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Molten chocolate muffins bring the gooey center of a chocolate lava cake into a rich, bakery-style muffin. This recipe is inspired by the viral Olympic Village muffins that made waves in Paris.
Deep cocoa flavor, melty chips, and a warm chocolate filling you pipe in post-bake. You don’t need ramekins or restaurant drama, just a muffin pan and five extra minutes.
This recipe is a mash-up of sorts, based on a chocolate muffin recipe from King Arthur Baking, with a gooey lava-style filling technique borrowed from The New York Times.
Here’s Why This Chocolate Lava Muffin Recipe Works
Deep chocolate flavor: Dutch-process cocoa, espresso powder, and chocolate chips pack these moist chocolate muffins with rich, intense flavor.
No underbaking guesswork: The molten center comes from a piped-in chocolate filling—no lava cake tricks or underbaked middles required.
Tall, bakery-style tops: Filling the muffin cups to the top and using vinegar for lift gives these lava muffins a high rise and tender crumb.
Make-ahead friendly: Bake and fill these molten chocolate muffins ahead of time, then reheat for a gooey, fresh-from-the-oven experience.
This is the base recipe I used to create our sourdough chocolate muffins. Same rich flavor, but with a tangy twist and discard-friendly boost.
Recipe Tips
Use Dutch-process cocoa: It reacts differently than natural cocoa and gives these muffins a richer flavor and darker color. We also use it in our triple chocolate brownies for the same deep, fudgy results.
Don’t overmix the batter: Stir just until combined. Lumps are fine. Overmixing makes muffins tough.
Fill muffin cups to the brim: Yes, really. This helps get that high rise and keeps the muffins moist.
Let muffins cool slightly before filling: You want them warm, not hot, so the filling stays inside instead of melting out.
Pipe the filling deep: Use a paring knife to tunnel into the center, then insert the piping tip almost to the bottom.
Muffins with Chocolate Filling
These molten chocolate lava muffins deliver bakery drama with weeknight effort. Deep cocoa flavor, soft crumb, and a gooey center? Make a batch, fill them up, and try not to eat them all warm off the rack.
Craving something simpler but still chocolatey? Try our classic chocolate chip muffins next.
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Chocolate Lava Muffins
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Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups brown sugar, packed; 266 grams
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup whole milk, 170 grams
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil, 66 grams
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, 240 grams
- ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch processed 57 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips, 220 grams
- coarse sugar, for topping, optional
For the Filling:
- ½ cup granulated sugar, 100 grams
- 6 tablespoons heavy cream, 90 grams
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 50 grams
- 3 tablespoons butter, 42 grams
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners and lightly spray the liners with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and vinegar.
- Set a fine-mesh sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt. Gently sift to combine.
- Stir just until everything is combined and no dry spots remain, then fold in the chocolate chips. The batter will be quite thick. Don’t worry, that’s what you want.
- Fill each muffin cup to the top (yes, all the way). This helps create that high rise. Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar for a little crunch.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, checking doneness with a toothpick. It should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
- Let the muffins rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Make the filling (while the muffins bake):
- In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cream, cocoa powder, butter, and salt. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth, glossy, and just starting to bubble, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let it cool slightly. Transfer to a piping bag or a zip-top bag (snip the corner when you’re ready to fill). I like to place the bag in a tall glass to keep it upright while filling.
Fill the muffins:
- Once the muffins are warm but not piping hot, use a paring knife to cut a tunnel into the center of each one, go almost to the bottom. If you want extra room for filling, you can pull out a small plug of muffin, but it’s not essential. The filling will still pipe in just fine without the extra step.
- Snip a small hole in your piping bag and insert it into each slit, squeezing in the warm filling until it just starts to ooze out the top. Repeat for all the muffins. Best eaten warm when the centers are gooey.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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