Just take a look at this luscious, melt-in-your-mouth decadent rich dark chocolate lava cake! Death by chocolate, you say?…Nope, you can enjoy this one without the guilt! There is nothing unhealthy about it, quite the contrary, in fact: It has no extra added sugar, it is vegan (gluten-free & soy-free too) and it is filled with wholesome plant-based ingredients rich in fiber, protein, minerals and omega 3’s: dark chocolate, sweet potato, black lentils, walnuts, flax meal, and medjool dates, THAT’S IT: 6 ingredients! The beauty of it is that you can’ t even taste these individual ingredients….other than the creamy dark chocolate, of course! Even I cannot believe how extravagantly delicious this chocolate lava cake tastes! So many of you have been trying to guess the ingredients, well now the word is out…enjoy to your heart’s content, quite literally!
- ½ cup raw walnuts halves
- 6 medjool dates, pitted
- 1 baked small sweet potato*, skin removed, mashed with a fork (about ⅔ cup)
- 1(15 oz) can organic black lentils, rinsed & drained*
- 3 Tbsp flaxmeal diluted in ⅔ cup water
- 10 oz dark chocolate (60% cocoa)
- Optional: Drizzle with vegan chocolate fudge sauce(link to recipe below)
- Preheat the oven 375 F
- Break the dark chocolate into large pieces and place in a microwavable cup. Heat for 1-2 minutes on high until melted, stir and set aside.
- Place the walnuts & pitted dates in the bowl of a food processor and grind well for 30 seconds.
- Add the mashed sweet potato, drained black lentils and diluted flaxmeal (with the water) to the date/nut ground mixture and pulse a few times, scraping the sides of the bowl in between to make sure the "batter" is very smooth.
- Add the melted dark chocolate and process for an additional 20-30 seconds until creamy and smooth.
- Line a muffin baking pan with 12 silicone cupcake liners or individual porcelain ramekins (2.5 oz) lightly greased with a little canola oil ((so that you can later easily unmold them onto a plate) and scoop the batter in so that each is ⅔ full.
- Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes (It's OK to underbake as this is a vegan recipe and the middle doesn't have to be fully baked).
- Let cool, then gently run a knife around the perimeter first before unmolding onto a small plate.
- Drizzle with a little chocolate fudge sauce from a squeeze plastic bottle (see recipe link below).
I like to have them ready to go, unbaked in the fridge and I just throw them in the oven right before dinner time for 15 minutes, so that they are perfectly warm and melting by the time dessert comes around! You can keep them in the ramekins or unmold them onto a little plate, like I did for my holiday party this week…. and they will completely wow your guests!!
Click here for baking instructions for the sweet potato.
Here is the recipe for my vegan chocolate fudge sauce, if using:
It’s easiest to drizzle the chocolate fudge sauce from a plastic squeeze bottle. You can find it at any supermarket, in the tupperware isle.
Dear Catherine, I’m a big fan of your vegan recipes and an all time favorite is your chocolate lava cake. I once had a great recipe that called for Black walnuts in a cake. Would it be possible to substitute those instead of regular walnuts?
THank you Ginger! Wow black walnuts sound so decadently delicious, not only can you substitute but I will try them next time too, I wish I had thought of it!! 🙂
Hi Catherine, Thanks for your quick response to my request. My recipe for a delicious chocolate cake came from a relative in Iowa. Black walnuts are a staple in the Midwest. Next time I make your fabulous vegan lava cake I will use black walnuts!😊
Hi there!
Would I be able to sub the black lentils for something else (green or red lentils perhaps) as black lentils are hard to come by in New Zealand?
Also could I make this in a blender instead of food processor (you’re just wanting a perfectly smooth consistency for this right)?
Thank you so much! The recipe looks delicious! <3
Hi M! Any regular brown lentils will do. I suppose green or red will too but I have never tried. You can certaily use your blender but you are absolutely right, the gola is to achieve a perfectly smooth consistency so that you cannot “taste” or “feel” the lentils. I hope this helps!
Dear Catherine, I just came upon your website by accident as I was watching the interview your husband did with Bill Maher. As a pediatrician and mom of 3 (hungry) teen boys, I appreciate your dedication to providing nutritious and delicious recipes for your family. I also love your family photos–you have a beautiful family, and it gives me hope that all my boys will some day choose to eat more healthy foods, instead of traditional beige diet foods (mac and cheese, grilled cheese, white potatoes). They are all competitive swimmers, and in good shape, but more because they exercise a lot than because I am a good cook! Two of my boys are good at eating healthy foods, but one of them does not like to eat most vegetables, only fruits.
In any case, my quick q is about this chocolate lava cake recipe. One of my sons is highly allergic to treenuts, so I cannot bake or cook with walnuts or almonds. Is there a substitute for the walnuts in the recipe that would be acceptable?
To be honest, my husband and I are trying to eat more of a plant-based diet, and I am trained in Integrative Medicine, and I generally embrace the Mediterranean diet. But for my son who is unable to eat nuts, I find it is difficult to get enough plant-based protein enriched foods, so we end up eating a fair amount of meat.
Thanks, and I look forward to trying your recipes. But I am a busy working mom, so I generally make it a point to try one new recipe a week (esp during this COVID time), so this weekend, I am going to try some of yours! Sandy Jee (U of Rochester Med Center)
Thank you so much Sandra for your lovely comment and kindness! You have your work cut out for you and I applaud you! wow! I am not sure what you could replace the nuts with for this particular recipe but perhaps you could instead try my flourless chocolate cake (not vegan if that’s OK) but it has lots of pureed lentils in it instead of flour and is as nutritious as it is delicious, https://cuisinicity.com/flourless-chocolate-cake/ If you want to go another route than a cake, and your kids love chocolate, I would recommend my cocoa almond oat “milk” shake,https://cuisinicity.com/cocoa-oat-almond-shake-vegan/ or my creme au chocolat https://cuisinicity.com/baked-chocolate-custard/
I hope this is helpful! Please don’t hesitate to contact me! You are one amazing woman, I can tell!
love,
Catherine
Greetings! This is mmy 1st comment here so I just wanted to give
a quick shout out and tell you I truly enjoy reading
through your articles. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same subjects?
Thank you!
These are absolutely amazing, and very easy to make. I was very skeptical of the ingredients, however, now I’m a believer! The cakes come together in a couple of minutes, and they are very chocolatey, moist and fudgy – couldn’t ask for anything more!
Thank you so much Judi for trusting me….and loving it!! 🙂
I didn’t have walnuts, flaxmeal, dates, or sweet potato so I had to improvise (pistachios, raisins, and pumpkin), but they were still delicious! It somehow made 20 cakes instead of 12, but I have no problem with that!
Geez Sara, I can’t believe it! you didn’t have 4 out of the 6 ingredients for this recipe and you still attempted it? That’s just amazing! You are one determines (and lucky!) baker!! 🙂
Right here is the perfect webpage for everyone who wishes to understand this topic.
You know so much its almost hard to argue with you (not
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spin on a topic that has been discussed for ages.
Excellsnt stuff, just wonderful!
Heyy I am so happy I found your blog page, I reaally found yoou by accident, while I wwas searching on Digg for something else,
Anyways I aam here now and would just like to say thanks
a lot for a incredible post and a all round exciting blog (I also loove the theme/design),
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and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please
do keep up the fantastic b.
I am so delighted that you found my website and I wish you a BIG WELCOME to the Cuisinicity table! Bon appétit! 🙂 love, catherine
hi catherine,
i loved this recipe at the Viva Fresh Expo this past weekend. If i recall do you put tofu in it instead of sweet potato? please advise
Thanks
Alyssa Hind
GM Produce Sales
956-222-3166
Hi Alyssa! The dessert that I made for the viva fresh expo was my creme au chocolat, not my lava cake. Here is the recipe for you: https://cuisinicity.com/baked-chocolate-custard/ Enjoy!!
Hello how do I know when the batter is smooth enough? I’m using lentils from scratch, and I can still see them… How much should I “pulse?” Thank you!
Hi Teresa, As long as the lentils are cooked through, they will disappear quickly into the batter when you put them in the food processor. it sound like you might have undercooked them. You can also use canned drained lentils.
Dear Catherine,
I finally, finally got around to make it… It was rather difficult to find sweet potatoes here, then when I had them to coordinate with dinner the night before ( back in Houston, l definetly would have used a can for that reason).
Well what should I say, it was decadently yummy! Since it is vegan, my little 2.5 year old could clean out the bolw without any worries, and me too ( I am pregnant again, so no raw eggs etc. BTW one of my early pregnancy cravings was your forbidden rise, egg plant vegan burger on whole whear heavy German bread garnished with lots of avocado and tomato and salsa … I guess Texan-East Coast-German fusion 😉 )
My mother in law and her twin sister are here to visit, and they were absolutely in love with the decadent chocolate lava cake, and could almost not believe that it is mostly healthy ;-). I am on a mission with them, that eating better can be yummy, not too laborious and healthy. So I mainly cook your recipies when they visit. Well even when they are not here you are a frequent guest and inspiration in our kitchen. I not only cook your recipies, but when I creat some I often use some of your concepts like adding lentils to create creaminess in soups etc….
My Sweetest Sibylle,
First of all CONGRATULATIONS on your pregnancy! That makes me so happy! I am also glad that you and you little sweetie could devour the chocolate lava cake whole heartedly and that your mother in law and her sister could enjoy it as well! They are all so luck to have you….and so am I! I send you an extra hug for your beautiful belly too! 🙂
This was great but not quite sweet enough. I had to use deglet dates as my market didn’t have medjool. Wonder if this was the difference. Also, my small sweet potato didn’t quite come to 2/3 cup. Perhaps that’s another reason it wasn’t sweet enough? The volume of lentils is clearly flexible as a 15 ounce can comes to more than a cup (the suggested amount to use if you were making the lentils from scratch). My 12 muffin cups ended up being full (not 2/3s full), but there was no problem with overflow. Love the serving size. It is small but the richness makes it right. The sauce was super too. This is the first Christmas we’ve had a family member who is vegan and your recipe was a welcome adventure.
Aw I am so sorry Leslie, it’s absolutely because of the medjool dates! They are twice as big and sweeter than the regular ones which is why I just love them and use them in my pastries. Had you asked me ahead, I would have told you to double the amount with the little dates. As for the 15 oz can of black beluga lentils, the brand I recommend makes exactly one full cup, packed, which is what it should be when you make them from scratch. Anyway, I am glad that it still turned out OK for you! 🙂
Wow, this looks delicious, I think some orange zest will be going into my version. 🙂
Yes, perfect!! Diana that would such a lovely addition! YUM!!! 🙂
I’m a HUGE chocolate fan. This looks a lot healthier than most so I’ll give this a try. We seem to be on the same page. I recently posted my favorite flourless chocolate torte recipe on our site (https://vitamedica.com/wellness-blog/flourless-chocolate-torte/). Great minds think alike? Hey, combine with a glass of red wine and you’ve got your day’s worth of flavonoids :).
Haha!! I love the way you are thinking Yvette! 🙂 🙂
It is beyond tasty! Thank you so much for this recipe. I have not expected black lentils and sweet potato turn out so well together.
I am delighted to hear that Naila!! Thank you so for your wonderful comment! 🙂
ça a un goût super de revenez-y! aïe!! mais je congèle tout ça pour plus trad!!! j’espère!!! merci ten hearts! of course ! martine de france
eh bien , I add 5 hearts more , non mais!!! martine de France
Hahahahha!!! MERCI!! 🙂
it’s absolutely delicious! incroyable ! mais ….dangereux pour nos hanches ! fondant! crémeux et pas du tout sucré! une merveille , merci pour cette belle recette that deserves much more than 5 heart s, décidément!! martine de France
Thank you so much!!! I love that you love it!! (et meme pas trop dangereux pour les hanches–chaque gateau n’a que 250 calories, ce qui pour un dessert si “riche” est incroyable!!) 🙂
Catherine,
I wouldn’t even attempt to make this sumptuous looking cake!! I would never be able to stop at just one-ha!!!
Caroline
Hi Catherine,
Will you please clarify the amount of lentils used. Would one 15 oz can be almost 2 cups? Yet if you prepare them from scratch, you only need one cup?
Thank you
Hi Sharon, it’s equivalent to 1 cup (packed) as I specified in my note.
Two questions: Are these baked as cupcakes or as one large cake?
Do you have a calorie count?
Thanks!
Yes, Linda, I bake them individually see instructions and no, I haven’t had a chance to do the nutritional analysis yet. I know it’s going to be outstanding based on the nutrients I picked (and lack therof – no added sugar) but I don’t know the calorie count. You could probably figure it out, knowing that this recipe makes 12 individual cupcakes or servings. I hope this helps
I just did an estimate in the LoseIt! App where I record everything I eat.
The entire recipe comes out to approximately 2,439 Calories, with 157.7g of fat, 70.7g saturated fat, 0 cholesterol, 46.6mg sodium, 280.1g carbs, 46.8g fiber, 169.4g sugar, 41.9g protein.
Divided by 12 is 203 Calories, 13g fat, 6g saturated fat, 0 cholesterol, 4g sodium, 23g carbs, 4g fiber, 14g sugar, 3.5g protein per serving.
9g of sugar is from the chocolate, which is added sugar, I think. The dates are the other 5g.
MUCH better than the restaurant versions, but don’t eat more than one!
Thank you Aria!! WOW, as expected, very impressive!! Also would be nice to get the respective totals of MUFA,PUFA and omega-3 healthy fats. 207 calories for a decadent tasting cake (and nutritious) is absolutely outstanding! Thank you so much for taking the time to do the calculation, it’s the beauty of having a simple and short list of wholesome ingredients! WOW!!
What is MUFA and PUFA?
Also, I used a 145 Calorie per oz 60% dark chocolate. It may be possible to find a brand of chocolate with less Calories, and thus less sugar or fat.
Aria, Mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fat both healthy fat and I should mention that the saturated fat in the dark chocolate is largely stearic acid, also healthy.
Wow. Just took this out of the oven. Decadent barely scratches the surface. We have been slowly but surely eliminating processed and sugar-laden foods from our family’s diet. It’s recipes like this that has made the transition so easy! Thank you!
YAY!!! That makes me so happy Lori!! I am truly delighted that your family loves it as much as ours! Thank you so much for such a lovely comment 🙂 🙂
This looks fabulous! Do you think the walnuts are critical. My husband cannot eat them. I suppose I could replace with sunflower seed or pine nuts… TIA
Hi Lynette!
Thank you for your lovely comment! I think the walnuts are a wonderful addition, both culinarily and nutritionally BUT if your husband is allergic to them then, I agree you are probably right, ground pine nuts, sunflower seeds or I was even thinking ground pistachios might work as well. Please let me know, if you try it and it turns out just as FABULOUS too and I will share with my followers who are allergic to walnuts. 🙂 What’s TIA?
Catherine I love you so much…TIA means thanks in advance.
Hi Catherine. Do you think I can replace sweet potato by pumpkin? Merci
Yes Sam, you could, but, as much as I love pumpkin for many other recipes (I use it all the time) I don’t like it as much for this particular recipe because its flavor is a little less subtle than that of a sweet potato so that it won’t let the dark chocolate predominate the way I love it here. Also, pumpkin is slightly less sweet so you may have to add another date to sweeten the cake a bit more. Finally I don’t like its texture as much for this particular recipe as I do the sweet potato’s….so what I am saying is, yes you could, but why would you, when this is just perfect the way it is!! If it’s an issue of convenience, you could use canned sweet potato but I find it a little too “liquidy” for my taste. In the end, it’s just a question of throwing a sweet potato in the oven and having it ready to go, and it is so worth it! 🙂 I hope this was helpful!
Brilliant recipe! I just KNEW walnuts would be one ingredient!! Hahaha! Can’t wait to try it Catherine. Thank you once again 🙂
Aw Donna, Thank you my friend!! 🙂
Looking forward to more guessing games Catherine.
Haha, Sheila, although once you know me, you may always suspect lentils as a secret ingredient! They are so versatile and so healthy!! 🙂 🙂
Oh My!! Does this ever look good! Can’t wait to make this!
YES Julie, I just knew you were going to love it, just as much I do!! 🙂
Can’t wait to make this!! You stumped me too with the walnuts. It was a lot of fun guessing though!
HAHA Carleen, yes, I loved it!! You will not believe how decadent tasting it is!! 🙂 Cant wait for you to report back!!! Remember to rate with the little hearts!
WOW !!! You got me with the walnuts !! THIS will be baked over the weekend !! Review to come !!! 🙂
YAY Tracey! I am so excited about this cake! Please let me know if you LOVED it!! 🙂 (I am so sure of myself here!! HAHAHA!) oh and if you DO love them, don’t forget to rate with the little hearts!
I’m really going to have to get a food processor, maybe Santa will be kind this year, I used my Bullet & hand mixer. It didn’t get smooth enough & kept jammed in the blade’s of the bullet. So it didn’t bake properly. But it did have a good flavor. lol I know it’s delish !!!
Ah YES Tracey, that really is crucial! I bet Santa will spoil you with one this year!! 🙂
bonjour, ça a l’air rudement bon! je vais essayer de ce pas ! merci! martine de France
Bonjour Martine! Vous allez vous RE-GA-LER!!!! WOOOOW! Il me tarde que vous m’en donniez des nouvelles!!! 🙂
I’m over here mouth watering looking at this incredibly decadent treat!!! And that much better knowing that it’s guilt-free! Cannot wait to try this deliciousity 🙂
YAY CORINDA!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 It was so much fun having all of you guessing all that time! That’s what made me think to ask the same question to all my followers as well, as they too were baffled and so determined to figure it out. You are going to be obsessed with this cake!!!HAHAHA!!! 🙂
I have no doubt about that!!! 😀