Dulce de Leche Lava Cake
A molten center that actually flows and a delicate, tender crumb around it.
The freezer rest is mandatory, not a suggestion. Forty minutes minimum: the thermal shock between the frozen center and the hot oven is the entire reason the edge sets while the middle stays liquid. Skip it and you get a small cake, cooked through.
And the molds are dusted with cocoa, not flour. Cocoa releases just as well and leaves no white streaks on a dark dessert.
Made with homemade dulce de leche, use the thicker pastry grade.
🔎 What is dulce de leche? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
Ingredients
- 250 g good thick pastry-grade dulce de leche
- 2 whole eggs plus 2 yolks
- 50 g butter
- 40 g all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- A pinch of salt
- Butter and unsweetened cocoa for the molds
Method
- 1
Line the individual ramekins with butter and unsweetened cocoa instead of flour: the cocoa keeps them from sticking and holds the dark color without leaving white traces when you turn them out.
- 2
Melt the butter with the dulce de leche in a water bath or the microwave at medium power, until smooth. Let it cool for a few minutes.
- 3
Add the eggs and the yolks one at a time, mixing gently without folding in air. Finally add the sifted flour and the pinch of salt, mixing just until combined — overmixed, the cake loses its creamy texture.
- 4
The freezer rest: fill the molds three-quarters full. They must go into the freezer for at least 40 minutes. That thermal shock between the cold center and the hot oven is what guarantees a set edge and a liquid heart.
- 5
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C for 10-12 minutes. The edges should be firm and the center should still move slightly when touched. Turn out immediately after taking them from the oven.
The Dulce de Leche Trail: Argentina's Sweetest Flavor
If one flavor defines Argentina and takes you straight back to childhood, it is dulce de leche. These are the recipes where this milk caramel plays the lead: from cooking your own from scratch to the best ways to use it. A tribute to the most generous and comforting sweet in the Argentine kitchen.
