Instant Pot Grain Free Lava Cake
This decadent Molten Lava Cake is grain free and perfect for sharing! What better way to kick off the month then with an ooey-gooey chocolate cake!
If you’re unfamiliar with a lava cake, it’s an exciting dessert! The cake on the outside is spongy and wonderful but the middle is like a pudding. If that doesn’t wet your whistle, I don’t know what will.
Let’s talk ingredients. In developing this recipe, I wanted to make sure it was grain, nut, and dairy free! I use ghee instead of butter because it gives all the decadence of butter without the milk protein, which is the most common irritant for those with a dairy sensitivity. If you cannot consume ghee, I suggest substituting it with coconut shortening or coconut oil.
Cacao powder is a superfood. It’s high in antioxidants and the purest form of chocolate you can consume. It is much less processed than cocoa powder (different from cacao powder), although you can substitute cocoa powder in this recipe if that is all you have on hand.
There are so many options when it comes to dairy-free chocolate chips! Trader Joes, Costco, and even Target have their own name brands. The shtick, for me, is trying to find dairy-free chocolate that doesn’t contain soy. Processed soy can mimic estrogen in the body and in excess amounts, it can cause you to store belly fat. I opt for Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips. They are nut free, dairy free, soy free, and grain free. They’re also Non-GMO project certified!
The instant coffee granules really enhance the chocolatey flavor. If you do not have them on hand, there’s no need to worry, you can simply omit them and your cakes will still be very delicious!
The cook time for this recipe can vary a bit depending on how thick or thin the ramekins you use are. I use oven safe pyrex dishes. If you use Corningware, you might want to extend the cook time because it tends to be a bit on the thicker side.
You’ll know the cake is finished cooking when the sides pull away from the dish and the cake is cooked on all sides but has a bit of jiggle in the middle.
If you like this recipe you’ll love my Instant Pot Blondies and my Pumpkin Cake Donuts with Maple Bacon Glaze!
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Instant Pot Grain Free Lava Cake
Print RecipeIngredients
- 4 tablespoons ghee or salted grass-fed butter, plus extra for greasing
- 1 tablespoon cacao powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup dairy free chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
- 1/8 teaspoon fine ground sea salt
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Grease 2 (8-ounce) oven safe ramekins with ghee. Lightly dust the inside of the ramekins with cacao powder, set aside. In a high powered blender, like the Vitamix, add 4 tablespoons ghee, eggs, chocolate chips, coconut sugar, arrowroot flour, coconut four, instant coffee, and sea salt. Blend until the ingredients form a smooth batter.
- Fill the ramekins 3/4th's full, dividing the batter evenly between the two, and cover with foil. Set the ramekins on top of the trivet. Place 1 cup of water inside your electric pressure cooker and carefully lower the trivet with the ramekins inside. Place the lid on the pot. Make sure the pressure knob is in the sealing position. Using the display panel, select the manual/pressure cook function, high pressure, and use the +/- buttons until the display reads 14 minutes.
- When the cooker beeps to let you know its finished, switch the pressure knob from the sealing to the venting position, administering a quick release. Use caution while the steam escapes- it's hot. Open the cooker and carefully remove the trivet. Discard the foil and carefully turn the cakes over onto serving plates. Dust them with the remaining cacao powder. Enjoy immediately.
Looks delicious. Just a side note for those who are prone to migraines. I am able to use cocoa powder with no problems, but when I use cacao powder, I get a migraine. Raw cacao powder contains more tyramine, which may trigger migraines.
Yes, same for me. I can only handle milk chocolate. Thank you for explaining why! I had no idea it was tyramine.
Do you think it would work if you replaced the eggs with flax seed ?
I cannot use coconut sugar, what sugar substitute would you recommend? Same quantity?
Looking forward to trying!!
I did honey it came out great!
When done exactly as the recipe calls, this is hands down the BEST!! And just like you said, depending on the dish/ramekin, times may vary. My happy place is at 15mins and I am in heaven!!
My ONLY question is, do you know if its safe to re-heat once its been cooked and cooled in the fridge?
Hi Roxanne!
I haven’t reheated this but I would imagine you could pop it in the microwave for 30 or so seconds.
Ally
Instant Loss Team
This recipes states 4 servings; however, the instructions call for 2-8 oz. ramekins. I am wondering about using 4-4 oz ramekins and if so, what adjustments to the cooking time would I need to make?
It would significantly cut your cook time, but you would have to experiment to find out. When you are cooking in a smaller dish sizes it cooks faster. When I make my lava cake I use (2) 8 ounce sized ramekins.
Has anyone made this without the arrowroot? Looking for low carb instant pot recipes.
This looks great. But we don’t cook with foil. Would parchment paper be a suitable substitute for the aluminum foil?
Hi Gerry,
Thank you so much for reaching out! I want to first clarify that the aluminum foil is not used for cooking in this recipe it is just used as a barrier to make sure the condensing water stays off of the food (the cake). Parchment paper unfortunately is not a suitable substitute since it will not be able to withstand the water condensation from touching the food.
Just purchased eat real, lose weight, and the recipe for cinnamon-walnut breakfast cake only calls for 1/2 cup coconut flour?
Is there another flour called for in this recipe?
Yes that is correct, the recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of coconut flour. Coconut flour is super absorbent so a little bit of coconut flour goes a long way.
can you make this without the instant coffee? I have regular coffee but not instant. Thank you
So I have made this recipe a few times and it is awesome. This past weekend I was rushing to get these in the instant pot while also doing the dishes and supervising my toddler and I accidentally added the 1 cup of water in with the batter, which resulted in four 8-ounce ramekins instead of two, which is when I realized my mistake. I went ahead and cooked them in the instant pot for 14 minutes as directed and they actually turned out pretty tasty. More like a warm delicious chocolate flan. The lava cake is definitely more rich and decadent but the “flan” was still tasty.