Best Air Fryer Lava Cake (2024)

Lava air fryer cake will become your new favorite dessert! Ooey gooey chocolate lava cake made in ramekins inside your Ninja Foodi or other brand.

Have you tried an air fryer cake yet? Not a normal cake, but individual lava cakes that are pure bites of heaven I tell you. If you love chocolate and want to try a new air fryer recipe this week, this is it! (originally published 11/19, affiliate links present)

Cake in Air Fryer

These are just heavenly. Good thing they’re made portioned out in ramekins or I might go overboard for sure. Add lots of chocolate in the center and oh my you’re in for a treat.

We first made a Ninja Foodi cake using just a box of cake mix. That turned out well and you can do that as well if you want a quick dessert.

If you love easy air fryer recipes too, here are some resources to start with:

• My Favorite Air Fryer is a Cosori or for a dual machine, the Foodi.
• You can find more easy air fryer recipes here, we have Ninja Foodi recipes as well; bookmark them both!
  • This is the best air fryer cookbook. It’s important to know and remember how to preheat air fryer for best results.

• Here’s a printable free air fryer cooking time chart here for your fridge.
  • It has temp. and times for making the best frozen foods for air fryer too.
• Then join our Facebook page below where you can share and find more ideas you’ll love.

Air Fryer Lava Cake

It’s called this because it’s so ooey gooey when it is done a bit like a volcano that flows out when it erupts. I you haven’t “baked” in this hot air machine yet you might be questioning things. Here are a few common questions I thought I’d answer before moving forward.

Can you use ramekins in an air fryer?

It is a convection oven after all so yes! Don’t forget you probably have some in your cabinet already you can use. Tea cups work great too if they are oven safe. The size of your air fryer will determine what size ramekinsyou get. Here’s a peek of this being made in the kitchen. I know, midway it even looks irresistible, but just keep reading.

How to Bake a Cake in an Air Fryer

I suppose you could use boxed cake mix for this but the homemade chocolate cake recipe below is better and super easy.

When making a boxed cake in air fryer that way I used the bake function. If your machine doesn’t have that, this method won’t work.

Is air fryer better than oven?

• While a convection oven and an air fryer both use a fan to move hot air around, an air fryer circulates the it more rapidly.

This speeds up the cooking process for everything you cook in this thing I swear. Air fryers are healthier than deep frying and there’s no risk of an oily mess.

It’s also nice because if you want to make a small batch of air fryer banana bread or cake you can! It won’t heat the whole house up either.

See Also

The Best Vegan Sponge Cake!Air Fryer Omelet Bites - Easy, Low Carb, Keto, Gluten-FreeSourdough Japanese Milk Bread (Tangzhong Method)Air Fryer Pumpkin Seeds

Lava Air fryer cake

4 ounce ramekins were used to make this chocolate air fryer cake recipe. I like how it was just the right amount for one person so you didn’t have to serve anything other than the dish.

• if using different sizes the cooking timing will just need to be adjusted more or less
  • non stick cooking spray is very helpful if you want to serve on plates
• Butter
• Lots of Chocolate chips of course. Dark or semi sweet are best if you ask me.
• Eggs
• Sugar
• Self rising flour – remember to measure flour properly

You can add more chocolate chips on top if you want them to be really ooey gooey and wet when they’re done. Of course adjust things as you go but for your first batch I’d follow the instructions as written. Experiment from there and make a few other air fryer dessert recipes too!

Air Fryer Chocolate Lava Cakes

What I do is use a microwave safe bowl to do the initial melting so the chocolate is nice and smooth. You want there to be no lumps meaning that it is hot enough to really break down and will mix with the other ingredients well, kinda’ like cake batter. Work quickly once it is smooth as at room temperature it will stiffen up again.

Air Fryer Lava Cake for Two

This is the air fryer we used for this batch. Some air fryer baskets are rather small so you may only be able to fit 2 or 3 of them at a time. Just cook in batches until you have as many as you’d like.

1. Melt chocolate chips and butter until smooth.
   • Can be done in a microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between sessions.
2. Whisk together sugar and eggs, then combine the two.
3. Fold in flour until well combined, then add into greased ramekins. divide between 4 equally.
4. Preheat air fryer at 370 for 5 minutes.
5. Put baby cake pans into air fryer basket and cook at 370 degrees for 10 minutes, take out once toothpick comes out somewhat clean when pushed into the middle (you want a bit of gooey)
   • no need to cover with aluminum foil as you want the top to lightly brown.
6. Allow to sit on cooling rack for 2-4 minutes to solidify if you want to flip on to a plate and stay in tact.

This whole process will take about 15 minutes before your dream dessert is done! Since they are already in small individual containers there is NO messy slicing or additional plates required to enjoy them. 😉

Can I bake in my air fryer?

Hope in this post, this question will be answered for you. YES you can! It is just one of the many ways we’ve made desserts at home. Here are a few other delicious ideas you might want to try after this one:

• Pressure cooker chocolate lava cake is ooey gooey like this is but larger in size.
• Crockpot lava cake with cherry pie filling is heavenly and feeds a crowd for sure.

If you want another great one person simple dessert, this is how to make a brownie in a mug!!

Air fryer cookies are fabulous and you can really use whatever type you love best.

Boxed cake in air fryer

Bake a cake per the cake mix instructions on the back of your package. Then set the air fryer safe pan with the cake mix inside of it into the air fryer. Set the time for 20 minutes at 320 degrees F.

You can bake other things in it as well like air fryer cornbread and homemade or refrigerated cinnamon rolls in air fryer.

Use boxed muffin mix to make air fryer muffins now too.

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See Also

Air Fryer Orange Rolls