Paleo Molten Lava Cakes with Salted Caramel
Perfectly gooey and rich Paleo molten lava cakes filled with a vegan salted caramel sauce that quick and easy to make! You won’t believe these chocolate lava cakes are grain free, nut free, and vegan!
Soooo I’ve been on a bit of a fall kick. Really, a Halloween kick. Basically, every day in October is Halloween for me.
You should see my Pinterest boards and Instagram stories. I’m pinning, sharing, and oogling at everything autumn and slightly spooky in a friendly way.
Just call me Wednesday Addams.
So I’ve been thinking we need some fun and decadently healthy Halloween treats up here, and what’s more wickedly delicious than chocolate and salted caramel combine?!
When they’re combined into a Paleo molten lava cake recipe with a vegan salted caramel sauce filling 🙂
Of course, I had to set the scene…and use up the rest of my salted caramel sauce, so I made some homemade Paleo vegan salted caramel cups to go with these cakes…best decision ever.
You’ll be SPOOKED by how decadent these molten lava cakes are, and even more scared by how easy they are to whip up in the kitchen!
Why are these Paleo vegan flourless lava cakes the best?
Hard to believe that these cakes contain zero eggs, zero dairy, zero refined sugar, and zero regular flour, I know.
But this is the time of year when seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing 😉
So how are these lava cakes so good when they omit all of the ingredients you might be used to (don’t worry, I’m not saying those ingredients are bad! Just fun to try new stuff, ya feel?)?
- They’re crisp on the edges and straight up goo in the center. The salted caramel sauce just tumbles out when you scoop that first bite.
- It will be the richest chocolate you’ve ever bit into. You know that meme about getting chocolate wasted? Yeah that will be you.
- The salted caramel sauce cuts the bitterness of the chocolate so nicely, you won’t be overwhelmed by too much sweet nor too much bitter. We’re talking Goldilocks complex here, people.
- These molten lava cakes are extraordinarily allergy friendly. Anyone can eat these and think it’s just your run o’ the mill lava cake, but little do they know, these cakes are gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, and nut free. I mean, come on now! If that isn’t a win, I don’t know what is!
How to make a chocolate lava cake recipe:
So making chocolate lava cakes is actually a lot easier than it would seem, and same goes for making them Paleo and vegan (don’t let that scare nor intimidate you!).
You only need a whopping total of 6 ingredients for this entire recipe:
- Vegan butter or coconut oil
- Chocolate chips (I recommend 100% but you can use any brand that is Paleo/vegan friendly or your favorite!)
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Coconut sugar
- Cassava flour (or GF flour or regular all-purpose flour- note, then it will not be Paleo, but it will still be vegan)
- Vegan salted caramel sauce (which I’ve included in this recipe! This salted caramel sauce is also Paleo and just so easy!)
You’ll definitely want to make the vegan salted caramel sauce ahead of time. I recommend giving yourself a day before you want to make the cakes or you can always purchase your caramel sauce in stores!
The beauty cool thing about this sauce, as you’ve probably noticed in these scenes, is that the sauce can be used in various recipes, like making homemade salted caramel cups 🙂 one of my favorite healthy halloween treats!
Now to making these deliciously chocolatey molten lava cakes. It’s as easy as basically 1, 2, 3!
- Melt the chocolate and butter together and then set aside.
- Combine the remaining ingredients of the lava cakes, then fold in the chocolate so that everything is mixed together.
- Spoon the batter into the ramekins, and dollop with the salted caramel sauce in the middle. Cover the sauce with the remaining batter and bake!
Now, the hardest part of this whole chocolate lava cake process is allowing the cakes to set right after they bake.
Making the vegan salted caramel sauce:
So you want to make your own Paleo vegan salted caramel sauce 😉 look at you, Little Chef! (That was a Ratatouille reference, and I really hope someone got that so I can feel validated for my Disney obsession haha!)
Making this dairy free salted caramel sauce is just as easy as making the regular version.
All you need to do is basically combine all the ingredients into a saucepan, cook it long enough for the heat to thicken the sauce, and then let it cool!
Now, I recommend making this sauce beforehand, preferably the day before, so it has enough time to chill and thicken up to go into your flourless lava cakes.
Trust me, you’re going to love these chocolatey cakes of decadence!
Tips & Tricks for this Paleo Molten Lava Cake Recipe:
- Use 100% dark chocolate. The unsweetened applesauce and the coconut sugar makes this flourless lava cake very sweet, so don’t worry about it being too bitter! I prefer to use 100% because I really enjoy the richness of the chocolate. It makes for the most decadent chocolate lava cake!
- Don’t want salted caramel sauce? No problem! You can pop a few chocolate chips into the middle of the batter, or even your favorite nut butter instead! Then just pour a little extra batter right over it, and bake as the directions state.
- Use a mold or a ramekin! So I decided to test these out with fun Halloween molds (because you all know I love my Halloween haha!) and they came out BEAUTIFULLY! So if you’re feeling in the festive mood, try out a mold! If not, ramekins will always work wonderfully.
- Make sure to prepare the ramekins or molds before the batter! This step is crucial, so I thought I’d just reiterate it here. Make sure that the sides and bottoms of your ramekins and molds are coated in vegan butter or coconut oil, and dusted with cassava flour. You don’t want a Paleo molten lava cake to get stuck!
I hope you love this Paleo molten lava cake recipe as much as I do! They’re so incredibly easy to make, it’s almost *scary* (plus if you use the molds, they make for one of the best healthy Halloween treats!).
If you give this recipe a go, let me know down in the comments. I also love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there when you make one of these recipes!
Happy lava caking and Halloween! 😉
More Healthy Halloween Treats:
The BEST Healthy Pumpkin Bread
Healthy Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
PrintPaleo Molten Lava Cake Recipe with Salted Caramel
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 18
- Total Time: 48 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
Description
Perfectly gooey and rich Paleo molten lava cakes filled with a vegan salted caramel sauce that quick and easy to make! You won’t believe these chocolate lava cakes are grain free, nut free, and vegan!
Ingredients
Chocolate Lava Cakes
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp vegan butter or coconut oil, separated
- 2/3 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup cassava flour
- 1 tbsp cassava flour, for dusting
- 1 batch vegan Paleo caramel sauce recipe
Instructions
Molten Lava Cakes:
- Prepare caramel sauce first to allow for time to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 425F and prepare your ramekins or molds with 1 tbsp melted vegan butter and 1 tbsp flour.
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat the butter until melted and hot. Add in the chocolate chips and stir until melted. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the applesauce and coconut sugar until well combined.
- Pour in the melted chocolate and fold the chocolate into the applesauce coconut sugar mixture.
- Add in the cassava flour and mix until there are no more clumps.
- Fill the ramekins or molds 3/4 of the way full with batter. Add 1 heaping tbsp of caramel sauce into the middle of each bowl.
- Add the remaining batter on top, and place the ramekins onto a baking sheet and into the oven to bake for 16-18 minutes, or until the middle just begins to set.
- Remove from the oven and let cool and set for 10 minutes.
- Use a knife to run along the edges of the cake (use oven mitts if the ramekins are hot) and flip over gently onto serving plates.
- Enjoy!
This is literally my favorite dessert ever (I do NOT use that word willy-nilly)! Standing ovation 🙂 Wow 👏👏
This means the world to me!! I am so happy to hear it 🙂 Enjoy it all!
Can I substitute cassava for whole wheat flour? Not trying to be paleo.
Yes absolutely!! It’s a 1:1 conversion so it’ll work great 🙂 whole wheat can tend to be a bit grittier though, so if you can, I’d recommend white whole wheat flour, but both will still taste good!
Can we use spelt flour instead of cassava?
Hi Ashley! I have not tried these with spelt flour, which acts a bit different from all purpose. I would do either all purpose of gluten free 1-to-1 if you don’t have cassava!