First time I had a lava cake was at the St Regis hotel in Laguna Beach a few years back.   After a group of us had dinner at an inexpensive Italian restaurant down the street, we decided to treat ourselves to dessert at something a little classier.  We had the chocolate trio, one of which was a lava cake.  And at $18 for the 3 items that were just big enough for one bite each, I knew we wouldn’t be going back there anytime soon.

Located in the freezer section, Trader Joes has lava cakes that are individually wrapped and come 2 to the package.  After 45 seconds in the microwave, pure delight awaits.  And at roughly $4 for the package even a non-chocolate fanatic can get excited about that.