chocolate pudding cake.

I read the recipe, I didn't understand it.

I made the recipe, I still don't understand it.

Luckily, you don't need to know how can a mish-mash of ingredients and boiling hot water transform into a sauce that sinks to the bottom without any spoon work. You know what? I think it's magic.

If the words chocolate, pudding and cake don't entice you, maybe one-bowl will. In fact, it's more like one-pan. All necessary mixing is done in the pan you're about to bake in, which is just mixing the dry ingredients, pouring the wet ingredients then mixing it into a thick gloopy batter. After that it's just pouring brown sugar, chocolate chips and boiling water with vanilla stirred in. Is it the easiest recipe I've done? Well, possibly.

The hardest part of this is only guessing when it's done, because obviously, the usual poke-a-skewer-into-the-middle-of-the-cake-and-if-it-comes-out-clean-it's-done method doesn't work here. You'll probably poke the skewer into the sauce, but then again, you might not, so maybe the poke-a-skewer-into-the-middle-of-the-cake-and-if-it-comes-out-clean-it's-done method does work. Hmm.

It's important to let it cool a bit, even though its best consumed warm. This is not just for tongue-burning protection, but to also allow the sauce to thicken up. I took a long time to take pictures so my sauce thickened more than I would like. I think waiting for about 5 minutes should be just right, depending on the size of your batch. I made a quarter of the recipe and ate it all by myself. I'm sorry. Yeah right.


The best word to describe this is... comforting. The moist, soft spongy cake, the indulgent fudge sauce, the slight crispness of the crust on top, all eaten together with just a bowl and a spoon, it's like high-class baby food. Wait... maybe that sounds a little weird.

The best accompaniment is vanilla ice cream. I repeat, vanilla. There is no better flavour combination.

Chocolate Pudding Cake
recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups hot water

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

In an 8 x 8 inch square pan, stir together the flour, white sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add milk and oil, mix well. Sprinkle brown sugar, remaining cocoa powder and chocolate chips over the batter. Add vanilla to the hot water, the pour the water over the top.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the surface appears dry.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Linked to These Chicks Cooked, Sweet Treats Thursday, Sweet Tooth Friday, Sweets for a Saturday, Sweet Indulgences Sunday.