Party Night - Lava Cakes

I'm late posting this because we were out of town last Friday, but I wanted to share a very tasty and very easy dessert that you can make for a party crowd.

LAVA CAKES:
1 (18.25-oz.) box dark chocolate cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 bottle Hershey's hot fudge topping
vanilla ice cream (or flavor of choice)
Magic Shell chocolate topping
caramel for garnish (optional)

You make the cake mix according to the directions on the box and then pour 1/2 cup batter into the greased cups of large (Texas Size) muffin pans. If you only have one of these pans you can cook it in two batches (the batter will make anywhere from 8-12 cakes). Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Turn out cakes to cool. The cakes will be served upside down, so you might have to cut off part of the domed top so they will lay flat when turned over. After you have flipped over the cooled cakes, use a knife and cut out a 1 1/2" diameter chunk in the center of the bottom (now the top) of each cake to make a hole. Scoop out the cake so that you have about a 1 1/2" hole - this is where you will secretly pour the hot fudge for the lava. Spoon about 2 Tbsp of fudge into each hole in the cakes (you can put the "top" of the cake back over the opening to hide it more if you want).

At this point, you can store the cakes in a sealed container in the fridge until ready to serve. When you want to serve them, heat each cake in the microwave for 20-40 seconds, or until you see the fudge begin to bubble. Let is rest for 30 seconds or so and then place a big scoop of ice cream (we really like vanilla and cookies & cream) on top (hiding the hole). Pour a coating of Magic Shell chocolate topping over the ice cream and serve on a plate that has been garnished with caramel sauce. Yummy!!!