I try Cynthia Koh's easy recipe for air fryer lava cake and I'll never pay for one again

While scrolling through my feed of Instagram stories, I was immediately intrigued by Cynthia Koh's sharing of the molten chocolate lava cake that she made using her air fryer. 

Now, I know how amazing the air fryer is, with the existence of many Facebook groups where people share their go-to recipes. I have even seen muffins made in an air fryer. But lava cake in an air fryer? That had simply never occurred to me and I knew that I had to try it out.  

Here's how I made my chocolate lava cake, halving the amount of ingredients that Cynthia listed for my first attempt. 

Ingredients

• 75g chocolate chips
• 75g unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• A pinch of salt
• 40g plain flour

Steps

1. Use the double boiler method to melt the chocolate and butter. Heat saucepan filled with water and place a bowl with the chocolate and butter on top. Stir as the heat melts the mixture until smooth.

2. Remove the bowl from the fire. Add a beaten egg to the mixture and stir well. 

3. Add salt and flour to the mixture and stir well till smooth. 

4. Add a coat of butter to your containers to aid easy removal of your cakes later. Add the mixture to your containers. Preheat air fryer at 160 degrees Celcius for 5 mins and cook for 2 to 3 mins, removing it from the air fryer once you see that the top is cooked and looks solid. Remove from air fryer, flip it over and your lava cake will be ready for consumption.  

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The verdict: I can now have chocolate lava cakes whenever I want because it is so easy to make

Let me answer the first question that's probably on everyone's minds. Yes, when you cut in you will get liquid chocolate flowing out from the centre. However, this is subject to how well you grasp your cooking time in the air fryer. 

My first attempts came out as chocolate steamed cakes as I had followed the cooking instructions to a tee, without considering the size of my container.

The only thing I had available at home were chwee kueh containers as ramekins were sold out even when I tried to get some. And these are rather small and shallow compared to a ramekin. Hence, the cooking time needed to be much shorter to ensure I had a melty core. 

Thankfully, all it took was a bit of trial and error to figure out the timing that worked best for my containers and the trick is to pull it out earlier than you think and observe the top. Once it looks cakey, you should be good to remove it. 

And you can make extra portions to keep in the fridge and pop them into the air fryer for whenever you want to satisfy your sweet tooth. I put the extra batter I had in the fridge and kept it for two days before firing them up in the air fryer, and they tasted just as good. 

One other tip, if you have a microwave at home, it can be used to melt your butter and chocolate too. Add the chocolate and butter to a microwave-safe bowl and heat it up at 30-second intervals, stirring in between until completely smooth. 

Yes, making molten chocolate lava cake is that easy and I’m possibly never ordering it at a restaurant ever again.  

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kailun@asiaone.com