Who doesn’t love a homemade, chocolatey, hot fudge pudding cake?
This super yummy, super gooey chocolate pudding cake is an easy, one-dish dessert recipe that can go from the oven to the table in no time flat! Make it from scratch in under an hour, and serve warm with ice cream!
Why We Love Pudding Cake
Chocolate pudding cake is so easy and uses pantry ingredients that you probably have on hand.
Pudding cake is made in just one pan, which means fewer dishes!
Moist and gooey with a deep chocolatey flavor, pudding cake is an easy and decadent dessert!
Ingredients & Variations
While the base will always be the same, there are plenty of ways to customize chocolate pudding cake!
DRY Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder are all used in this Pudding Cake!
WET Milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla are all added to the dry ingredients.
TOPPING Brown sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and water are all mixed together to create the hot fudge topping!
VARIATIONS Toss in a handful of toasted walnuts, hazelnuts, or sliced almonds! Add maraschino cherries on top, or add a swirl of peanut butter through the batter before baking!
How to Make Pudding Cake
Super quick and easy, this cake turns out perfect every time!
- Combine the first four ingredients in a casserole dish. Use a whisk to blend everything thoroughly.
- Add liquid ingredients (per recipe below). Stir until well mixed.
- Sprinkle on the topping and DO NOT STIR. Pour very hot/boiling water over top and bake.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and some sprinkles or chopped nuts!
Tips for the Best Pudding Cake
- Do not stir or mix the topping once sprinkled over top.
- The water poured over top of the dessert should be very very hot. I use hot tap water (or hot water from my coffee machine).
- Allow this dessert to rest at least 10-15 minutes after baking so the pudding layer has a chance to set up a bit.
- Keep pudding cake in a sealed container at room temperature!
Decadent Desserts
- Homemade Pizookie – cookie shaped like pizza!
- Gooey Caramel Brownies – moist and delicious
- Better Than Sex Cake – only 5 ingredients
- Coconut Caramel Poke Cake – with rich caramel sauce
- Cookie Dough Brownies – a sinfully sweet treat
- Black Forest Chocolate Trifle – easy to make
- Nutter Butter Mug Cakes – made in the microwave
Did you love this Chocolate Pudding Cake? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ⅔ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- ⅔ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 ¼ cups very hot water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a 2 qt casserole dish, combine flour, white sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder.
- Add milk and oil, and vanilla. Stir until well mixed.
- In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cocoa powder and chocolate chips. Sprinkle over cake batter. DO NOT STIR. Pour hot water over top.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top looks cooked. Serve warm (with ice cream if desired).
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Based on what the flavor profile seems, I’m assuming light brown sugar is used for the topping, not dark. Correct?
Either should work in this recipe.
Has anyone tried this recipe with regular-sized chocolate chips? I have regular-sized ones, not mini ones on hand and would love to try this recipe without buying more chips!
Thanks!
This recipe will work great with regular or mini chocolate chips!
Great! Thanks so much, Holly!
I’ll make this soon for my brother’s 50th birthday! We’re gonna love it!!
Hi Holly,
Please let me know how to make the Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake for 8 people–the recipe feeds 6 people. Thank you!
You can double the recipe to ensure you have lots of leftovers. An easy way to do this is to print the recipe and adjust the serving size before you finish printing.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. It was my Valentine for my hubby–absolute winner.
I follow your recipes closely except for the sugar – I use a fraction of the sugar and the rest Stevia, they all come out super.
Thanks, again.
Toni
I made this tonight, so easy and was a total hit with all the family, thank you so much! Will bookmark your page now :)
Hello, the cooking time is less than 30 minutes, it came out a bit dry. Also I felt a bit the sugar of the topping and I’m thinking perhaps I have to mix all the topping ingredients with the hot water before pouring on top of the cake. Thank you!
I make on very similar to this ,but in my slow cooker . My Grandmother use to make one called Radio Pudding , Back in the day there was no TVs . It was all radio. They use to do recipes on the radio . That how it got its name . It was like a butterscotch or caramel flavour .
Has anyone made this with chocolate and peanut butter? What makes it gooey? Is it the cake batter portion or the topping portion? If it’s the cake portion I was thinking I could use pb2 powder instead of the cocoa powder. If it’s the topping I would sub pb2 powder and peanut butter chips.
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would work out, but that sounds delicious Tara! It is the topping with the hot water that makes this cake gooey. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
I going to make this right away , it looks so good !
Wondering why I cannot print your recipes. I can print others but your print button is always black and won’t print. Love your recipes but like the printed one when actually mak8ng them. Am I the only person having that problem?
Oh no! We have not had that problem with the printing Sandra so I can’t say for sure what is happening.
Quick, easy and delicious!
Pretty good but it needed salt. I just wanted a pudding cake real bad, I’ve made it half a million times so I just needed the ingredients amounts. Though this was simple and effective it could stand to use a little salt because otherwise there’s really nothing to off set the incredible sweetness from the chocolate and sugars
may i recommend instant espresso? i put it in anything chocolate (and chili! in which i also add cocoa powder)
Could you make a lemon or vanilla version?
I have only tried this cake as a chocolate version Kathryn. I do have a banana pudding cake and a red velvet pudding cake you could try!