A warm, fudgy, chocolatey, pumpkin spiced cake with a rich, gooey, hidden fudge sauce underneath – this Chocolate and Pumpkin Self Saucing Pudding only takes minutes to prep and in just 30 minutes of baking time you have a one decadent and warm dessert to celebrate the spirit of the season!
This is one of my favorite cozy winter recipes, and it’s very adaptable too.
If you’ve been overwhelmed with pumpkin desserts this holiday season, I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place. 🙂
In my defense, I never grew up eating pumpkin in sweet stuff like these chocolate pumpkin caramels, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin roll cake, pumpkin pie, or even pumpkin scones. It was only in soups, stews, and pumpkin curry.
I’m late to this pumpkin dessert party and now I’m officially a PSL and pumpkin spice coffee creamer lover, pumkin-holic, a pumpkin spice-addict, and that’s not going to change any time soon.
Self saucing pudding
But today, I got something extra special for you guys. Something that’s so easy to prepare, with spectacular results! Have you heard of self saucing chocolate pudding before? It’s a classic Kiwi and Australian recipe.
A deliciously moist chocolate sponge cake with a secret hidden below – sugar, cocoa powder and boiling water that you pour over the cake better just before it gets baked, get transformed into a rich, gooey chocolate sauce inside!
Imagine a warm, sticky chocolate pudding with a secret supply of fudge sauce on a cold winter night? It’s one of my favorite chocolate recipes that keeps on giving! Almost like a giant chocolate lava cake.
And of course I transformed that into a pumpkin dessert with this Chocolate and Pumpkin Self saucing Pudding Cake – which really is a pumpkin spice cake with a chocolate fudge sauce, incredibly made with just one batter!
Whatever you call it, the results are just so addictive. Since it’s getting cold outside, I wanted something for Thanksgiving that warmed me up, but also something indulgent and simple to prepare. This one checks all those boxes.
Why I love this chocolate and pumpkin self saucing pudding
A spongy, soft, moist pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavored cake with a hidden warm, fudgy chocolate butterscotch sauce underneath – I know it sounds divine, but it tastes even better.
We can’t even decide which we love more – the fudgy cake on top or the fudge sauce on the bottom. Who am I kidding? We love them both, and with this pumpkin cake with chocolate fudge sauce you don’t have to choose anyway.
I have also shared the classic version for this self saucing chocolate pudding (with a little twist) on my blog in February with a video to boot!
So go ahead and check it out if you’d like a regular chocolate pudding cake version. There is a slight difference in this recipe too. In the original, I mixed the cocoa powder with the sugar and sprinkled it on top.
It works well that way too, but it’s messier (cocoa powder fingers!). I once forgot to mix it in my excitement to eat it soon and ended up just sprinkling the cocoa powder on top, and it tasted JUST as good, with less messiness. 😉 Can’t beat that.
Also, ALWAYS add the sugar on top of the cake layer first. If you add the cocoa powder first, it will stick to the batter and not sink with the rest of the sugar to create the fudgy chocolate sauce… 🙁 So remember – cake batter, brown sugar, cocoa powder and THEN the water!
You can make the cake batter ahead of time and keep it in the fridge if you want, but it comes together in minutes. No electric beater required. Then just sprinkle the sugar and cocoa on top, along with boiling water and bake just before you’re ready to serve.
In 30 minutes (a little longer if you made the cake batter ahead of time and chilled it), you’ve got a piping hot, gooey, spiced, fudgy, chocolatey, pumpkin dessert that your whole family will love and be fighting over! Even if your family disagrees on the election outcome this Thanksgiving – they’ll agree on one thing. This pumpkin self saucing pudding is a keeper! 🙂
How to serve this pumpkin self saucing pudding
I sprinkled some chopped walnuts over the cake as well, because I love walnuts! This recipe does not need any nuts however, or you can substitute the walnuts with your favorite; pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, whatever. They add a lovely crunch to this pumpkin cake dessert.
I love serving this dessert with yoghurt. My husband prefers vanilla ice cream (which is the more popular choice of course) but I much rather have it with creamy, vanilla-flavored greek yoghurt instead.
I like that tangy and creamy contrast against the hot, fudgy chocolate pudding and it doesn’t melt like ice cream or whipped cream either. So go ahead and give it a shot, you might just like it better with yoghurt too. 🙂
To show you how easy is it to put together this chocolate and pumpkin self saucing pudding cake (pumpkin cake with chocolate fudge sauce), here’s a short video on how I made it.
Once you have all the ingredients measured and ready, just mix, sprinkle, pour and bake. One delicious mix gets magically transformed into two decadent layers of warm dessert bliss in the oven. It’ll be a favorite with friends, family, kids and adults – all alike.
Recipe
Chocolate and Pumpkin Self Saucing Pudding
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsIngredients:
Pumpkin spice cake
- 125 g pumpkin puree about ½ cup
- 113 g unsalted butter 1 stick / ½ cup
- 100 g brown sugar ½ cup
- 1 large egg
- 80 mL milk ⅓ cup
- ½ tsp pumpkin spice
- 155 g AP flour 1¼ cup
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate sauce topping
- 150 g brown sugar ¾ cup
- 60 mL bourbon ¼ cup, optional
- 1 ¼ cup boiling water
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder I use callebaut cocoa powder
- ½ tsp pumpkin spice optional
- ½ cup chopped nuts walnuts or pecans or almonds
Instructions:
Pumpkin spice cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Butter a 9 inch pie pan, or an equivalent baking dish. Set aside until needed.
- Place the butter, pumpkin puree, sugar and salt in a bowl. Whisk to combine.125 g pumpkin puree, 113 g unsalted butter, 100 g brown sugar, Pinch of salt
- Add the egg and pumpkin spice, and whisk until well incorporated.1 large egg, ½ tsp pumpkin spice
- Mix in milk and vanilla and whisk well.80 mL milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Add the flour and baking powder and fold them in to incorporate completely.155 g AP flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- Scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish. Spread evenly.
Chocolate sauce topping
- Evenly sprinkle the brown sugar over the top of the batter.150 g brown sugar
- Mix the cocoa powder and pumpkin spice together and sift it evenly over the brown sugar.2 tbsp cocoa powder, ½ tsp pumpkin spice
- Optional – sprinkle a pinch of salt on top.
- Mix the boiling water and bourbon together. Carefully pour it over the cake (use a wide spoon as shown in the recipe video in the post, to help evenly pour the water).1 ¼ cup boiling water, 60 mL bourbon
- Sprinkle the nuts over the surface.½ cup chopped nuts
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until the cake is puffed up and cooked through. It'll look a bit wobbly since the cake will be floating over a bed of chocolate fudge sauce.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool only slightly, since it should be served hot (but not scalding hot of course!).
Nutrition Information:
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
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