How to Make Lightly Sweetened Gluten-Free Raspberry Lava Cake for Kids

We just watched Pixar's latest film, Inside Out. I really enjoyed this flick, but it was a bit emotionally draining for Colin. After being glued to the screen for the entire movie, he immediately started bawling when it ended. Unfortunately, his young mind was still too immature to comprehend the final resolution; all of his emotions came inside out.

To the contrary, as a grown man, I was able to exercise complete control over my emotions throughout the movie. I was however, unable to hold myself together during the short film that preceded the main feature. Lava was such a powerful love story about two volcanoes that I found myself tearing up half way through the short.

Of course, upon seeing a short called Lava, I had no choice but to create a digital short of my own experience making a healthy lava cake. I will admit that "healthy dessert" is a bit of an oxymoron. However, I have determined that there are indeed "healthier" desserts.  Here is my criterion for healthier desserts:

1. Employs significantly less sweetener than other fully sweetened versions
2. Makes use of fruit for natural sweetness
3. Substitutes healthier low glycemic flours (like almond flour) for wheat flour
4. Substitutes plant based fats for saturated fat

After scouring  many different recipes for lava cakes, I found this recipe for paleo molten chocolate lava cake. I collected all the ingredients and boasted to my kids about a special dessert I was making for them. After all, I don't regularly give them dessert. I followed the recipe, splitting the batter up into four ramekins. After ten minutes of baking, the cakes still appeared undercooked, so I baked them for two minutes longer. Then, I inverted the ramekins and out plopped four very shallow chocolate cakes. I cut into them, then stood back to watch the molten chocolate lava flow. The only problem was nothing oozed out. Dry as a bone. Nada. Everyone can go home now. These volcanoes are extinct.

On my second attempt, I combined the above recipe with another recipe for raspberry lava cake. I used the same basic recipe for the cake, but I split the batter into only two ramekins, aiming for a thicker cake to ensure that the center would not get overcooked. Additionally, instead of a chocolate center, I filled the center with mashed up raspberries to mimic lava. Finally, I took these cakes out of the oven at precisely ten minutes. I served these healthier raspberry lava cakes to the kids and this is how they turned out:

http://youtu.be/vPQhK1iguV0