These lava cakes are a belated Valentine's recipe that I never got around to posting... WOW life has been busy! (But the recipe experiments haven't stopped in the Dimpled Date kitchen). My senior family dog, Colbie, passed in early January of this year and I wanted to make a series of desserts dedicated to her, including these black + tan lava cakes (because Colbie was a German shepherd and was black and tan) <3 If you love my OG chocolate lava cakes, you're really gonna love these chocolatey, caramely, gooey, sweet, oh-so-rich molten lava cakes, with chocolate and tan vanilla-caramel batters, stuffed with date-sweetened dark chocolate and luscious 5-minute date sugar caramel. As always, these lava cakes are vegan, GF, and fruit-sweetened. Happy Belated Valentine's/Galentine's! <3
I'm back after a SUPER long hiatus!! I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, I've been busy finishing up my Bachelor's degree (and maintaining a 4.0!), writing my first two YA fantasy novels, taking a baked wedding cake/cake decorating course and a professional vegan glazing course (AKA for mirror glaze art), launching my cake biz, applying to jobs, organizing/leading two separate writers' groups (and joining an extra-curricular writing club at school), taking a food safety manager course (to earn my cottage kitchen license), as well as testing, testing, testing recipes the whole time... so it's been a lot!
But it's also been great and very exciting... exciting new changes are coming to The Dimpled Date soon too...
But back to these lava cakes: they are sweeter, lighter, and somehow gooier/stickier than my traditional chocolate lava cakes, but don't sacrifice on the decadent chocolate or rich caramel flavor. On top of it: these ones are marbled. And they are oh so simple to make. Just blend the ingredients for each batter separately, scoop a little each into greased muffin tin cavity and push a square of vegan chocolate of choice and drizzle a lil caramel into the center (the caramel = essentially stirring ingredients together for 5 min over heat), and then bake the lava cakes. That's it. Bon Appétit. Need I say more?
These lava cakes are 100% vegan, gluten-free, and date-sweetened (chocolate, caramel, and all) and have (optional) hidden legumes inside that you won't taste or feel! Delicious + healthy + easy + fun marbled effect? Count me in!
Unfortunately, these photos didn't come out the best bc I had made these particular lava cakes twice before I made the ones for this photoshoot and the first two times the lava cakes came out ✨flawless✨ (a perfect even, non-burnt pale tan exterior contrasting a deep dark brown outer batter, just like Colbie's coloring :' ) But the first time I made them they were for an order, the second time they were for friends and I didn't have time to photograph them then, and ofc the third time they came out as you see in the photos. Trust me when I say they taste WAY better than they look in these photos and when you make them they will look way better than this, too.
Speaking of better photos, wanna see some of the cakes I've been learning to make in my cake decorating course?? Read on!
In the healthy cake decorating course I'm currently taking (where all the recipes are vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar free, and natural, mostly baked cakes, but some are 100% raw too), we learn to make large wedding cakes, both raw and baked (we're talking 6+ lb cakes) coated in velour AKA velvet coating (no, not a fabric, and yes it's vegan and edible, nothing to do with real velvet). Velvet coating looks like this, and it's made of chocolate (in this course, it's healthy chocolate):
Yes, I made these cakes and photographed them myself, and yes, that's real gold leaf (I know, bougie haha!). We're also learning vegan chocolate-making techniques in the course, as well as how to work with fondant, piping skills, and sugar sculpture AKA sugar art. Some other cakes I've learned to make:
Minnie Mouse:
And, another cake made & photographed by me (raw pink + purple unicorn):
I had to improvise with this last unicorn cake above because my sprayer broke, so I couldn't apply the coating and had to get creative... but it didn't turn out half bad (and was still delicious)! And ofc my camera decided to die in the middle of the shoot, so I had to take crappy iPhone photos 🙃 At least it was yummy and looked great in person! And moms I know have fed this to their 1+ year olds and they have loved it! It's completely allergy-friendly and free of honey and perfect for kids! Unfortunately, I can't share these recipes because they are ones from the course, but I am writing new original recipes based on these ones I made from the course and will be selling and/or sharing the recipes here on The Dimpled Date (or will at least share photos :)) Stay tuned for more photo updates (and glazing art updates)!
Oh and one last one: this is the cake I made my Dad for his birthday inspired by our family dog Colbie who just passed (Colbie was closest with my Dad and Colbie was my Dad's favorite). I'm calling it a "Colbie Doggo Unicorn Cake," It's baked and the flavor is low-fat chocolate PB (unfortunately the eyes got a little wonky bc I tried making my own healthy fondant, but the rest is a great first attempt in my efforts to make the perfect Colbie dedication cake, esp. considering I skipped ahead a couple of weeks in my cake decorating course w/o watching all the lessons to make this for my Dad):
Again a work in progress with those eyes, hence why the pink/purple unicorn cake above it had the eyes painted on... But it was delicious and the velour came out great!
Back to the lava cakes: tbh I'm gonna cut to the chase and skip the Substitutions section because the substitutions are so similar to my plain chocolate lava cakes, that you can go to that recipe and look at the "Substitutions" section there for this recipe.
Oh, and did I mention? You can make MINI lava cakes for this recipe too!
Stay Tuned for More Deliciousness Coming Soon!
Including a belated St. Paddy's recipe... Keep posted.
Enjoy! <3
-K.
Healthy Black + Tan Lava Caramel Cakes (Vegan, GF, Date-Sweetened)
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hr (approx.)
Servings: 6 large lava cakes (or 12 minis)
Ingredients (dark chocolate batter):
-1 cup dates (pref. Medjool), soaked 5-15 min in hot water
-1/4 cup 100% dark chocolate, melted (can sub cacao paste)
-2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
-1/4 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 cup canned black beans OR kidney beans, drained and rinsed (optional)
-1/4 cup gluten-free oat flour
-1/4 cup almond flour, NOT packed
-1/4 cup cacao powder
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-tiny pinch sea salt
-2 Tbsp unsweetened plant milk of choice (nut-free or soy-free, as needed)
Ingredients (tan vanilla batter):
-1/3 cup date sugar (whole dried & ground dates) + an extra 2 Tbsp unsweetened plant milk OR just 3/4 cup whole dates, soaked and NO extra plant milk
-1/4 cup coconut butter, softened
-2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
-1/4 tsp pure ground vanilla beans OR an additional 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 cup gluten-free oat flour
-1/4 cup almond flour
-2 Tbsp unsweetened dry coconut milk powder (can sub oat milk powder)
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-tiny pinch sea salt
-2 Tbsp unsweetened plant milk of choice
Date Sugar Salted Caramel Sauce (for lava) (see other options below):
-5 grams arrowroot starch
-30 grams filtered water
-160 grams full-fat coconut milk, stirred
-55 grams date sugar
-2 Tbsp date paste (Detoxinista has a great recipe!)
-15 ml coconut oil, melted
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 tsp sea salt
-2 Tbsp vegan butter, cold
Stuff with:
-1-2 small pieces my Date-Sweetened Dark Chocolate OR 1-2 small pieces vegan dark chocolate of choice OR 1-2 small squares 100% dark chocolate
-a good drizzle my Date Sugar Salted Caramel (recipe above) OR a good drizzle my Whole Date-Sweetened Coconut Caramel Sauce OR a good drizzle your vegan/refined sugar free caramel sauce of choice
-(optional): 1 small piece my vegan Date-Sweetened Silky Smooth White Chocolate (in this recipe) OR 1 small piece my Whole Date-Sweetened Vegan White Choco (this one) OR 1 small piece your vegan white chocolate of choice (optional, omit for simple chocolate + caramel lava)
For serving (optional):
-fresh fruit (esp. berries)
-an additional drizzle of date-sweetened caramel
-100% dark chocolate shavings
Directions:
1. If using my Date-Sweetened Dark Chocolate or either of my white chocolate recipes for stuffing my lava cakes, make them ahead of time, following the directions in those recipes. Make at least 1-2 hours in advance to allow it time to chill/set. Likewise, if you are using my Coconut Caramel Sauce, make ahead of time as per the directions in that recipe, and store in the fridge until ready to use. For the lava cake batters, prep the ingredients: soak the dates, melt the 100% chocolate, melt the coconut oil, soften the coconut butter, and drain and rinse the beans. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. And grease a standard-sized muffin tin (or a mini muffin tin for mini lava cakes!) lightly with coconut oil, pure avocado oil spray, or vegan butter. Alternatively, you can use 6 regular-size ramekins or 12 mini ramekins (for minis).
2. If making the Date Sugar Salted Caramel Sauce, mix the arrowroot starch and water together into a slurry. Set aside. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the slurry and the vegan butter to a medium saucepan set to medium-high heat. Stir until it begins to boil. Once boiling, add the slurry to the saucepan and whisk until dissolved, 30 seconds. Then reduce heat to very low and whisk 3-5 more minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the cold vegan butter until melted and the caramel is smooth.
3. Blend all the ingredients for the tan vanilla lava cake batter in a food processor until super smooth, scraping down the sides and re-blending as many times as necessary. Scoop into a bowl and set aside.
4. Add all the ingredients for the dark chocolate lava cake batter to the food processor and blend until super smooth, scraping down the sides and re-blending as many times as necessary.
5. Scoop a little of the tan batter and a little of the chocolate batter into each muffin tin cavity or ramekin, trying to alternate between the two colors. Fill each tin well/ramekin 3/4 of the way. You should have 6 full-size lava cakes or 12 minis.
6. Push a square or two of your chosen dark chocolate (either my recipe or store-bought) into the center of each lava cake, and drizzle caramel generously into each well. Add a square of your white chocolate of choice (my recipe or otherwise) if you'd like too. This will make the lava inside the cakes. Smooth the batter over the fillings, so it's sealed inside.
7. Bake in the preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, just until the lava cakes are solid and dry. 3 to 5 minutes for minis or until the tops are dry.
8. Allow to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before loosening with a butter knife around the perimeter of each lava cake and inverting onto a large cutting board to release the cakes.
9. Serve warm with toppings of choice or on their own (they don't need anything additional!). Enjoy! Happy Valentine's <3
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
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