# Chocolate lava cake question



## ChefMike09 (Jan 22, 2018)

Hey everyone, I'll just get straight to the point I'm a chef for an offsite catering buisness, a client (100 ppl) is having a wedding which is 40min away from our kitchen and they really want chocolate lava cake, either filled with chocolate or a raspberry filling. Now just with travel thats 40min of holding, dessert obviously is after dinner service so that's about 2hrs of holding for the cake. Now my question is, will it hold? Will it be able to release from its mold? Will it be soggy? Obviously I'd have to use the method where you stuff them with frozen ganache/filling. Is this possible?


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Hi Chef......I've done this with a two hour window and....well.....You know the answer yourself. 
You know that lava cake is runny by its nature.
I realize that you've made the commitment already and you are looking for a way to make this work.
We all do it. 
But there comes a point where we must re-think the logistics of what the client wants, versus reality.

There really isn't any way that you can pull this off without an oven on site. Even Cambros won't help. Your end result will be a dense gummy inside at best. Your idea of using a chocolate sauce to create the illusion is probably your best bet......Good luck


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## ChefMike09 (Jan 22, 2018)

chefross said:


> Hi Chef......I've done this with a two hour window and....well.....You know the answer yourself.
> You know that lava cake is runny by its nature.
> I realize that you've made the commitment already and you are looking for a way to make this work.
> We all do it.
> ...


Thanks chef Ross fortunately for me we haven't committed to it yet lol


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## ChefBryan (Nov 10, 2017)

With the proper equipment it is possible, but the key would be an alto shaam or some other device with a heat source to hold warm, not just a cambro maintain residual temp. The other part of that equation would be as you said, to fill them with ganache. if you do it that way, you wont have to worry about them releasing from the mold, all of that could be done ahead of time. it would take a little experimenting to figure out how long and at what temp they had to hold for the ganache to melt, and adjusting any vents to keep moisture in without any exposed ganache seizing up, but I do believe it would be possible.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

ChefBryan said:


> With the proper equipment it is possible, but the key would be an alto shaam or some other device with a heat source to hold warm, not just a cambro maintain residual temp. The other part of that equation would be as you said, to fill them with ganache. if you do it that way, you wont have to worry about them releasing from the mold, all of that could be done ahead of time. it would take a little experimenting to figure out how long and at what temp they had to hold for the ganache to melt, and adjusting any vents to keep moisture in without any exposed ganache seizing up, but I do believe it would be possible.


All of what you say could work, but the real question here is there a heat source available at the venue or does Chef have one himself.


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## ChefMike09 (Jan 22, 2018)

I'm going to do some experiments today chefs and I do have electric cambros that I can plug in to maintain a nice temp. No the venue has no ovens or anything and we only have little pizza ovens, the ones with the dial where you cant really control the temp!


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