Copycat Applebee's Triple Chocolate Meltdown Recipe

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Recipe developer Patterson Watkins has a confession to make about Applebee's. Up until recently, she's always filled up on Applebee's appetizers and entrees, and had been too full to explore the dessert menu. This gap in her experience was rectified on a visit with her dessert-loving mom and mother-in-law. "I have been missing out," Watkins admits. "Lava cakes are a blessing, and Applebee's triple-choco version doesn't disappoint." (Quite a few Mashed readers also agree that the Triple Chocolate Meltdown is Applebee's best dessert.)

While Watkins says she followed Applebee's playbook pretty closely to make her copycat Triple Chocolate meltdown recipe as faithfully as possible, she did make a few tweaks to make it easier for home cooks. The results were everything she'd hoped for. Even after eating her way through several practice batches, she was still able to appreciate the rich, bittersweet cake, the ooey-gooey center, and the sweet chocolate drizzle. According to Watkins, though, the true pièce de résistance is the icing — or rather, the ice cream — on the cake: "Any warm dessert served à la mode has my heart, and that scoop of vanilla ice cream is perfect."

The lava cakes are made with unsalted butter, unsweetened cocoa powder, bittersweet chocolate chips, eggs (including a few extra yolks), powdered sugar, flour, vanilla extract, and salt. To finish off the dessert, you'll also need vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and white chocolate sauce.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Grease a 6-cup muffin tin generously with butter (about ½ tablespoon of softened butter per cup or 3 tablespoons total). Alternatively, you can use large ramekins instead of a muffin tin.

Sprinkle the greased muffin cups with cocoa powder, coating completely. Discard any excess and set aside.

To make the batter, place the chocolate chips and 10 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan or skillet.

Melt over low heat, stirring frequently. Once melted, remove from the heat, and set aside to cool for 3 minutes.

Place the eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl and whisk until frothy.

Add the powdered sugar, flour, vanilla, and salt to the bowl with the eggs and whisk to combine.

Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl and stir, using a rubber spatula, until just combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups, filling each approximately ¾-full.

Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the outer edges of the cake are firm but the centers are still soft and lightly liquidy. Once done baking, set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Run a small metal spatula or knife around the edges of the cakes to loosen. Carefully remove the cakes or upend on a large platter to release.

Divide the cakes between plates.

Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to each plate.

Drizzle the ice cream and the cakes with chocolate sauce and white chocolate sauce before serving.

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Watkins says that making these cakes was a learning process for her, but it doesn't need to be an ordeal for anyone else since she's passing on her hard-won tips. One not-to-be-missed part of the process is generously greasing and powdering the muffin cups, especially where the bottom meets the sides. This is the only way to keep the cakes from sticking to the pan. "The cocoa powder dusting is pivotal too, creating that additional non-stick layer without discoloring your cakes (as flour would most certainly do)," Watkins adds.

You should also be careful not to over-mix the batter. When it's time to add the chocolate, fold it in gently with a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon instead of vigorously whisking it. The batter is meant to be runny, since this is necessary for a soft and tender cake with a lava-like center. "Over mixing your cake batter could lead to a dense cake and we are going for moist and tender," Watkins explains.

The chocolate sauce shown in the photos is Ghirardelli, which in Watkins' humble opinion is some of the best premade chocolate sauce out there (both in terms of thickness and tastiness). The white chocolate variety may not be as easy to find as the standard chocolate one, but you can always buy a bottle of Ghirardelli white chocolate sauce online to simplify things a bit. Another option, however, is to make your own chocolate sauces.

For each sauce, you'll need just two ingredients: white or milk chocolate chips, chunks, or bars and heavy cream. Combine equal parts of cream and chocolate in a double boiler or heavy pan set over very low heat and cook them together, stirring until the chocolate melts. Another option is to bring the cream to a simmer, then pour it over the chocolate and stir until it melts in the residual heat. Prepare the sauces right before you plan to use them, since otherwise they might become too thick as they cool down. If they do, though, you can thin them out again by microwaving for about 15 seconds.

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