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
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Any other dish I could use?
An 8×8 or 9×9 pan should work just fine.
I personally did not like this by itself. It was a bit bitter but with vanilla ice cream it was great! I would not recommend without ice cream.
Bitterness can be a direct affect of the type of cocoa you used.
Quick, easy and gooey chocolaty good!
Cant wait to try it
A very late post/comment.
Oh yes! I have made this recipe several times already way back 2015 onwards. I found the recipe as i was looking for an eggless recipe for my husband’s birthday that year. I even added ice cream on top just like lin the post ☺. My family loved it! And my friends too. I have also made the red velvet version .
Thank you Holly for these recipes!
That is great Faith! So glad this recipe is a favorite in your family :)
The foods looks great and yummy I cannot wait to bake the chocolate cake
Going to try this today. Wondering should I grease pan?
I do not grease the pan for this recipe.
I love your recipes
Love anything chocolate. This was great!!!
I am so glad you enjoyed the cake Pam!
Made this for my husbands birthday – he doesn’t like anything “new” but loves chocolate
He LOVED it – had seconds
We’re going to make it family birthday tradition
I made it true to the recipe – using 2% milk and I boiled the water first
I’m so glad he loved it Jennifer!! Happy Birthday to your Husband! :)
Easy to put together and tasty. If I make again I will definitely add a pinch of salt though. Or the person above who recommended a little coffee to help bring out the chocolate flavor.
This cake was fabulous! I doubled it and put it in a 4 quart Pyrex dish. I received two thumbs up from my husband and five year old son. I think it would be fabulous replacing the hot water with strong coffee( made with instant coffee). It would really bring out the chocolate flavor even more.
I also used 1/2 cup Ghiradeli dark chocolate morsels because that is all I had on hand. It was perfect! Not too sweet but scrumptious chocolate flavor.
Oh yum, I love the coffee idea, thank you for sharing!
Hi
I made this today, but the pudding part was too soupy. The taste is great though.
What did I do wrong?
The pudding should be the consistency of gravy, like a sauce. Was the water you put on top hot?
Gooey goodness. It’s not very sweet, but it is still fabulous! Ice cream would have really made this perfect.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Michelle!
This was very good! It had plenty of pudding and was even good the next day out of the refrigerator!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
did not enjoy this at all
What temp should this be baked?
The oven should be at 350F.
I’m going to make this as written tonight, but I wonder how it would bake up in individual ramekins? I’ve made individual chocolate lava cakes and they’re always a hit. It would be easy to divide the batter, but I don’t know how much water should be poured over each.
I haven’t tried it in individual ramekins (although I do love the idea of it)… please let us know how it worked out for you if you did try it!
I was looking for a pudding cake recipe stumbled upon this one by accident and decided to try it. SUPER easy and boy, was it fudgy and good. Glad I found this website.
Yay, we’re happy to hear it! :) Thanks for stopping by.
This might be a dumb question, but I’m baking mine in a 8 X 8 square glass pan. Would you mix it in the pan or in a separate bowl and then scrape it into the pan after mixed? Thanks!
You can mix it right in the pan.
CAN IT BE BAKED IN A MICROWAVE OVEN
I haven’t tried this recipe in the microwave.
Yes it can, I do a version of this in the microwave, about 6 minutes. Great for a dinner party as everything can be prepared and zapped when ready. Pouring cream or home made ice cream goes well with this.
Sounds delish and easy, thank you for sharing!
Thank you for mentioning that.
Could I use a bundt cake pan for this recipe? Thank you!
I’ve not cooked anything yet from the recipes I’ve written down. But I will very soon. Thank you so much.