Mad about minis: (Relatively) Guilt-free Chocolate-Strawberry Lava Cake

I had a craving for cake, but it was about 9 pm and don’t feel like going out. Browsing through the Food and Drink area on Pinterest, I found this easy but tempting recipe. The great thing is I have most of the ingredients at hand. I also recently bought some almond flour and have been experimenting with whole-wheat flour, so I thought this small serving would be a great opportunity to try these out.

Single-serve Guilt-free Chocolate-Strawberry Lava Cake

Adapted from Girl Who Bakes’ Guilt-free Lava Cake for One

Yields 1 cake

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon almond flour*
• 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour*
• 1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour*
• 3/4 tablespoons light brown sugar**
• 1/2 tablespoon agave nectar**
• 1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli’s)
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons almond milk
• 1 tablespoon non-fat strawberry-flavored Greek yogurt***
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

* You can use 2 1/2 tablespoon of flour (any combination).

** You can use 1 1/4 tablespoon of sugar, any combination – I just like brown sugar and agave.

*** Actually, any flavor yogurt will do, but anything that blends well with chocolate will be best. In my case, this would be berry, banana, or vanilla-flavored. I used Dannon Oikos Strawberry (Fruit in the bottom, but mixed).

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.     Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

3.     Mix milk, yogurt, and vanilla in separate bowl.

4.     Pour wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients and stir until combined.

5.     Grease a 7 ounce ramekin with cooking spray. Pour batter into ramekin and bake for 12-16 minutes or until edges and top of cake are set.

6.     Let cake cool for 1 minute then invert onto larger plate or bowl.

Verdict:

This is an awesome dessert and relatively guilt-free (the original recipe is only 171 calories, not sure what mine is with all the substitutions). It really looks quite decadent especially when you serve it with whipped cream and berries. Personally, I would have preferred to serve it with strawberries, but I only had blackberries.

I will try this again. Maybe use honey instead of agave. I think you still need to use a bit of sugar though for moisture.

And when you invert the ramekin and a cake pops out, wow!  Girl who bakes is right! You will feel like a professional. Not sure about looking like one though, especially if you are baking these in your jammies.