Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding Cake

A fudgy piece of chocolate fudge pudding and the fudge sauce, served in a bowl.

Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding Cake

Course: Baked Desserts, Chocolate desserts, Desserts, Easy desserts

Cuisine: Australasian, Australia, British, New Zealand

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 55

Servings: servings

Calories: 413kcal

Author: Dini Kodippili

Deliciously fudgy chocolate cake with a rich, warm, gooey chocolate sauce inside! A super easy, quick, decadent chocolate treat for parties and entertaining, and perfect as a Valentine's day treat too!

EASY - This is a super easy dessert to make, and great for beginner bakers! However, this is not a make ahead dessert, and must be made just before serving it, as it needs to be served hot.

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Ingredients

Chocolate cake (pudding cake)

85 g unsalted butter 3 oz / 6 tbsp (melted)
2 eggs
120 mL milk ½ cup (OPTIONAL - substitute ¼ cup / 60 mL with bourbon)
100 g white sugar ½ cup
150 g AP flour 1 ¼ cup (spooned and leveled)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
30 g cocoa powder approximately ¼ cup (spooned and leveled), or 3 tbsp packed
120 g semisweet chocolate chips ⅔ cup
2 tsp vanilla OR 1 tsp instant coffee (both are optional)

Chocolate fudge sauce

150 g brown sugar ¾ cup
30 g cocoa powder approximately ¼ cup (spooned and leveled), or 3 tbsp packed
1 pinch sea salt
400 mL boiling water 1 ⅔ cups
4 tbsp bourbon optional (OR add same amount of water)

Instructions

Cake (pudding base)

Butter an 8-9 inch square oven-safe deep dish, or a 9 inch deep pie dish. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt to mix. Sift these dry ingredients if there are lumps.
150 g AP flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt, 30 g cocoa powder
In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, milk (and bourbon if using). You can also add vanilla or instant coffee for extra flavor here, if you like.
85 g unsalted butter, 2 eggs, 120 mL milk, 100 g white sugar, 2 tsp vanilla
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and use a whisk to gently mix together. (You can also add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients too - it doesn't make a difference, but the batter is more likely to form lumps this way.) Mix until you have a smooth batter, but make sure you do not overmix.
During the last few folds, add the chocolate chips and fold them in.
120 g semisweet chocolate chips
Scrape the batter into the prepared oven-safe dish and evenly spread it. Set aside.

Sauce

Combine brown sugar, cocoa powder, and salt together. Whisk together really well and make sure there are no sugar lumps. Use your hands to break up the lumps if necessary.
150 g brown sugar, 30 g cocoa powder, 1 pinch sea salt
Sprinkle the sugar-cocoa mixture evenly on the surface of the cake layer. This will be a fairly thick layer and make sure to use ALL of the sugar-cocoa mixture.
Measure out the boiling water and stir in the bourbon (if using).
400 mL boiling water, 4 tbsp bourbon
Pour the boiling water on top of the batter. (To pour it evenly, you can use a large spoon and pour it along the back of the spoon, while moving the spoon over the surface of the batter).
Immediately place in the oven and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until the middle of the cake / pudding has just started to set and is springy to the touch.
Remove from the oven and let it cool for just 1 - 2 minutes. Serve while still hot, with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Notes

A note about ingredient amounts

If you're using cup measurements, please measure with care. If you scoop the flour or cocoa powder into the cups, there's a greater chance of adding too much dry ingredients. This will reduce the amount of sauce in the final dessert.

To measure with cups, fluff up the flour / cocoa powder. Then use a spoon to overfill the measuring cup, and then scrape off the excess (i.e. spoon and level).

A note about cocoa powder

I use dutch cocoa powder here, because I love the flavor of this cocoa powder. But you can use natural cocoa powder in this recipe too. You can see this detailed article on Dutch process vs natural cocoa powder for more information, if you like.

Just make sure it's not sweetened cocoa powder.

Optional add-ins

1/2 cup of strawberry jam - Dollop the jam over the surface of the cake layer to get pockets of strawberry flavor in the cake.

Substitute 1/2 of the milk with bourbon or rum for a boozy version.

You can also add some chopped toasted nuts such as walnuts or pecans to add some nutty flavor.

Nutrition