When chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten mistakenly pulled out his chocolate sponge cake out of the oven ahead of time, little did he know it was a blessing in disguise. Once he cracked the spongy outside, he was met with an explosion of liquid chocolate oozing out of its confinements, as if finally set free.

And even though Jacques Torres, a French chef and chocolatier, claimed such a cake already existed in France, it was Vongerichten that made the molten chocolate cake, popularly nicknamed lava cake, a global sensation, first starting in the United States, and later a must-have on the menus of numerous respectable, high-end restaurants.

The dessert merges together elements of a soufflé and a flourless cake, and with a list of ingredients that includes only butter, eggs, sugar, and chocolate, it’s the timing that’s of crucial importance - you just have to catch the right moment when to invert it from its single-portion ramekin onto a plate.

Once you dig into it, if baked to perfection, your molten chocolate cake will spill its gooey chocolate goodness before you, revealing its innermost delicious secrets.