, semi-sweet chocolate, eggs, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, and flour.

Toppings- These little lava cakes are delicious with just a sprinkle of powdered sugar and some fresh berries on the side. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would also be welcome here.

For the semi-sweet chocolate, you would be best off getting semi-sweet baking chocolates and chopping them. If you instead use semi-sweet chocolate chips, reduce our flour recommendations by a 1/2 tablespoon down to 1 tablespoon.

Pans- This recipe calls for a specific pan for it to work out. You can opt to use 2 mini bundt pans or use a couple of 4-ounce ramekins if you prefer. Both options work well with this recipe, you won’t need to alter anything.

How to Make Lava Cakes in an Air Fryer:

Collage of the steps of making lava cake.
  • Melt the chocolate– Grab a small to medium microwaveable bowl and add your chocolate and butter. Heat at 50% power for 30 secs, then stir. Repeat this until the chocolate is fully melted, this should take about 2 minutes.
  • Make the batter– Add your eggs, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla to the chocolate. Whisk this until smooth. Next, add in your flour and whisk until combined.
  • Air Fry– Split your batter evenly between two greased pans. Each of them should end up about 3/4 of the way filled. Put the pans in a preheated air fryer for 8 minutes at 350 degrees F.
  • Cool- Remove from the air fryer and let cool for 3 minutes before flipping the cakes upside down onto a serving plate. Serve with your toppings of choice!
Two lava cakes in front of an air fryer basket.

Shop our Favorite Air Fryers!

Cosori air fryer.

We’ve tested loads of air fryers over the years and narrowed it down to the best of the best! Whether you’re looking for a basket style air fryer that fits nicely on your countertop or you want the toaster oven style air fryer, we’ve got the recommendation for you!

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Recipe Tips!

Preheat: We don’t often preheat our air fryer before cooking, but in this instance you will want to! That initial hot burst of air helps the cake rise properly and will allow the outside of the cake to bake while the inside stays gooey.

Chocolate: Using a bar of chocolate is going to provide better results than using chocolate chips. Chocolate chips have added stabilizers that prevents them from melting as nicely.

Don’t Overmix: The flour is the very last thing added to this recipe and you’ll want to be careful to fold it in until it’s just combined. Overmixing will lead to tough lava cakes.

Room Temperature Eggs: The batter will mix together much more nicely and produce the best results if you start with room temperature eggs. In a rush? Add your eggs to a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 20 minutes and they’ll be perfect.

Don’t Overbake: The center of the cake should still be a big jiggly when you remove these from the air fryer. They’ll firm up a bit more as they cool, but remember – we’re going for a lava center.

A bite of lava cake on a fork.

FAQ:

What kind of chocolate should I use for lava cake?

It is best to use semi-sweet chocolate that you cut from a bar. Semi-sweet chocolate chips can work in a pinch, but the best results will come from a bar of chocolate.

How can I keep leftover lava cakes if I only want to eat one?

Lava cakes are best consumed freshly made. If you must keep leftovers, keep them in an airtight container in your fridge for a day or two before eating. You can eat cool, or reheat in your air microwave or air fryer. Reheating this evenly will be tricky, and that is a big part of the reason it is best to serve fresh.

Topping Ideas

Want to keep it simple with your toppings? Just add some whipped cream! It is a great light addition to contrast your lava cake!

Feeling a little “extra?” You can also drizzle a bit of warm caramel sauce over the top of the cake!

Fresh berries are the perfect accompaniment to these rich chocolate lava cakes.

A scoop of vanilla ice cream served on the side is always a hit!

Other Air Fryer Dessert Recipes

  • Overhead view of a bite taken out of a fried peanut butter cup

    Air Fried Reese’s

  • Close up of a split open snickers egg roll.

    Snickers Egg Roll Recipe

  • Air fryer basket full of cooked peanut butter cookies.

    Air Fryer Peanut Butter Cookies

  • Cooked apple galette next to an kitchen utensils.

    Apple Galette in the Air Fryer

Lava cake on a square plate.
Close up of a fork with lava cake remnants on it.

Air Fryer Lava Cakes

Created by: Karly

Course Air Fryer Desserts
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes minutes
Total Time 21 minutes minutes
2 cakes
Chocolate lovers will adore these molten lava cakes! These are such impressive little cakes, but they come together in about 20 minutes and really couldn't be easier.
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Equipment

  • Air Fryer
  • Mini bundt pan
  • Ramekin

Ingredients
  

  • 3 ounces unsalted butter
  • 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chopped
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
  • berries and powdered sugar for topping and decoration

Instructions
 

  • Liberally spray your mini pans or ramekins with cooking spray. Preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees.
  • Add the chocolate and the butter to a microwave safe bowl. Heat at 50% power in 30 second increments until melted, stirring between each interval, about 2 minutes.
  • Add the eggs, sugar, baking powder and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
  • Add the flour and stir until just combined. Do not overmix or your cakes will be tough.
  • Split the batter between the two pans. They should be 3/4 of the way filled.
  • Place the pans inside the air fryer basket and air fry for 8 minutes. The centers should be a bit jiggly but the tops should be set fully.
  • Carefully remove the pans from the air fryer. Let cool in the pan for 3 minutes then flip the cakes out onto a serving plate.
  • Serve with fresh fruit and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Notes

Use baking chocolate rather than chocolate chips. If you have to use chips, decrease the flour by 1/2 tablespoon.
This recipe is best consumed immediately. If there are any leftovers, put in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cake | Calories: 819kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 61g | Saturated Fat: 36g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 259mg | Sodium: 126mg | Potassium: 401mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 1329IU | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 5mg

Did You Make This Recipe?

Share it with us on Instagram @air.fried and tag us #air.fried

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    Comments & Reviews

  1. Bea Anna Weibling says

    April 15, 2023

    Is the flour amount correct? Should it read “1 1/2 cups,” rather than “1 1/2 Tbsps?”

    Reply
    • Karly says

      April 16, 2023

      Nope, just one and a half tablespoons. You don’t need much in lava cakes. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Sharon says

    April 11, 2023

    5 stars
    Oh Karly,
    I am so excited to try your recipe! All the other Lava Cake recipes use egg yolks & I have avoided them because I can’t alsays use the whites.
    Thank you for this recipe!

    Reply
    • Karly says

      April 12, 2023

      Hope you love it! 🙂

      Reply

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