When making chocolate lava cake, you have to take it out of the oven at the right moment to make sure it's slightly underbaked in the center, creating a gooey filling. Since the whole point is that the filling is concealed inside the cake, it's hard to tell if it's over- or underdone, and but you can take the guesswork out by using ganache.

Ganache, a silky combination of chocolate and hot cream, makes for a far more consistent center in your lava cake. You can control the consistency by adding more chocolate if the ganache is runny, or more cream if it's too thin, but it does need to be chilled and set before use so that it melts at the proper rate in the oven.

Once your ganache has reached the right consistency, place the bowl in the refrigerator until it sets up, then scoop and roll it into round, truffle-like shapes and place each ball into the center of your ramekins filled with cake batter. The chilled ganache will slowly melt into the perfect consistency while giving the cake time to cook.