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This **Chocolate Pudding Cake** is the ultimate cozy dessert, baking up into a tender chocolate cake on top with a rich, gooey fudge sauce that forms underneath all on its own. I make it on chilly winter nights when the girls want something warm, and we eat it straight from the dish with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you love an easy, gooey chocolate dessert, it is right up there with our chocolate earthquake cake.
As it bakes, the batter and a cocoa topping magically separate into cake and self-saucing pudding, so every spoonful has both.
Chocolate Pudding Cake Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 32 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 42 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 6 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 516kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Deeply chocolatey, warm, and fudgy
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, a true one-bowl dessert like our white chocolate brownies
Quick Answer
To make chocolate pudding cake, whisk together a simple chocolate batter and spread it in a baking dish. Sprinkle a dry mixture of sugar, brown sugar, cocoa, and chocolate chips over the top, then pour boiling water over everything without stirring. As it bakes, the cake rises to the top while a rich fudge sauce forms underneath. Serve it warm with ice cream.
Jump to:
- Chocolate Pudding Cake Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Chocolate Pudding Cake
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Chocolate Pudding Cake FAQs
- Other Recommended Easy Chocolate Desserts
- Easy Chocolate Pudding Cake
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- It sauces itself. Pouring boiling water over the cocoa topping creates a fudgy sauce that sinks below the cake as it bakes, with no separate sauce to make.
- Do not stir the water. Leaving the boiling water sitting on top is exactly what lets the dessert separate into a tender cake and a gooey pudding layer.
- Buttermilk for tenderness. The acidity in buttermilk makes the cake layer extra soft and moist with a fine, tender crumb.
- Two kinds of chocolate. Cocoa powder plus mini chocolate chips give deep chocolate flavor and gooey melted pockets throughout.
- One bowl, no mixer. Everything is whisked together by hand, so this rich dessert comes together in minutes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It makes its own warm fudge sauce while it bakes, no extra steps.
- It comes together in one bowl in about 10 minutes of prep.
- It is the coziest spoonable chocolate dessert, like our chocolate earthquake cake.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our chocolate peppermint poke cake.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our creamy chocolate rice pudding.
- It earns a spot in the rotation right next to our birthday cake pudding shots.
Key Ingredients
Simple pantry staples make this magic self-saucing cake. Here is what each one does.
- Cocoa Powder: Used in both the cake and the sauce for deep, rich chocolate flavor.
- Buttermilk: Its acidity keeps the cake layer moist and tender with a soft crumb.
- Brown and Granulated Sugar: Sweeten the batter and form the base of the gooey fudge sauce.
- Chocolate Chips: Sprinkled into the sauce topping for melty pockets of chocolate.
- Boiling Water: The secret step, poured over the top to create the self-saucing pudding layer.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
Make this cozy dessert your own with a few easy twists.
- Stir a teaspoon of espresso powder into the batter to deepen the chocolate flavor.
- Add a pinch of cinnamon or cayenne for a Mexican hot chocolate twist.
- Use half dark and half semi-sweet chips for a richer sauce.
- Stir chopped pecans or walnuts into the topping for crunch.
- For another gooey chocolate dessert, try our chocolate brownies with strawberry frosting.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our chocolate chip pound cake delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our german chocolate cake delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
- In the mood for something different? Our chocolate bundt cake with ganache glaze scratches a similar itch.
How to Make Chocolate Pudding Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a 9-inch baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla and stir until combined with no dry patches.
- Spread the batter evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips for the sauce. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.
- Pour the boiling water over the top and do not stir it in.
- Bake for 28 to 32 minutes until the top looks set and cracked and the sides start to pull away from the dish. Let it cool 15 minutes before serving.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Do not stir the boiling water. This is the most important step, since the water on top is what creates the self-saucing pudding layer.
- Use a deep enough dish. The cake bubbles up as it bakes, so a 9-inch dish with tall sides prevents overflow.
- Let it rest 15 minutes. Resting lets the sauce thicken slightly so it is gooey instead of soupy.
- Serve it warm. This dessert is at its best fresh and warm when the fudge sauce is at its gooiest.
- Scoop from the bottom. Dig down to get both the cake and the rich pudding sauce underneath in every serving.
- Reheat gently. Warm leftovers in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds to bring back the gooey sauce.
- Make it a spread. When you are feeding a crowd, round out the table with our chocotorta.
- Make it a spread. When you are feeding a crowd, round out the table with our hot chocolate cake.
- Make it a full spread. Our flourless chocolate cake rounds out the table.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Serve this chocolate pudding cake warm and scooped into bowls with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top. It is the perfect cozy finish to a comfort-food dinner, right alongside something from our dessert lineup like two-bite brownies.
And if you want one more idea for the table, our white chocolate mousse cake with butterscotch never misses.
A dollop of whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel, or a handful of fresh raspberries all pair beautifully with the rich chocolate. Because it is spoonable and served warm, it is ideal for cold-weather gatherings and last-minute dessert cravings.
For a make-ahead dessert to round out the table, add our strawberry cheesecake bundt cake.
Chocolate Pudding Cake FAQs
The boiling water is what makes this a self-saucing pudding cake. You pour it over the cocoa-sugar topping without stirring, and as the cake bakes, the batter rises to the top while the water and cocoa sink to form a rich fudge sauce underneath. Do not stir it in or the layers will not separate.
Yes. The gooey, saucy layer underneath the cake is the whole point of a pudding cake. The top should look set and cracked like a cake, while underneath you will find a warm, fudgy chocolate sauce. It is not underbaked, it is self-saucing.
Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The sauce will be absorbed somewhat as it sits, so reheat individual portions in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds to loosen the fudge sauce and warm it through.
This dessert is best served fresh and warm when the sauce is gooiest. You can bake it a few hours ahead and gently reheat it, but for the ultimate texture, bake it just before serving. The prep is quick, so it is easy to make fresh.
Buttermilk gives the cake its tender, moist crumb, but you can make a substitute by stirring a teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into regular milk and letting it sit for 5 minutes. Use that in place of the buttermilk.
A 9-inch square or round baking dish with tall sides works best. The cake bubbles and rises as it bakes, so you need enough room to prevent the sauce from overflowing. Avoid a shallow pie plate for this recipe.
Hungry for more? Try our chocolate earthquake cake next for another gooey chocolate dessert.
Easy Chocolate Pudding Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
For the sauce:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 ¼ cups boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch baking dish with baking spray, set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, stir together until combined with no dry patches.
- Add the batter to the baking dish and smooth it out in the bottom of the dish.
- In a separate bowl make the sauce by stirring together the sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips. Sprinkle this mixture over the batter.
- Pour the boiling water over the top, do not mix it in. Bake for 28-32 minutes until the top looks set and cracked and the sides and starting to pull away from the dish.
- Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
- You can switch up the flavor by adding different extracts, try out your favorites.
- The chocolate chips can be omitted if you want to tone down the chocolate.
- This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- Top with ice cream or some of your other favorite sauces or whipped cream.
- This will thicken as it sits.
Nutrition
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