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!
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.
For the “Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake” can Liquor/Rum be added? If yes, how & when, at what stage to add the rum? I intend to fix this dessert for Thanksgiving. I have some leftover Spiced Rum. Thanks in advance for the answers.
I haven’t tried it with liquor but sounds yummy!
This was a major hit!!!! Mt chocoholic said it was fantastic!!!! Thank you so much for the recipe!
So glad you and your chocoholic loved it! :)
I made this cake tonight and the comments I got from all 3 kids were they thought it was a little to “dark chocolate” tasting and wanted it to be a little sweeter. My thoughts were it was sweet enough, but the “gooey” part wasn’t enough and the cake is really dry without it. I think next time I will increase the water to 1 1/2 cups for me, and maybe add 1/4 cup extra sugar (I’m going to use brown sugar) to the cake mix part. A great dessert to pop in the oven as you are taking dinner out so it is ready as soon as you are done with your meal. Thanks for sharing.
Do you need both unsweetened cocoa powder and cocoa powder? Can use use one or the other? Or use milk chocolate chips and unsweetened cocoa in topping?
I used unsweetened cocoa powder for both.
Thanks Holly….trying it tonite…my son is home from college and very excited about this dessert…keep our fingers crossed.
Will left overs from this cake keep? Is it OK to reheat it. Looks wonderful!!!
No eggs?
No eggs needed.
This is almost the same recipe that came from my mother’s Betty Crocker cookbook that she got for a wedding gift in 1958 – minus the chocolate chips. It is a family favorite – so easy and so decadent! We call it Hot Fudge Pudding Cake!
I Used To Make This Alot When My Kids Were Growing Up And We All Loved It. The Topping With The Hot Water Makes Like A Hot Fudge Which Ends Up On The Bottom When Baked. I Also Wonder About Using A Cake Mix.I’ll Bet It Would Be Okay, But Of Course Would Make A Sheet Cake, A.d The Eggs Would Make It Lighter & Not As Dense.
Hello!
Do you stir the hot water into the batter or just pour it in then pop it in the oven?
Just pour it on top and pop it in the oven. You do not need to stir it!
I made this over the weekend. It was so simple and tasted wonderful. Great recipe. :D
I fix this cake in a slow cooker! Same ingredients and delish with vanilla ice cream!!!
you say you try your in slow cooker how did you cook it and how long thank you i really like give a try thank you
Do you think you could use a boxed choc. cake mix? Then add the topping? The grocery store closes in 10 mins & i have no cocoa powder. But i want it now! lol
I haven’t tried it that way! If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it works. I would double the topping recipe because this makes a small cake.
Exactly, how much water do you pour over the top? It looks so delicious and if like to make it tomorrow!
Thanks for sharing!
This is the 1 ¼ cups in the “topping” section of the recipe.
Pudding cake is irresistible! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
I almost damaged my screen trying to get that Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake, AWESOME! Hope you are having a great day and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday!
Come Back Soon,
Miz Helen
Suzanne of Simply Suzannes at Home
oh. my. gosh, YUM!!
I can’t wait to make this!
I’m a HUGE chocolate fan!
Thanks so much for sharing,
Suzanne
WOW! Now this looks delicious! I’m dying for a piece of chocolate cake now!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Lisa
Everything about this cake looks and sounds absolutely scrumptious!! It immediately caught my eye at the Time to Sparkle link party! Thanks for sharing! Pinned ;) Have a lovely week!!
What dimensions should the pan be to ensure the proper depth of the cake itself? Thanks !
I used a round casserole dish which was 7.5″ across and 3″ deep.
http://amzn.to/1aLBYyp
is 3/4 cup flour correct????
Yes it is.
would this work in a slow cooker ????
I haven’t tried it that way… but now I want to! :)
I have cooked this in crockpot. Just have to be careful about the outer edge getting too well done