Chocolate Raspberry Lava Cakes

Updated: Feb 11

These chocolate raspberry lava cakes have the greatest reward to effort ratio of any dessert! Super easy to make and all from pantry ingredients, you'll be devouring it in less than 40 minutes from the time you open your cupboard. And your guest(s) will barely believe that it's gluten-free AND vegan! The cake has a light perfect crumb, and the hot gooey center flows out to give it the surprise berry and melty chocolate yumminess.

The ingredients of these cakes are healthier than most, and allergen-friendly. No nuts, no refined sugar, no animal products, and no gluten! I use my home made chia jam in the center, which adds a touch of protein from the chia and keeps the ingredients clean.

"Drooling over this! Best vegan chef I know!" -- Angela Skeldon

The "lava" of many lava cakes is actually a raw batter center of a cake that has simply not been baked all the way through. Since we're making this vegan, there's no worry about eating any raw eggs in the unbaked batter, however, I've added a surprise center of jam and a square of high-quality dark chocolate that gets nice and melty. I do not recommend chocolate chips.

I'm a huge fan of Alter Eco chocolate for their regenerative agriculture practices. If you haven't heard of regenerative agriculture (regen-ag), you will! It takes the idea of sustainability and goes further to show that we can actually regenerate, or bring back, and improve soil, water, etc. Cacao farming comes with many controversial practices, and it's nice to know that this brand is taking care of its farmers, its community, as well as contributing to the regeneration of the earth through their better-than-sustainable practices. When we think about treating our loved ones with a rich, loving home-made dessert such as this Lava Cake, I like to remember that taking care of the planet IS taking care of our loved ones, and buy responsible products to go into our goodies. And, OK, Alter Eco chocolate has superior tastes and texture too!