Recipe Makeover: Chocolate Lava Cakes

Quite possibly the sexiest item on the dessert menu, the now-classic chocolate lava cake is all about decadence. A dense batter of chocolate, butter, sugar, and eggs is slightly underbaked to create a gooey, liquid center. These indulgent flavor bombs come in single servings, but even one little cake may contain more than 600 calories and a day's worth of saturated fat. Our plan: Keep the portion-savvy, chocolate-filled simplicity of the original, but cut the calories in half.

Classic 
631 calories per cake
39.5 grams total fat
23 grams sat fat

Makeover
249 calories per cake
11.8 grams total fat
5.1 grams sat fat

Lightens up the batter and creates a crisp outer crust—a lovely contrast to the melty center. Bonus: 1g extra fiber per serving.

Intense chocolate flavor without the cocoa butter of whole chocolate. Saves 70 calories and 2.7g sat fat per ounce over regular chocolate.

Helps create more molten action without having to underbake the cakes. Just slip a bit of melted chocolate into each cake.