Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

I was wanting some chocolate. Of course, we're broke, there's no money for non-necessities. But I have cocoa! And as I'm thinking on what I can do with it I recall one of my earliest favorite recipes, Hot Fudge Pudding Cake.

The original recipe, to me, is the one out of my Betty Crocker Cook Book for Boys and Girls. I think my Mom or Nana got it for me when I was in grade school. Mine is the 11th printing of the 1965 edition, not the facsimile of the original in the link, but that matters less than these marvelous, simple recipes with easy to follow instructions for kids. Just for fun I scanned the original.



If you like those molten lava cakes, or hot fudge brownie sundaes, you're gonna love this. Here's the thing: Somehow during baking, the cake and pudding reverse themselves and the sauce ends up under the cake.

The nice thing about this recipe is that if you bake you're likely to have everything you need on hand - nice for unexpected company and chocolate emergencies. The only thing I'm missing is a 9 x 9 square pan, which for some reason I've never added to my baking stuff. I use my 9 inch round cake pan, which is too too small, but my next up is too big and makes the cake to thin. I put a cookie sheet under the pan in the oven, mourn the lost sauce, and swear (again) I'm getting a square pan.

There's a lot of variations on this recipe, it's been around approximately forever. I recall a phase where I was looking for the best recipe for both the cake and pudding parts, mixing and matching to make the ideal Hot Fudge Cake recipe. Darned if I know what combination was the best, but I remember that my original recipe uses all white sugar in the sauce, which makes it grainy, so I went looking for a recipe that uses brown sugar.

The recipe I used is Hershey's version, which isn't in my Hershey's Chocolate Cookbook
but is online.

Hershey's ® Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup HERSHEY®'S Cocoa Powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup HERSHEY®'S Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/4 cups hot water
  

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar, flour, 1/4 cup cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla; beat until smooth.
2. Pour batter into ungreased 9-inch square baking pan. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle mixture evenly over batter. Pour hot water over top; do not stir.
3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from oven; let stand 15 minutes. Serve in dessert dishes, spooning sauce from bottom of pan over top. Garnish with whipped topping, if desired.
   

And here's what I'm eating as I blog:


Actually, I'm on my second bowl. Heaven!