The Pantry Staple That Paul Hollywood Fills His Chocolate Lava Cakes With

Leave it to celebrity chef Paul Hollywood to turn a basic recipe into one that is even more likely to induce cravings. If you've already taken Hollywood's advice and mastered the art of making trifles, it's time to step up your dessert-making efforts with crowd-pleasing lava cakes. Instead of being packed with an oozing center of chocolate, however, Hollywood's recipe, shared by "The Great British Bake Off" website, comes packed with a hidden core of peanut butter. Peanut butter and chocolate is a flavor combination that is tough to beat, and we're kicking ourselves we didn't think of this treat sooner. Cutting into a gooey chocolate lava cake is one of life's sweeter rewards, and Hollywood has taken it to a new level.

Whether crunchy or creamy peanut butter occupies space in your kitchen cabinets, imagine the delight you'll feel the next time your fork cuts into a lava cake taken straight out of the oven. When putting together miso chocolate lava cake, consider tucking peanut butter inside of the cake instead of the usual chocolate filling, or create a swirl with the two ingredients combined. You can top pieces with hot drizzles of caramel or chocolate syrup or double down on earthy, nutty flavors with ribbons of your favorite nut butter or tahini spread. A sprinkle of crunchy sea salt will tie the perfect bow around your inventive dessert. 

Once your mind has been opened to the possibility of sneaking uniquely flavored cores into lava cakes, get ready to maximize decadent pairings to offer to your dinner guests. Walnut and macadamia nut butters can turn up the dials of luxuriousness in your recipes, or use pistachio or hazelnut butters to amplify the unexpected twist you've taken with your lava cake recipe. To stick with familiar flavors, centers of almond and cashew butters can provide the unexpected punctuation mark your dinner menu calls for.

Alternatively, you can turn dessert time into a sweet game of roulette by packing your next batch of cakes with an assortment of nutty flavors. Make peanut butter at home to fill a quarter of the cakes and use pecan or chestnut butters to fill the rest of the cakes. If you're accommodating diners with nut allergies (this is not the time for dessert roulette), pumpkin or sunflower seed butter or a granola butter made from an assortment of spiced oats, seeds, and oil can make sure every eater gets a sweet bite of their own.