Roy’s Chocolate Souffle (Molten Lava Cake)
This Roy’s Chocolate Souffle is often also referred to as a Molten Lava Cake. It has a gooey chocolate center as a surprise in the middle!
A chocolate lover’s dream. Not a copycat recipe. This is the actual recipe for Roy’s Chocolate Souffle emailed to me from Roy’s.
ROY’S CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE
I think I have a problem. A chocolate soufflé problem. I like to call them lava cakes because of the melting, oozing chocolate that pours out when you cut into the decadent chocolate cake.
I started to realize I had a problem when I met some friends for dinner and I exclaimed that I was starving (a common theme lately) and hadn’t eaten anything all day. Well, except for three lava cakes…but that didn’t really count.
I could tell by the looks on my friend’s faces that eating three lava cakes and barely acknowledging the consumption isn’t normal. A normal person might feel really guilty from eating just one lava cake and run straight for their treadmill. Not me. I guess I didn’t earn the name The Girl Who Ate Everything from eating saltine crackers and tofu.
| Can you see why I ate three in one sitting? |
Roy’s is one of our absolute favorite restaurants. It’s Hawaiian infused cuisine and we ate there in Hawaii earlier this year. At the end of our meal we ordered their Chocolate Soufflé. It was so good that as a shot in the dark I emailed Roy’s and asked them if I could have the recipe. I was amazed that 1) they actually emailed me back and 2) that they willingly gave me the recipe with permission to share it with you guys.
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| If you don’t have souffle ring molds you can use parchment lined ramekins. |
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| A sprinkle of powdered sugar to finish it off. |
If you love this Molten Lava Cake, you’ll love these chocolate recipes:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Souffle
Roy's Chocolate Souffle (Molten Lava Cake)
Ingredients
- 4 squares of parchment paper (3x3 inches)
- 4 strips of parchment paper (2x12 inches)
- 4 metal soufflé ring molds (3 inches in diameter x 2 inches tall or parchment lined ramekins (see Note))
- Soufflé Batter:
- 8 oz . good quality semi-sweet dark chocolate i.e. Guittard (, Vahlrona, Callebeaut - I used a Ghirardelli
- baking bar)
- 12 Tablespoons butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 whole eggs plus 4 egg yolks
Instructions
- To make the soufflé batter, combine sugar and cornstarch in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and yolks. Bring butter to a simmer in a saucepan. Add chocolate and mix until smooth. Continue to mix until chocolate begins to simmer along the edges. Transfer the chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Add eggs and mix at low speed until mixture is smooth and sugar dissolved. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Line each soufflé ring with a strip of parchment paper and spray with pan release such as Pam. Place parchment paper squares on a baking sheet and set molds on top.
- Fill each ring mold or ramekin with soufflé batter ¾ of the way full. Bake on top oven rack for 26-28 minutes. My ramekins were a little smaller so I baked them for 21-23 minutes. You just want to make sure the tops are set but the middle is still gooey. Remove baking sheet from oven. Slide a metal spatula under each mold, and carefully transfer to individual serving plates using a pair of tongs. Gently lift off the mold and remove the parchment paper. If using ramekins, use a knife to and run it around the edge then carefully invert and place on a serving dish. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired. Serve immediately. Left over batter can be refrigerated for up to 10 days.
Recipe Notes
Note: If you don't have a souffle ring you can use ramekins. Line the bottom of each ramekin with a circle of parchment paper and line the sides with parchment paper as shown above. Spray with cooking spray. You can also grease them and sprinkle with cocoa powder.
You can also just eat them straight out of the ramekins or use cupcake liners with reduced cooking time because they will be smaller. Another option is to bake them in a greased muffin tin with reduced cooking time.
Source: Roy Yamaguchi of Roy's
3.2.2885
I just baked these, using 3″ rings”, cooking for 26 minutes at 400. These are way overdone at this time/temp. Are your times/temps correct?
Jean,
It’s very important to know your oven which is why the recipe says that you should test one with your oven because every oven cooks differently.
Hooked ! Great photos ! Thank you so much !
You’re welcome!
I tried these for the first time today. Unfortunately my baking sheet warped when I put it into the oven, and the batter leaked out from under each ring. Any tips on how to avoid this?
Oh no. I would suggest a sturdier pan even a 9×13 baking dish instead of cookie sheet if yours warps. Mine only warp if I’m baking at a super high temperature.
Tried these tonight. I suggest doing a trial run with one ramiken at a time to adjust time for individual ovens. I used 7oz ramikens (3″ wide by 2″ high) and the right length of time was 16 minutes. 25 was fully cooked, 18 was a very small amount of “lava” on the inside, 16 was just right. When they come out of the oven, they’ll jiggle like they’re under-done but they aren’t.
I used wax paper to put a film of butter on the inside of the ramikens and then dusted them with cocoa before pouring the batter in. This helps the souffles from sticking to the ramiken – no parchment needed this way.
Thanks for the recipe…I made a raspberry coulis to compliment – it was great!
ooh that sounds delightful. It’s very smart to do a trial run since all ovens cook differently including ramekins.
Oh, my goodness! This was incredible! The first two I baked a little too long, but the second batch was perfect….a wonderful end to Valentine’s Day with my dear hubby!
I keep looking at the recipe and building up the courage to make it. It seems perfect !!
do you think i could substitute nestle semi sweet chocolate chips for the baking chocolate?
thank you 🙂
Baking chocolate is definitely the best option. I haven’t tried it with chocolate chips but it might work!
These are so amazing and yummy! Any tips on preventing them from collapsing?
Usually collapsing means they were not cooked long enough. There’s a happy medium between cooked and still having the gooey center. Every oven is different and so it’s hard to give you an exact time.
I love this cake! It is literally the best chocolate cake ever! I would give this five stars, but it will only go up to four.
Hi, so I made the batter for these molten lava cakes on the 14th of Feb and before I was ready to put them in my oven, my oven blew! So 10 days later my oven is now repaired. I still have the batter filled ramekins in my fridge, is it still safe to bake and eat?
Yes! Roy’s said you can keep the batter up to 2 weeks. Good luck!
Hi, I love this recipe! I ate at Roy’s for the first time almost 10 years ago and I distinctly recall this same chocolate lava cake that was on the menu! I made it tonight and it came out fantastic, just like how I remembered. Hope it’s okay that I repost and link to this recipe on my blog. Thanks so much for sharing!
Lara,
Yay!! Share away. Recipes are meant to be shared…
Ok now you need to email them and ask for their raspberry sauce recipe!
Will do!
I lived on Oahu for three years and Roy’s was my favorite restaurant, just because of this soufflé!! I have been looking for a recipe since I ate there back in 2011 for the first time. I am so excited to have found this!!! Please let us know if you get the recipe for the raspberry sauce as well. :))))
So I plan to make these tonight, but I have just one question. Is it necessary for me to use the parchment paper or would it be okay to spray my ramekins with PAM and pour the mixture in like that? I’ve seen multiple different versions of the lava cakes and a lot of people pour them directly into the ramekins with a little butter or spray and they would flip them upside down on whatever they are serving them on. Please let me know! I’m so excited(:
Sorry Sarah. Hope it’s not too late. I’m sure you could just spray the ramekins. I’m always so paranoid they will stick that’s the only reason I do that.
Wow!!! How very generous of Roy’s to share their amazing recipe! My boyfriend and I just had dinner in their Hawaii Kai restaurant and this was our favorite item of the evening. We cleaned up the plate and then some lol. I will definitely try making these 😀
We did too! We just ate there in Hawaii 2 weeks ago.
Does this recipe require 12 tablespoons of butter, that sounds like a lot
It is a lot but it’s split 8 ways so it’s not that many per soufflé.
Do you think mini bundts would work also?
Sure! I’m not sure about the cooking time so it may take some experimenting.
What size ramekins did you use?
They were 3 inches wide by 2 inches tall.
Thanks! My ramekins are slightly larger at 3 1/2″ wide x 2″ tall. I’m afraid of undercooking the souffles. Should I bake them slightly longer than the 21-23 minutes that you baked yours and, if so, how much longer would you recommend?
It really depends on your oven. It really is a magic amount of time to get them how you personally like them. I think that time frame should still work fine. I like mine on the runny side…
They look so amazing and I tried to make them in my muffin tray. Well even though I baked them for 15 min the core wasn’t soft anymore 🙁 next time I will try 10 min.
But I have a question: When I put the choco-butter mix into the dry ingrediants it was one big choco lump and the fat floated around it. Is this normal or did I do sth wrong?
A muffin tin is smaller than the ramekins so I would try a test one to see what the perfect time is for your muffin tin. I would stick a toothpick in and make sure the center is gooey but the outside is set. That’s not normal for the chocolate to lump up like that. Was your chocolate mixture still hot? I could see it doing that if it had cooled off some.
OMG! I just died! That looks delicious!! I wish I could make it tonight! Will def be saving this recipe!
Hi Christy,
This looks great! How many lava cakes does one recipe make?
Thanks!
Molly
@Marsha Hiatt,
I’ve done it without refrigerating and it was great!
Would it turn out if you didn’t refrigerate it over night?
@Olivia,
Absolutely. Great idea!
These look delicious! I was just wondering if I could halve or quarter this for just one or two servings (so I can control myself). Thanks!
@Nancy,
Not a stupid question. It calls for 8 eggs total but 4 of the eggs you only use the yolks.
Okay stupid question… you put
“4 whole eggs plus 4 egg yolks” does that mean 4 whole eggs w/ yolks plus 4 more egg yolks? Or just 4 whole eggs with the yolks?
🙂
It was fabulous – thanks! I split the recipe in half and was still able to fill three ramekins. Perfect with vanilla whipped cream.
Roy Yamaguchi has a location in Las Vegas also. A friend of mine recommended it, and even paid for my Mom’s 75th bday meal. He also gave me the heads up on the lava cake. It’s a must have and glad I can recreate it at home now!!! THX
Oh my goodness these look amazing! How yummy! Love the idea that you don’t have to use the batter all at once! Will have to google “Roy’s” as it sounds like a great place