Usually, chocolate lava cakes are the sort of treat we only enjoy when we decide to order dessert at a restaurant, which isn’t very often. With the Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Cakes, however, you can enjoy these sweet treats at home.
The box contains two lava cakes, and each cake is about the size of a hockey puck. There are also two ways to heat these cakes: in the microwave and in the oven. We decided to give both methods a try.
If you opt to heat this in the oven, it’ll take about 15 minutes, plus the time it takes for your oven to preheat. You’ll need to remove the frozen cake from its plastic tray before you cook it, which is a bit of a hassle; we needed to use a fork to get it out. In contrast, the microwave method takes just 45 seconds, and the cake doesn’t have to be removed from the tray until after it’s cooked. This method is faster, easier, and provides better results. Our cake was moist and cooked evenly.
The image below shows what the microwaved version looked like.
These cakes are definitely rich, but not in a bad way. They taste like they were made with premium-quality chocolate. The outside of the cake is fudgy and similar to a brownie, and on the inside, there’s a pool of perfectly melted chocolate. We were a little worried that the chocolate in the center would be hotter than the rest of the cake, but thankfully, that wasn’t a problem.
What we really like about these cakes is how well portioned they are. At 380 calories per serving, they’re not really a diet food, but we think that’s a reasonable amount of calories for a dessert of this size. Even though there are two individual cakes per box, you could easily split a single cake with someone else. Of course, if you pair one of these with vanilla ice cream — which would be delicious — you’ll be taking in a lot more calories.
The Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Cakes are a fantastic way to satisfy your cravings for chocolate. These cakes are a breeze to heat up, especially if you use your microwave, and they feel like the sort of indulgent dessert you’d see on a restaurant menu. If you’re a chocoholic, you’ll want to make sure you have a box of these cakes in your freezer!
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or baking instructions for these Trader Joe’s lava cakes, check out our package scans below.
