Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake is, for me, the precursor to the contemporary Molten Lava Chocolate Cake.  A Fudge-like cake with a chocolate sauce is one my mother used to make.  I think the original recipe that she used was from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, but since I have it written down on a recipe card, I can only assume she "tweaked" it a bit...which was so like her.

You would think it has a truckload of butter and eggs with rich chocolate, but in actuality, it has only one egg, four tablespoons of butter, and uses cocoa powder!  I call it--"the poor man's molten cake."

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

1 1/4 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Topping:
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups hot water (you can also use hot coffee)

Preheat oven to 350F-degrees.  Butter a 8-inch square baking pan or ceramic dish (that's what I used)

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together and whisk to combine.  In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (milk, egg, & vanilla extract).  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, along with the melted butter and stir to combine.  Spoon batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top.

Mix together the Topping ingredients and spoon on top of the cake batter.

Press the topping mixture slightly with an off-set spatula on top of the cake batter.  To make sure I don't spill anything--I place this in the oven, then pour the hot water over the mixture.

Carefully push the rack into the oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.  The cake should look set and the pudding is bubbling  I suggest (and I will do this next time) placing a parchment lined baking sheet under your dish in case any "pudding" bubbles over!

Spoon out the mixture into a dessert dish and yes, add a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.  Enjoy!

I had such a wonderful time in Birmingham, UK and will share some of the dishes I had in the next post.  I was so surprised how much the food had changed since I was there in 1993; fresh ingredients and some of the best bread I've ever had.

A pub we ate at in Coventry~Meriden had this plaque in the floor where the Centre of England is; very cool:-D