This chocolate pudding cake recipe is a delicious, quick dessert that is a crowd-pleaser. Soft, moist chocolate cake has a rich chocolate fudgy saucy on the bottom.
Whether you call this chocolate self-saucing pudding cake, chocolate hot fudge cake, or hot fudge pudding cake this cake is a crowd-pleaser and easy enough to make mid-week! It's kind of magical how you place the cake batter in the pan and a sweet sprinkling on top then hot water and then when they bake they switch positions, you end up with an incredibly moist chocolate cake on top and a rich, fudgy sauce on the bottom. I love the two layers.
When we first tested this recipe I did it a night I was babysitting my three nieces and nephew. We started by taking my best-ever chocolate cake recipe and altering it down to one cake. They went crazy for this cake, I had to literally remove my almost-three-year-old niece Rosie from the pan she wanted to keep serving herself more! She said "Mo cake ugh ugh" (She calls me ugh ugh for auntie haha)
Let's get to the recipe
Ingredients
So this recipe is made up of two parts the cake and the topping. For the cake you'll need:
- Granulated Sugar. This sweetens the cake and helps with the structure.
- All-Purpose Flour. Make sure you measure properly, too much or too little can totally mess up your cake.
- Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder. I much prefer the rich, smooth chocolate flavor of Dutch-process cocoa compared to Natural cocoa powder. I would not suggest switching as the acidity in natural cocoa can mess up the cake rising in this recipe. I order the Rodelle Dutch Cocoa Powder right off of Amazon Prime.
- Chemical Leaving Agents. You'll need a combination of baking soda and baking powder for the cake to rise properly.
- Salt. Don't skip this!
- Butter. You just need melted butter. You could use vegetable oil instead if you wanted.
- Whole Milk. You want the milk at room temperature so it evenly incorporates into the rest of the ingredients.
- Large Egg. The egg should be at room temperature to incorporate evenly.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. Vanilla pairs beautifully with chocolate.
- Hot Coffee. The hot coffee will bloom the cocoa for a great chocolate flavor.
And for the topping that magically switches to be the bottom of the cake you'll need:
- Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder. For this, you could use natural cocoa if that is all you had left but I much prefer the flavor of Dutch-process
- Sugars. A blend of granulated sugar and light brown sugar provided great flavor and texture to the chocolate sauce.
- Boiling Water. I know it feels strange to pour hot water on top of the cake but just do it!
We love to serve this cake with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, sprinkle on chocolate chips too if you love chocolate as we do!
For ingredient quantities please reference the recipe card below. On the recipe card there is a button for US or M (Metric) measurements.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and grease an 8-inch or 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. You can use a square baking pan as I did or use a round pan. This cake is super easy to make you don't need an electric mixer, a whisk works perfectly!
In a large bowl with a whisk stir the sugar, eggs, vanilla, oil, and milk mix until fully combined. Slowly add in the dry ingredients, and mix until fully incorporated.
Place a large sieve over the bowl and sift in the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Cocoa powder can be quite lumpy so this helps prevent a lumpy cake!
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, don't over-mix.
Add in the hot coffee and mix until evenly combined.
The cake batter will be very thin. Pour into the prepared pan.
In a small bowl whisk together the unsweetened cocoa powder, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
Evenly sprinkle the sugar mixture on top of the cake batter. Pour the hot water all over on top. You don't want any dry spots of sugar mixture, so just use your clean finger to poke any dry bits sticking up.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, the cake will still be quite jiggly but the edges of the cake will have started to pull away from the sides and the top of the cake will have started to crack.
Set aside for five minutes then enjoy with ice cream. You can scoop some of the extra pudding sauce to pour on top of the cake. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Can you double
You could totally double the recipe. Use a 9" X 13" baking pan and press the 2X button on the recipe card below to double the ingredient quantities. I would start checking the cake for doneness at the 25 minutes mark.
More cake recipes
Check out my caramel apple dump cake for an easy delicious cake recipe!
Trust me when I say you will go nuts for this Crack Cake Recipe!
★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!
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PrintRecipe Card
Chocolate Pudding Cake
This chocolate pudding cake recipe is a delicious, quick dessert that is a crowd-pleaser. Soft, moist chocolate cake has a rich chocolate fudgy saucy on the bottom.
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 9 Servings 1x
Ingredients
Cake
- 200 grams (1 Cup) Granulated Sugar
- 2oz (¼ Cup) Butter, melted
- 4oz (½ Cup) Whole Milk, at room temperature
- 1 Large Egg, at room temperature
- 1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- 125 grams (1 Cup) All-Purpose Flour
- 45 grams (½ Cup) Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 2oz (¼ Cup) Hot Coffee
Topping
- 3 Tablespoons Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder
- 66 grams (⅓ Cup) Granulated Sugar
- 66 grams (⅓ Cup) Light Brown Sugar
- 10oz (¼ Cup) Boiling Hot Water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and grease an 8-inch or 9-inch cake pan.
- In a large bowl with a whisk combine the sugar, melted butter, whole milk, egg, and vanilla extract mix until fully combined.
- Place a fine-mesh sieve over the wet ingredient and sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Slowly add in the dry ingredients, and mix until fully incorporated. Add in the hot coffee and mix until evenly combined. The cake batter will be very thin. Pour into the prepared pan.
- In a small bowl whisk together the cocoa powder, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Evenly sprinkle on top of the cake batter. Pour the hot water all over on top. You don't want any dry spots of sugar mixture.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, the cake will still be quite jiggly but the edges of the cake will have started to pull away from the sides and the top of the cake will have started to crack. Keep in mind the 8-inch will take a bit longer to cook than a 9-inch cake.
- Set aside for five minutes then enjoy with ice cream. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Equipment
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- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: chocolate lava pudding cake, chocolate lava cake, chocolate self saucing pudding
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Janitza Hernandez says
Easy to follow and the outcome is amazing!!!!
★★★★★
Elizabeth Waterson says
Thank you so much for the lovely review Janitza, I really appreciate you coming back to review the recipe! Have a lovely weekend! XX Liz
Sherrijo capodiferro says
Delighted! I just love your blog. Your recipes are easy to follow and don't require having to buy any ingredients that I will use once and not again. Plus all your recipes are simply yummy.
★★★★★
Elizabeth Waterson says
Aww, thank you, Sherrijo! I am so pleased you enjoyed the cake and I appreciate your kind words, so happy to have you a part of the CBQ community 🙂 Take care. XX Liz