Ooey Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake

I would like divert your attention to this Ooey Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake. I saw it Saturday on Dessert First, hosted by Anne Thronton, on the Food Network. Have you ever been in that situation of when you first see something and you’re like “Oh my God, I have to make that?” That’s how it was for me. I saw this and I instantly knew I had to make this cake and I thought, why not for Easter dessert?

The first thing I want to tell you is that this is seriously one of the simplest cakes you can ever make. There is no electric mixer required and cleanup is a snap! Also, if you’re one of those people that don’t eat cake, cookie or whatever batter because you’re afraid of the uncooked egg in it, you can’t use that excuse with this recipe; there is not once trace of egg here. The batter tastes really fudgey and tastes so delicious! However, it is really hard to spread onto the pan, it is so thick. This cake also rose to incredible heights! I was a little disappointed when I realized the batter just barely covered the bottom of my square pan, but boy did my eyes grow wide when I took it out of the oven! The cake had probably tripled in size (then sunk down just a little bit as it cooled, but no biggy). I could see the pudding part of the cake ooze out of the sides. When I stuck a skewer into the cake to see if it was done, I expected to see a stream of chocolate pudding coming off, but the skewer came out completely clean, even though I could see the liquidy chocolate on the side. I don’t know why, but this amazed me.

Now the taste was just as fudgey as it looked./ I’m pretty sure that if I had used a better quality cocoa powder, the cake would have tasted richer, and more decadent, but all I had on hand was unsweetened Hershey cocoa powder. The pudding was absolutely phenomenal too. It looked and tasted just like regular chocolate pudding; it wasn’t like uncooked batter like you see in lava cakes like I expected. Like I said before though, I really wish I owned a better quality cocoa powder because that would just amplify this cake in so many ways.

Mmm, fresh out of the oven goodness

This was the first piece, so it's a little dishevelled, but it's a great picture of the pudding layer

I hope everyone who celebrates Easter had a wonderful holiday and to those of you who don’t: I hope you had a marvelous Sunday.

After it had been in the fridge over night, I got a better picture. Doesn't it look yummy?

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake
adapted from Anne Thornton
9 servings

Ingredients
½ cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ milk
5 tbsp butter, melted
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
-
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup hot water

Directions

1. Heat the oven for 350 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Pour in the milk, butter and vanilla and mix until combined. The batter will be very thick, you may think you need an egg, but trust me, you don’t.
3. Plop (yes I said plop, there is no other word to describe this) the batter into an UNGREASED 9 inch square baking pan and level off with a rubber spatula.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugars and cocoa. Sprinkle on top of the cake, distributing evenly. You may need to spread it a little by hand. Pour the hot water on top of the sugar mixture. Whatever you do, don’t stir the water in, just leave it be.
5. Carefully place the cake on the middle rack and bake for 25-30 minutes. It will look a little funny on top, and you may see batter-like liquid coming up from the sides, that’s ok. This is what you want; this is the pudding part. Let stand on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes, then you can slice and serve or put plastic rap on top and put it in the fridge.

Nutrition Facts
serving size: 1 square
Calories 207.7 Total Fat 6.7 g Saturated Fat 0.2 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g Cholesterol 17.8 mg Sodium 183.5 mg Potassium 1.3 mg Total Carbohydrate 35.4 g Dietary Fiber 0.7 g Sugars 23.4 g Protein 2.5 g