Volcán de Dulce de Leche
This is the dessert that looks like it required training. It did not. The batter is one bowl and a whisk. You cut in, it flows, everyone assumes things about you that are not true.
The one thing this recipe is strict about is the dulce de leche itself. It needs to be repostero, the thick dark style, or the flavour goes flat and the lava runs thin. If you are making your own, use the full 3.5 hour version. Make your own →
This recipe calls for dulce de leche repostero, and we have our own recipe for it. Make your own →
How to Make Volcán de Dulce de Leche
One bowl, a whisk, and about 15 minutes of work. The oven does the rest.
All Ingredients
1. Prepare and fill the ramekins
- 1
Butter the ramekins generously with softened butter, coating the base and all the way up the sides. Coat with caster sugar and tip out the excess.
- 2
Divide the batter evenly between the six ramekins. At this point they can go straight into the oven or sit in the fridge for up to a day.
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The Recipe
Prep15 min
Cook12 min
Total—
Serves6
DifficultyEasy
Ingredients
for 6 serves
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200°C. Butter six 200 ml ramekins generously, then coat with caster sugar or flour, tipping out the excess.
Whisk the eggs, yolks, cream, vanilla and salt in a large bowl until combined.
Add the dulce de leche and whisk until smooth. It takes a minute, keep going.
Sift in the flour and whisk until just combined. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter between the ramekins.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are set and puffed but the centre still has a slight wobble.
Rest for 1 minute, run a knife around the edge and turn out onto plates, or serve straight in the ramekin. Eat immediately.
Tips & Notes
Guaranteed lava: the frozen core trick
If you want to guarantee a molten centre without relying on timing, freeze small mounds of dulce de leche (about 20 g each) for at least an hour until solid. Pour half the batter into each ramekin, press a frozen core into the centre, then cover with the remaining batter and bake as normal. The frozen centre cannot cook through in 12 minutes regardless of your oven. Worth doing if you are serving guests and do not want to think about it.
Repostero or nothing
Regular dulce de leche is too loose and too mild here. You want the thick, dark style. If making your own, go the full 3.5 hours for the deepest flavour.
Sugar the ramekins, not flour
Flour leaves pale patches on the outside. Butter plus caster sugar releases just as well and caramelises lightly against the pudding.
Make ahead
The filled ramekins hold in the fridge for up to a day. Bake straight from cold and add 1 to 2 minutes to the cook time.
Smaller ramekins
If your ramekins are smaller than 200 ml, reduce the cook time to 8 minutes. The wobble test is the same: edges set and puffed, centre just trembling.
Butter the ramekins well
This is the most important step. Use softened butter, not melted, and coat every corner — sides, base, the rim. A poorly buttered ramekin will tear when you turn it out. Do it twice if you are nervous.
Run a knife before turning out
Before inverting onto a plate, run a small knife or palette knife all the way around the inside edge of the ramekin, pressing against the wall. This breaks the seal and the pudding drops cleanly.
How It Turned Out
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