Instant Pot Turtle Lava Cake

My turtle lava cakes are drenched in caramel and covered in pecans. The warm, ooey, gooey, fudgy center comes flowing out with your first spoonful. These lava cakes are so rich, so decadent and absolutely amazing.

Turtle lava cake fresh out of the Instant Pot

I tried an Instant Pot lava cake for the first time a few months ago and it was absolutely love at first taste! It is so chocolatey and ooey-gooey, it’s really hard to resist! And… the best part is that it’s ready in minutes since it’s made in the Instant Pot.

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Ryan and I came across a few lava cake recipes one night that we were browsing the internet for Instant Pot Recipe Ideas. The pictures made my mouth water. They all looked so incredibly yummy!  I mean, delicious chocolate lava cake in under 10 minutes, you got me!

But of course, Ryan and I wanted to take it up a notch and make our own version of the lava cake.

Ingredients for turtle lava cake such as hershey's caramel

Putting Our Own Spin on Instant Pot Lava Cake

For as long as I can remember, every time we go out to a place that has desserts, Ryan and I always look for the “turtle” version of things. We order the turtle blizzard at DQ, turtle cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory, and really, turtle anything if it’s on the menu!

So we thought, why not turtle lava cakes?!?!

Lava cake ingredients such as vanilla flavor, chocolate morsels, and nuts

So we went to work to create the most delicious lava cake ever!

Essential Items

Here are some essential prep tools, utensils, and appliances I used to make this recipe.

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Making Turtle Lava Cakes in the Instant Pot

Chocolate morsels in a bowl
Powdered sugar for in a bowl up close
a bowl of pecans
pecans mixed with caramel in a bowl
overhead shot of chocolate lava cake in a ramekin ready to be baked
lava cakes in ramekins

Enjoy These Decadent Lava Cakes

These turtle lava cakes are so decadent and rich, they will certainly please chocolate lovers to the max!

Lava cake smothered in caramel and pecans

It’s the perfect combination of chocolate, caramel, and pecans. They not only look like restaurant-quality desserts, but they taste like it!

Turtle lava cake served on plate

These Instant Pot Turtle Lava cakes will leave your family and friends praising your dessert skills!

I’m still in awe of the Instant Pot and all the delicious things you can make in it. It’s crazy that you can go from pulled pork to chocolate lava cake all in the same pot!! If you don’t have an Instant Pot yet, take a look at my unboxing video so you can see what it’s all about!

Well, let me know if you try making these turtle lava cakes! I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Instant Pot Turtle Lava Cake

CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE WITH A WARM, GOOEY CENTER DRENCHED IN CARAMEL AND PECANS

5 from 4 votes
Servings
4 cakes
DifficultyEasy
Cooking Method(s)
  • Pressure Cooking
Pressure LevelHigh
Program SettingManual / Pressure Cook
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
9 minutes
Total Time
19 minutes
Recipe by: Valerie Cooper
Drenched in caramel and covered in pecans with a warm, ooey, gooey, fudgy center. These turtle lava cakes are so rich and decadent that they should be sinful.
Turtle lava cake fresh out of the Instant Pot

Essential Equipment

  • instant pot
  • instant pot ramekins
  • mini mitts

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. I usually put mine in the microwave for 3 minutes. Mix the chips until they become creamy chocolate.
  • Add the melted butter and eggs to the chocolate and mix well.
  • Mix in the rest of the ingredients (sugar, flour and vanilla) one by one always mixing well.
  • Spray the ramekins liberally with cooking spray. I like to use the Coconut oil PAM spray.
  • Put a layer of chopped pecans on the bottom of the sprayed ramekins.
  • Pour enough caramel sauce to cover the pecans.
  • Fill the ramekins with the chocolate batter.
  • Place the trivet in the Instant Pot and add one cup of water.
  • Place the ramekins on top of trivet and close your Instant Pot, remembering to set it to “Sealing”
  • Cook on Manual / Pressure Cook, High Pressure for 9 minutes.
  • Once the cooking time has completed, perform a Quick Pressure Release “QPR”.
  • Take out ramekins carefully and plate them upside down.
  • Enjoy alone or with ice cream!!

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 1cake | Calories: 692kcal | Carbohydrates: 63g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 44g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Cholesterol: 235mg | Sodium: 257mg | Potassium: 312mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 46g | Vitamin A: 970IU | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 4.1mg

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19 thoughts on “Instant Pot Turtle Lava Cake”

  1. I only have 4oz ramekins do I need to adjust the cook time? Could this be baked in a Bundt pan? If so, how long would you suggest cooking it?

    1. Hi there! I would prefer making them in the 4 oz ramekins. You shouldn’t need much time adjustment. If you make it in a bundt pan, it would definitely need adjusting, I just couldn’t tell you how much. For the 4 oz ramekins, you may want to try just a minute or two less. That’s my guess! Let me know if you try them!

  2. My 15 yr old granddaughter saw turtle lava cake on the restaurant menu, $6.99. I told her we’d make our own. We tried your recipe and it was beyond amazing. She made it herself and wowed her family. Using the Instant Pot was brilliant, it’s a miserably, hot, humid day here in Indiana but we didn’t have to heat an oven for this decadent dessert. 2 thumbs up!! Thank you!

    1. Hi Jeri! Your comment just made my night! I’m so happy your granddaughter made the turtle lava cakes and everyone enjoyed them! Thank you for stopping by the blog, I appreciate it!

    1. Valerie Cooper

      Hi Debbie. The ramekins I use are linked above and they are 7 oz. It makes 4 of those ramekins. Thanks for stopping by!

    1. Hi Cheryl! So happy you loved these! I would not use a larger dish, because you’ll have to play with the cook time to get it right. You could double the recipe and make more ramekins. You can either find a way to stack them or do two rounds of cooking in the pot. Thanks for stopping by!

      1. Well I already tried,,,I had to!!
        Just doubled it, Put it in a corningware 7″, 18min pressure. QR
        Opened the pot up and I was amazed how well it looked..BUT THEN put a plate on it flipped it over, left it for a min, picked the bowl up..it ran all over my counter,,,What a mess. But not complete fail, the outter edges were edible, so spooned some onto a plate with the creamy center and powered sugar on top and that tasted just like the other one I made. But I wont be going bigger bowl anymore, stick with double recipe, in ramikins. But gosh darn it, you just have to have some waiting for you when you want a sweet treat. they are gone as soon as I make a batch.

        1. Haha! You couldn’t resist! Stick with the ramekins and make a few batches. I’m glad you at least got some yumminess out of the experiment! Have a great night!

    1. Valerie Cooper

      Hi Bill! So sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. Too much caramel maybe? Maybe an extra minute of cook time in your pot? I’ve made them so many times, with and without the caramel and I haven’t had an issue. Thanks for stopping by!

    1. Valerie Cooper

      I promise you Bethany, you will not be disappointed!! You’ll want to make them every day!! Thanks for stopping by!

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