Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Today's recipe is not at all healthy.
Not in the slightest.
So, if you are the sort of person who shuns all things unhealthy, you can go and bake some whole wheat bread.
Or you can make a spinach salad.
Or a zucchini salad.
But if you like to have some yummy dessert every now and then, make yourself comfortable, because I'm going to show you how to make this:
My husband and kids love this dessert, and since I bake desserts fairly infrequently, they're usually over the moon when I serve this.
Not only is this recipe delicious, it's also super-duper easy compared to most cakes.
No frosting is necessary, you don't have to mess with trying to get a cake out of a pan without breaking it, and you don't even have to cream any butter.
To start, mix the dry ingredients together.
I find that cocoa powder tends to have stubborn lumps in it, as does baking powder, so I always send mine through a sieve first.
Mix the milk, vanilla, and melted butter together.
(There's only milk and vanilla in that picture. Could you please just imagine some melted butter? Thanks.)
Gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Spread the batter* into an ungreased 8x8 pan.
*Dough? It's sort of stiff to be called batter. Though, I have never heard of cake dough, so we should probably stick to calling it batter.
See? I told you this was easy! You don't even have to grease a pan.
Mix ½ cup sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, and 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder together.
My brown sugar always has some lumps in it, but I obviously am not too concerned about it.
Dump the sugar/cocoa powder mixture over top of the batter.
Next, pour 1 ¼ cups of hot water over top of the whole thing.
I know this is weird, but you just have to have faith and do it.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.
During baking, the cake rises to the top and the liquid settles to the bottom and makes a kind of pudding-y sauce.
This cake is at its best when it's freshly made (leftovers are not nearly as good!), so I usually like to mix this up and put it into the oven when we sit down for dinner.
That way it comes out of the oven just as we're ready for dessert.
You really should serve this cake with ice cream. The ice cream kind of melts into the sauce and cuts the chocolate flavor just perfectly.
Go make this! Your family (or roommates. or friends.) will love you.
Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Pour boiling water over the ingredients and this magically turns into a cake with a fudgy chocolate pudding below.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ⅓ cup melted butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ cups hot water (I usually boil mine)
Instructions
Notes
This is best eaten when hot, so I usually put it into the oven when we sit down to eat dinner.
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size ⅛ of panAmount Per Serving Calories 317Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 21mgSodium 262mgCarbohydrates 58gFiber 1gSugar 42gProtein 3g
Oh my gosh, I'm drooling. And I just had breakfast. 🙂
I have this same recipe in an old cookbook and it is SO good. I like to make it b/c usually one has all the ingredients on hand. In an emergency case of sweet cravings 🙂
I like it for that reason too...although, I don't usually have vanilla ice cream around, so I have to think ahead on that end.
I have this recipe. It was handed down from my grandma to my mom and down to me. COMFORT FOOD!!!!
I made this a couple weekends ago. I guess it's the season for hot fudge pudding cake!
I just made this over the weekend and it was fantastic and easy. But is this a coincidence or were you inspired by Tasty Kitchen (http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2010/05/a-tasty-recipe-my-grannys-chocolate-cobbler/)? Maybe it's just that everyone is thinking about warm gooey chocolate...
lol! Nope, I rarely manage to read PW's blog (I find it to be overwhelming in scope and size!), so this was a coincidence. I actually thought about posting this because I made it on Sunday when we had some company over.
I got the recipe from my mom long ago, and she got it from one of those old freebie Hershey's recipe booklets. This recipes been around for a while!
Edit: I just went to read the recipe on Tasty Kitchen, and my goodness! The pictures there are much nicer. My photos are embarrassed now. lol
I stumbled across her blog one day and was just captivated for, like, a whole afternoon! I LOVE it, but like you I rarely visit because it is overwhelming for me as well. My mom bought me her cookbook for Christmas (boo that I have to wait for Christmas though! lol), so I'm super excited about that.
Yeah, I feel silly for not reading her more often, but I just feel like I can't keep up! lol
I feel silly for saying this too, but I find that I don't tend to read blogs as much when they're set up like hers...I want to go straight to the blog, not to a front page where I have to click over to more stuff (I feel the same way about blogs where I have to click, "Read more". ) I know it's just a click, but I guess I'm sort of lazy about that. lol
Me too!! I don't like to click to read more.
Me three! Unfortunately, more and more blogs seem to be going to that format. I don't want to see all these things rotating in front of my face. Food in Jars did the same thing and I have stopped following her very often. You and the Non-Consumer Advocate are about it...I don't even go on Pinterest anymore because it is like the dictionary to me---I open it to find the meaning of one word and an hour later I am still there and the project that led me to the dictionary (or blog) is now a distant memory and I have wasted half the morning.
I have a recipe like this that I make for my family on special occassions. It is so dang good. They love it and so do I. Serving it with ice cream is a must!
You have so convinced me to make pudding this evening LOL! That looks totally awesome - thank you!
I just recently attempted to make this. Have no idea what went wrong, but the top never turned to cake. I then over-baked it in an attempt to get the top to turn into cake, and the bottom was like a super-chewy brownie. Until, it cooled and then it was like cement in the pan. That recipe went in the trash. So disappointing.
That is so weird! I've made this recipe tons of times and it's always turned out perfectly. Hmn. I wonder what made yours go so wrong. lol
looks super yummy! my husband will love this.
This brought back a fun memory for me....
When my husband and I were first married we went to Applebees and shared their triple chocolate meltdown with this chocolaty sauce in the center. My husband cut away a piece of the cake so all the gooey goodness would spill out on his side of the plate....I resolved the non sharing issue by rotating the plate so all the gooey goodness was on my side...I sure showed him! Boy will he be suprised when I make this and let him eat all the chocolatey goo he wants. Thanks for sharing this.
That's hilarious! My husband teases me about my "issues with sharing" as he calls it, but sometimes I just really want my own dessert! When we agree we will be sharing something one of us gets to cut it and the other gets to pick their piece first. It keeps us both honest.
Oh my, this looks good! I will have to double or triple the recipe to make it for my family lol but yum!
Pudding Cake! I haven't made it in years! Thanks for the reminder, Kristen. It's easy and yummy.
It is quite possible that I just fell in love, online, with a cake.........
Or maybe the pictures.....
I need a bib.
LOVE this stuff!!! My aunt always makes it with her Christmas dinner so a few months ago I called and got the recipe. It's one of those really neat ones where it's just mystifying that it works the way it does. And, sooo yummy!
It is really odd the way it works! You'd never think it would turn out the way it does.
Oh, yes, a treasured family recipe. Funny, I just blogged about allowing some unhealthy choices into our lives - like cake. Mary Ann may not have added the right amount of flour or the baking powder may be dead. It doesn't last all that long. Mine's gone flat after six months.
Love this! I have every ingredient sitting right there in the cabinet at home. Can't wait to get off work to try this.
Have you ever sent this in Mr. FG's lunch? I always send a treat/snack in my husbands and am wondering if this would transport well.
This is actually not so great leftover...the sauce kind of absorbs into the cake, and it's kind of messy. lol My kids will eat it leftover, but to me, it's not worth the calories/sugar when it's not hot and fresh.
oohhhhh shame on you! lol Now I'll never shake this chocolate craving. I should have taken your advice and looked at the whole wheat bread recipe. lol That looks INCREDIBLE!!!
The end product reminds me of a delicious Lemon Pudding cake I made this past weekend from Fannie Farmer baking book (one of my faves) SPonge cake on top and lemon curd/ pudding on the bottom!
I have this in the oven right now! Here's to brownie points with the fam 🙂
I'm making these! I'm still on the aussie chicken recipe...my husband is a fan!
I am all over this! It looks soooo good! Can't wait to make it in the next day or so! Thanks!
Right about now I am wishing I remembered which box my square pan is packed in. 🙁
And I'm with you...not a fan of the "Read more..." set up on blogs.
Making this over the weekend!
I made this last night for our Grow Group that meets at our house! It was super yummy! Thanks! 🙂 Happy Thursday!
I made this last night. Everyone loved it! I loved that I had all of the ingredients in my pantry. Thank you for the pictures. I love your blog.
Made this for my family last night and it was a hit! They all raved over it and it was so easy to whip up. Thanks again!
Michelle
made this tonight for the family. Definately a hit! Thank you for sharing!
Made this tonight. It reminds me of "Chocolate Casserole" that I remember once my mum making years ago and never managed to find the recipe for it. Unfortunately I over cooked this a bit due to cooking other things all at the same time and forgetting times I put things in the oven to it did not have the sauce I was hoping for. Never mind, I will redo it another night and take more care.
The amount of cocoa seems a lot, 7 tablespoons already? It really did taste nice, but it used up nearly a whole tin of cocoa 😮
When I saw this, I HAD TO fix it (memories from my childhood made me want to try it). I have a large glass bread pan that I fixed this in by cutting the recipe in half---as much as I wanted to try it, since there are just two of us at home, eating all of a regular 8x8 pan seemed a little over the top, so cut it back and it made two small potions for each of us for dessert--first nite with a nice dollop of heavy whipped cream and tonite with our favorite dark chocolate raspberry ice cream. Good stuff!!!!
Mine is in the oven as we speak, fingers crossed!Just made home-made pizza too, yum after a day at the thrift stores!Got some nice buys!
I make this in the slow cooker, that way I can go away and do other things while it's cooking, much less chance of it burning! I love it!
Thank you for this recipe! I have tried a similar recipe that was so disappointing, but I see from yours what is lacking in the one I used. I can't wait to try this one out; I'm sure it will be great! 🙂
I just saw this very recipe in an old Betty Crocker cookbook from the 70s. I picked it up for a quarter, and this recipe def was a looker.. Super easy. I made it the other day, But changed a few things. It was yummy.
Wow! This looks adorable! You're killing me with this pudding cake. I can imagine how tempting it smells. Yum!
I made this tonight in honor of my daughters 1/2 birthday (she turned 6 1/2 today). We have never celebrated 1/2 birthdays before but she is super excited to be 6 1/2 so I decided to make a special dessert for her and THIS WAS THE ONE!!! It was absolutely delish!! thanks so much for posting it. Any more i just check your site first when needing a new recipe 🙂
Hey! I tried this and it turned out amazing(though it was a little too sweet for me).Everyone loved it. The cake base was super moist. I just want to know if I could use this recipe for chocolate cake without the gooey sauce thing?
I have been making a version of this since the 1980s. I am allergic to egg yolks. It is a firm family favourite
I didn't even think about the fact that it would be good for people who can't have eggs! Perfect.
I just made this for my son's 12th birthday party. It is so easy, the ingredients are pantry staples. I served it with vanilla ice cream, unsweetened whipped cream and fresh strawberries. It's very rich and sweet, a little goes a long way. The boys loved it, but I found it too sweet. Has anyone tried making it with much less sugar?
I have not, but I imagine that you could cut back on the sugar in the dry mix that you sprinkle on top of the batter. Let me know if you give it a try.
This was a favorite dessert of mine growing up - my mother made it often and always always topped it with Bluebell vanilla ice cream. Such happy memories!
Old family recipe for us too. Grandmother said it was a war recipe because it didn’t need eggs although sugar was hard to get too. Our recipe is named Devils Float cake, also add chopped walnuts. The last three ingredients are added to the boiling water to dissolve and gently poured over the batter. It’s easy to reduce cocoa by one or two tablespoons if you prefer. It freezes great, put in fridge to firm up and then transfer upside down in a preferably glass microwave dish. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze. Defrost slightly when ready to use and microwave to heat and add ice cream. Yum.
I just made this tonight and it was so good! My family loved it! I’m can’t believe how easy it was. Thank you 🙂
Yay! So glad you liked it.
I bet you got this out of a church cookbook! I have the same recipe that I found in a church cookbook. It is a family favorite and it's nice bc most of the time you usually have all the ingredients on hand 🙂
I think this one comes from my mom, and I believe she got it in a Hershey's cookbook. My grandmother was always sending away for free Hershey's cookbooks that you could get with UPC codes!
But I have no doubt that this is circulating in lots of church cookbooks too.
I have a similar recipe from, believe it or not, a Weight Watcher's cookbook. That recipe uses less butter and sugar, and adds in 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder (which enhances the chocolate flavor). My kid's eyes glaze over when they eat it and I had a friend tell me, "This is GOOD. Not "Weight Watcher's good", just good!". I don't think the cookbook is for sale anymore, unfortunately--it's Weight Watchers Pure Comfort 150 All-Time Feel-Good Favorites.
The coffee addition is a great idea! I don't know why I didn't think of that, because it's what I do when I make brownies. https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/easy-frugal-homemade-brownies/
Your brownies sound delish! I find myself adding coffee to a lot of chocolate things. Coffee and chocolate .... they just go together!
This looks absolutely killer good. I kind of remember my mom making a cake that had boiling water poured over the top.... I just can't remember if it was this one. Surely I would remember this!
I might get brave enough to try it with cassava flour. Lots of room for error there when switching flours, but if it turns out, how good that would be!
It seems like cakes tend to fare better with alternative flours than do things like yeast dough or cookies. So maybe it will work out! Let us know.
Yum! we have a similar recipe in Aus -it's called chocolate self saucing pudding so good 🙂
This looks delicious and easy to make. I love the step by step instructions and visuals. I am a hands on learner so this was very helpful.
Thank you so much for your recipes, they are always great!
I made this pudding last time you posted it and it was fantastic. We are only two at home now so I froze half and it was just as delicious the second time around. I also made the three bread recipes from a few weeks ago and they have become our favourites. The banana bread was especially good. Thanks again â¤ï¸
Yay! I'm so glad to hear this.
One of my favourites! Have you tried a caramel self saucing pudding with a brown sugar sauce instead of chocolate! So Yum!
I've made this for years it's easy and very delicious
Can I bake this in small pans , lime a ramikin? How much water woukd jnout over each cake ?
Hmm. I have never tried that, but if I did, I'd divide the usual amount of water by however many ramekins you are using.
And you'd definitely need a shorter baking time!