Red Velvet Lava Cakes
Red Velvet Lava Cakes with their deliciously rich molten cream cheese center come together with just a few simple ingredients. This surprisingly easy dessert always impresses.
The Story Behind the Red Velvet Lava Cakes
A few weeks ago, we decided to celebrate our kids for doing so well in their first semester of school in Portugal. They all received high grades and great remarks from their teacher. We were extremely proud as all five of our kids are attending school that is fully taught in the portuguese language, and they don’t even speak it yet.
When they got home from school, however, one child wasn’t feeling well, so we decided to order in. Of course the kids wanted a treat to go with it, so we decided to have some frozen chocolate lava cakes delivered with some ice cream. However, when the delivery guy for the dessert showed up, there were no lava cakes!
The next day, I saw them at the store and grabbed them. I know, I know. Here I am a food blogger who specializes in desserts and I’m buying frozen cake. However, have you ever tried frozen chocolate lava cakes? They are pretty delicious!
When we were eating them, I had the fantastic idea to make a red velvet lava cake, but instead of the gooey center being red velvet lava, it was going to be a cream cheese lava. That’s right. A river of cream cheese filling will ooze out when you cut into these, and they are DIVINE.
I love when I envision something and it turns out exactly how I have it planned. That was the case with these and I hope you guys enjoy them just as much as my family and I did.
Ingredients Needed for Red Velvet Lava Cakes
- Red Velvet Cake Mix- you can make one from scratch if you want, but I feel like a doctored cake mix is just as good as a homemade one.
- Cream Cheese- you need 8oz of cream cheese for the delicious lava filling
- Powdered Sugar- you’ll need three cups of powdered sugar
- Eggs- I always use large room temperature eggs.
- Buttermilk- I prefer to use buttermilk in my chocolate and red velvet cakes. However, whole milk will also work.
- Plain Greek Yogurt- I always have plain greek yogurt on hand, but you can also use sour cream.
- Vegetable Oil- This is my go-to oil when I have baking. However, canola oil is also a great choice.
Tools Needed for Red Velvet Lava Cakes
When you make lava cakes, you need little ramekins or a large cupcake pan to make them. Here is what I would suggest on using.
These ramekins are a great, low-cost option. I use containers like these all the time for dips and smaller serving.
If you don’t want to purchase individual ramekins, these jumbo cupcake pans will also work.
Additional Recipes You Will Love
- Red Velvet Bundt Cake
- (Better than Starbucks) Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
- Pumpkin Spice Cake with a Cream Cheese Swirl
- Sour Cream Cheesecake
Red Velvet Lava Cakes
Ingredients
For the Cream Cheese Center
- 8 oz cream cheese, cold
- 3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
For the Cake
- 1 box Red Velvet Cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup plain greek yogurt
- ¾ cup buttermilk or whole milk
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
Instructions
For the Cream Cheese Lava Center
- In a large mixing bowl combine the sifted powdered sugar and cream cheese together until well blended.
- Spread out a large piece of plastic wrap.
- You are going to form a thick log of cream cheese by placing the cream cheese mixture "hot dog" lengthwise down the center.
- Roll up the plastic wrap to create a 1½ inch thick cream cheese log.
- Place the log in the freezer overnight or until frozen through.
For the Red Velvet Cake
- In a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer, combine all of the ingredients for the cake and mix for 2-3 minutes or until it is well combined.
- Butter or grease your ramekins well.
- Place about ¼ cup of cake batter into the ramekin. It should be enough to completely cover the bottom.
- Remove your cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into thick 2 inch pieces.
- Take a slice of frozen cream cheese and place it in the center of the cake batter.
- Cover the cream cheese entirely with cake batter.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes.
- Very carefully remove the lave cakes from the ramekins by taking a plate and placing it on top of the ramekin. Flip it over and the lava cake should pop right out.
- Serve warm with powdered sugar or ice cream. As the cakes cool down, the cream cheese lava center will firm up. If you make them ahead of time, you can place them in the microwave to warm up and create the lava center again.