Pumpkin White Chocolate Lava Cake
Save RecipeFrom the flavor combination of silky white chocolate and hearty sweet pumpkin, to that magic texture you can only get from a molten lava cake, my Pumpkin White Chocolate Lava Cake has it all.
Hi Bold Bakers!
As the holidays approach and most of us find ourselves reaching for our traditional pumpkin pie and sticky toffee pudding recipes, I wanted to share one of my favorite ways to shake things up with my Pumpkin White Chocolate Lava Cake recipe.
From the flavor combination of silky white chocolate and hearty sweet pumpkin, to that magic texture you can only get from a molten lava cake, this dessert has it all. The magic is that this is way easier than it sounds!
What is a Pumpkin and White Chocolate Lava Cake
My Pumpkin and White Chocolate Molten Lava Cake has only 7 ingredients. It can be made in one bowl, with no special equipment, and makes the most adorable single serve dessert. Nothing will make your friends and family feel more special than their own little Pumpkin and White Chocolate Molten Lava Cake.
If you’ve never had a lava cake, it is the stuff of dreams. My Pumpkin White Chocolate Lava Cake features a warm pumpkin cake exterior with the gooiest white chocolate and pumpkin center. While everyone will be expecting that same old pumpkin and apple stuff, this lava cake has a flavor and texture like nothing you’ve ever had. This recipe is designed to impress!
What goes in the center of this cake lava?
My Pumpkin and White Chocolate Molten Lava Cake is really simple to make. All you do is melt together white chocolate and butter. This mixture is what keeps this cake so rich and helps to form that molten lava center.
Once you have prepared the White Chocolate Lava, it is a simple matter of combing egg yolks, a bit of flour, brown sugar, and of course, pumpkin puree. Something about the combination of brown sugar, Pumpkin and White Chocolate is absolutely magical.
What kind of pan do you need to make a lava cake?
After the batter comes together you spoon it into a cupcake tin. It’s a great way to make several single-serve desserts all at one time. No fussing around with ramekins, these bake up as perfect individual cakes using only a basic cupcake tin, and baked for a brief 12 minutes.
How to turn out a lava cake
As long as the tin is properly greased or lined you will have zero troubles getting the lava cakes out of the cupcake tin. Simply turn them out and serve on individual plates with vanilla ice cream. The batter bakes up perfectly around the outside and when cut in to the cakes reveal a molten pumpkin and white chocolate center.
If you’re looking to change things up this year you will love this Pumpkin White Chocolate Lava Cake!
Get more pumpkin and fall recipes!
Don’t forget to follow Bigger Bolder Baking on Pinterest!
From the flavor combination of silky white chocolate and hearty sweet pumpkin, to that magic texture you can only get from a molten lava cake, my Pumpkin White Chocolate Lava Cake has it all.
- 1 cup (6oz/170g) white chocolate (Bar not chips), chopped
- 11 tablespoons (5 1/2oz/180g) butter
- 3 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup (6oz/170g) pumpkin puree (Not pumpkin pie filling)
- 3/4 cup (4 ½oz/128g) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (2 ½oz/71g) flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Vanilla ice cream to serve
-
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C) then generously butter 6 wells of basic cupcake/muffin tin, or use liners. Set aside.
-
Place the chopped white chocolate and butter in a medium bowl and melt in the microwave or over a bain marie for 1-2 minutes in 30 second intervals until fully melted. Stir together until the white chocolate and butter are fully combined, set aside.
-
In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, pumpkin puree, and brown sugar.
-
Once the pumpkin mixture is evenly combined slowly pour in the white chocolate and butter mixture while whisking. Next add in the flour and salt and whisk together until there are no lumps.
-
Measure out 1/2 cup (5oz/150g) of batter and fill up each prepared cupcake well to the top.
-
Place the muffin tin in the oven and bake for exactly 12 minutes. When done the lava cakes should be golden brown and just cooked on top.
-
Let the cakes set up in the muffin tin for 3-5 minutes then turn out onto a large plate.
-
Place each lava cake on a serving plate, top with vanilla ice cream and serve immediately. Enjoy!
-
Cover and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Watch the Recipe Video!
Meet Gemma
Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, and I’m passionate about sharing my years of experience to show you how to make game-changing baking recipes with over-the-top results! Join more than 1 Million other Bold Bakers in the community for new video recipes every week!
Have you made a recipe? Share photos on my website or across social media with the hashtag #boldbaker.
And don't miss my NEW Bold Baking recipes and tips. Sign up for my weekly email newsletter.
Hi Gemma. Hoping to make this recipe in a couple of weeks for a Fall party. Just curious how would the recipe be affected if I used white chocolate baking chips to melt with the butter as opposed to the white chocolate baking bar? Also do you have a white chocolate bar that is your go to for baking? Thank you! (P.S. you are the only baker I really enjoy watching bake 🙂
Hi Marianna. Generally, using chocolate baking chips instead of white chocolate baking bar would not affect the outcome if their milk and sugar content are the same. I use Ghirardelli chocolates for baking. You can get them here: https://bit.ly/2G71vJ2 I hope this helps.
Thanks for the additional info Gemma! I made these for a Fall party last night and there were none left at the end of the night! I shall have to make them again 🙂
Well done, you! I’m happy to know your friends loved it!
Hi Gemma, I really want to try your recipe, but I have a question can I use coconut or almond flour vs the all purpose one?
hi there,
We have a number of gluten free recipes here (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/category/recipes/dietary-preferences/gluten-free/).
These will give you the idea on using alternative flours. Some act a little like wheat flour, others not so much. I am told that Cassava flour and Banana flour are useful as single flours, but we have found a blend to work well. The alternative is to buy a blend of all purpose flour from a good supplier, balanced, and often having added xanthan gum, to mimic the action of gluten.
The answer to your question is that you will need to try it, I think not all coconut flour, but perhaps a mix, 1/4 coconut flour to 3/4 almond flour. coconut flour is highly absorbent it works well with the almond flour, but watch the texture, I ahve not tried this in this recipe.
I am not sure that this is much help to you, but I hope you manage it,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma, I love your recipes! Is there any substitution for the butter so these could be non-dairy?
Hi Ruth,
There are a number of hard margarines, designed for baking, which should work well in this recipe. Choose the one in a block, not in a tub, it is better for this type of thing, for pastry too.
I hope you like this recipe,
Gemma 🙂
Have you ever added pumpkin pie spices?
Hi cyndi,
No! but that does not mean that you cannot do so. Be sparing with the spice, it is such a light thing that it could be overwhelmed. (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/pumpkin-pie-spice/) this is a great thing to have in your store cupboard for Christmas too, lovely in cakes and puddings 🙂
Hi Gemma,
Can I use maple syrup for your lava cake recipes? Please reply. Thanks.
P/s: I’m a huge fan of your YouTube channel. Please continue on your great work!
Hi Trixie,
Thank you for your kind words, we will carry on doing what we do as long as we can.
I think you mean to use the maple syrup in place of the sugar, and I am not sure that this will produce the stable volume you need for this cake, I have not tried it.
Effectively you have to create a mousse, and this needs to be able to support the other ingredients for this to work. So, the answer is I do not know, but I suspect it may not work so well for this recipe. However a crystal agave may work well for you, or xylitol either, though I an guessing!
Thank you for being in touch,
Gemma 🙂
I want to make the pumpkin lava cakes but I’m all about pumpkin spice! How much pumpkin spice would you recommend I add?
you can use cinnamon instead of pumpkin pie spice no problem 🙂
Gemma.
I wanted to know if pumpkin puree was made from pumpkin would flour amount need to be adjusted?
Hi there,
I do not see why this would be necessary. The type of pumpkin you puree will matter though, some are really not suitable. (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/make-homemade-pumpkin-puree/) here is my version.
Butternut squash is often used in manufactured pumpkin puree, and the one we have available here in the Us is not always available around the world.
Thank you for being in touch,
Gemma 🙂
Hi, can you use another chocolate beside white choclate?
Hi Danielle,
Yes, there are a number of lava cake recipes here (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/?s=Lava+Cake). You can make all of these in this manner.
I hope you enjoy trying these recipes,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma, what is the size of your muffin tin (as in the diameter of the actual cups)? The one I have seems very small in comparison with yours 🙁 but I still wanted to make this one as I love pumpkin recipes!
Hi there,
Most muffin pans will be about 2 1/2 – 3 inches across. They do vary in shape, some are straighter than others. Most of the liners for muffin pans will work in either shape.
There is also a cupcake pan, which is very shallow. This is no suitable for this recipe.
I hope I got that right!
Gemma 🙂
Of tasted amazing with the ice cream but it stuck to the bottom of the pan and i Greased It. I Baked It more Than 12 Minutes And It Stayed Lava-y. Do you tHink Baking If More Would Help? When I turned it out only the lava came out
Hi Emily,
That was a long bake for this!
What was the oven temperature? Did you double it up?
When you butter the pan it is a good idea to set the butter up.You can do this in the fridge. Did you change anything in this recipe?
This is a buttery batter, and really they should pop right out.
I think there is some information I am missing here. Do let me know,
Gemma 🙂
Thanks so much for responding so quickly! I did not double it and the oven temperature said 400F. I was baking it at someone else’s house so it might not be 400F. I baked it for 12 and it was still giggly. It did not get burnt though. Next time I will let the butter set though. Thanks for your tips! You are my go to recipe person!
Hi Emily,
Good start! You are right about different ovens! Hard to bake in another oven, I am always wary of this, we get used to our own.
When these are baked they will look and feel slightly firm to the touch, and be pulling away from the pan, a little!
I hope you get there with this. Setting it up in the fridge may increase the baking time.
Thank you for being in touch,
Gemma 🙂
Thank you so much i did the microwave cheesecake and double the recipe i had a big pan it turn out great i used 2 sleeves of graham cracker and one stick of butter it was perfect and i use 1/3 less fat cream cheese and it turn out great keep bringing the amazing recipes …….Have a Happy Thanksgiving God Bless looking forward to your next recipe
Love Judy
Good job Judy! So very well done you.
Thank you for sharing this with us, other Bold Bakers will be delighted with your tips and tricks.
Gemma 🙂
Tasted good, but the lava came out and the rest stayed stuck LOL!!! And I had greased my tins like crazy…
humm, I’m surprised they stuck because there is a lot of butter in the recipe. But don’t they taste amazing?? I love this recipe.
Gemma.
Is there also a way to make this without the egg yolks? If so which egg replacer would you suggest? Thanks!
Hi Carrie,
Lava cake needs eggs. I do not think you can replace them. There are some usggestions online, but really I do not see them working well.
Google it, read through the recipes, and see what you think,
Gemma 🙂
Hi this looks amazing! Would this be able to be made with say something other than pumpkin. I will be trying this with pumpkin first but would it be possible to use something like apple? How would you suggest I pure this? would something like peaches also work?I love these recipes. Thanks in advance!!!
I would say you could replace the pumpkin with the same amount of raspberries that have been mashed. That will work really well with the white chocolate. Apple puree or sauce will also work.
Best,
Gemma.
Hi
How do you make a key lime pie
I don’t have a key lime pie recipe on the website but I’ll add it to my list. 🙂
omg so satisfying this is so amazing you did it gemma!
This is hands down my favorite Pumpkin recipe 🙂
Can the leftover cakes be refrigerated or left at room temp and be warmed up or something for the next day? We won’t eat that many in one day.
Thanks
Karol
Hi Karol,
When these are baked they need to be eaten to retain the lava.
The better thing to do is to bake the number you want to use. Then refrigerate the remainder of the batter for later.
When they are baked cold from the fridge they will take a little longer.
You can also divide the recipe in 1/2 and just bake this quantity.
Do try it, it is a good one!
Gemma 🙂
Thanks so much
Karol
Could I make a giant version of this in a mixing bowl like the Giant Chocolate Lava Cake you made? Also, could I leave the white chocolate out so I just have a pumpkin flavor? Would I have to add more sugar? This looks absolutely delicious!
Hi Marissa,
I think it will not work without the chocolate! It is cocoa butter and forms the lava. I think there will be no lava without it.
Sorry!
Gemma 🙂
Thanks. I found some white chocolate and made it. It was soooooooooooo delicious!
Hands down this is my favorite pumpkin dessert. 🙂
Hi! Can I make this a day before then chill it? Then bake it from chilled? If so if I wanted to transport the batter in a cooler in a car will that work?
Hi Emily,
Actually yes, and yes!
It is forgiving. all lave type batters are happy to be refrigerated in their baking pans.
Removing to a cool box will allow them to come to room temperature gently before baking. If they are very cold they will take a little longer to bake.
When they are right they will feel barely firm to the touch on top, and pull away slightly from the pan.
Have them ready to pop into the oven, bake, and serve. If they sare sitting around after baking the lava will set up!
Hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂
Looks absolutely amazing, can’t wait to try this one. I was wondering if I could use my silicone cupcake pan for this recipe, and if so do I still need to grease the pan as much?
Thanks for all the fabulous baking!!!
Hi there,
Yes! perfect for this. I tend to butter everything! The silicon cupcake pan is brilliant for a delicate batter, as it can be pulled away from it, but a little butter perhaps!
Gemma 🙂
Will this recipe work with gluten-free flour?
Hi Gail,
A good all purpose gluten free flour will work for most cake batters, there is no reliance on gluten.
Gemma 🙂
is that correct 11 tablespoon of butter just making sure before i make it and i love love all your recipes so far thanks so much i prefect a fruitcake and sale them on ebay trying to get then out there nationwide and i famous for baklava too
Hi Judy,
It is 5 1/2 ozs of butter. There are 8 tablespoons of butter in a stick! A stick is 4 ozs.
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂