Vegetarian Recipes
Chocolate Pudding Cake
This fudgy, gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake recipe is SO EASY to make, and it doubles as a magic trick—perfect to entertain the kids! Who would have thought pouring boiling water over a cake would yield such delicious molten chocolate lava results!? The water helps create a chocolatey pudding-like layer on the bottom, and the chocolate cake on top is soft and moist. I use simple ingredients to make this easy dessert, and it’s also totally egg-free and easily made vegan!
What is Chocolate Pudding Cake?
I love a simple, no-fuss dessert recipe, and this chocolate pudding cake is exactly that! It’s what’s known as a ”self-saucing” cake, meaning as it bakes, it separates into two layers—a rich chocolate pudding layer and a chocolate cake top layer. This magical effect is achieved by pouring boiling water over the unbaked cake before putting it in the oven. The hot water sinks to the bottom, creating a deliciously gooey chocolate sauce. It’s totally simple, yet so impressive and delicious! This recipe is up there with my ”Do Nothing” cake in terms of ease, that’s for sure.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy chocolate pudding cake recipe:
- Light Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: Adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the cake layer. I also use these sugars in the topping, which mixes with the boiling water to create the decadent sauce.
- Instant Coffee: This is one of my favorite tricks for enhancing the flavor of chocolate desserts! It doesn’t make the cake taste like coffee, but it does give the cake a richer, more intense chocolate flavor.
- Flour: Adds structure to the cake layer.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: These leavening agents help the cake to rise and create a light, fluffy texture.
- Cocoa Powder: This is used in both the cake batter and the pudding topping. I like to use unsweetened cocoa powder for a rich chocolate taste.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: I add these to the cake batter for even more chocolate flavor!
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the overall flavor of the cake.
- Half & Half: Adds moisture to the cake batter and helps bind all the ingredients together.
- Salt: I add a sprinkle of salt to the topping to help balance out the sweetness of the sugar.
- Boiling Water: Mixes with the cocoa sugar topping to create the hot fudge sauce for this self-saucing cake!
Make it Vegan!
This old fashioned chocolate pudding cake is super easy to make vegan. Just sub the half & half for coconut milk or any vegan creamer of your choice, use dairy-free chocolate chips, and you’re good to go.
The Secret to A Fudgy cHOCOLATE pUDDING cAKE
Okay, so this isn’t so much a secret, but it IS what makes this cake so special. After you’ve sprinkled the cocoa sugar topping over your cake batter and poured the boiling water on top, DON’T MIX IT. As the cake bakes, the boiling water and cocoa topping sink to the bottom and create the rich, hot fudge sauce while the cake rises and cooks on top. So don’t mix it! You’ve really got to trust the process on this one.
Recipe Tips & Suggestions!
- I grease my cake pan with a little butter or cooking spray before adding the cake batter. This prevents any sticking and makes it easier to remove the cake from the pan after baking.
- Be careful not to overbake the cake! I know my cake is done when the top is set, and I can see the hot fudge sauce bubbling up around the edges.
- I use an 8×8 cake pan to make this recipe. You may need to adjust the baking time if using a different size pan.
- You can switch out the semi-sweet chocolate chips for dark or milk chocolate, depending on your preference. I think flavored chocolate chips, like butterscotch or mint, would be fun to try, too!
- Serve this homemade chocolate pudding cake while it’s still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream on top!
Storage Instructions
Once cooled, this chocolate fudge pudding cake can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. It won’t be as gooey as freshly baked after being in the fridge, and I recommend warming it up in the microwave for 15-20 seconds before serving. You can also freeze this cake in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw it at room temperature or in the fridge overnight, and reheat it in the microwave for a quick dessert option!
Chocolate Pudding Cake Recipe
Equipment
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8×8 Cake Pan
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- ½ Tbsp instant coffee $0.93
- ¼ cup light brown sugar $0.13
- ¼ cup granulated sugar $0.18
- 1 cup flour $0.39
- 1 tsp baking powder $0.04
- 1 tsp baking soda $0.01
- ¼ cup cocoa powder $0.73
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips $0.99
- 1 tsp vanilla extract $0.65
- ¾ cup half & half $0.98
Topping Ingredients
- ½ cup brown sugar $0.26
- ¼ cup granulated sugar $0.18
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder $0.36
- ⅛ tsp salt $0.01
- 1 cup boiling water $0.00
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350. Combine instant coffee, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and semi-sweet chocolate chips in a mixing bowl and mix to combine.
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In a separate bowl, combine vanilla extract and half & half. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture with a spoon until combined. Pour it into a buttered or sprayed cake pan.
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Then, combine the topping ingredients: brown sugar, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
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Generously sprinkle all the sugar cocoa topping over the cake. Don’t mix it in!
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Then, pour the boiling water over the top (don’t mix it in!)
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Transfer the cake pan to the oven for 35 minutes. Serve warm.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
how to make Chocolate Pudding Cake – step by step photos
Preheat oven to 350. Combine ½ Tbsp instant coffee, ¼ cup light brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, ¼ cup cocoa powder, and ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips in a mixing bowl and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 tsp vanilla extract and ¾ cup half & half. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture with a spoon and pour it into a buttered or sprayed cake pan.
Then, combine the topping ingredients: ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 2 Tbsp cocoa powder, and ⅛ tsp salt in a separate bowl.
Generously sprinkle all the sugar cocoa topping over the cake. Don’t mix it in!
Then, pour 1 cup boiling water over the top (don’t mix it in!)
Transfer the cake pan to the oven for 35 minutes. Serve warm.
Next time you’re in charge of dessert, try this unbelievably easy chocolate pudding cake recipe. It’s the perfect treat for birthdays, family dinners, the holidays, and everything in between!
More Chocolate Cake Recipes
The post Chocolate Pudding Cake appeared first on Budget Bytes.
Vegetarian Recipes
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones
I recently posted my recipe for sourdough starter here on the blog, so I couldn’t leave y’all hanging! Once you get the hang of maintaining your starter, you can start getting into super easy sourdough discard recipes—like this one! I find it hard to let any of my discard go to waste, considering how much time and effort I put into caring for it and feeding it. It’s a needy ingredient, but it’s worth the extra effort, as you’ll see when you taste these fluffy, subtly sweet Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones! Don’t have any discard? I’ve also shared how to make these delicious scones without it.
Easy Recipe for Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Scones
Even if you don’t really think of yourself as a baker, I promise you might surprise yourself with these sourdough chocolate chunk scones. They’re honestly so simple and so, so good. The discard from your sourdough starter gives them a super tender texture and just a little tang that plays really well with those melty chocolate chunks. My trick for tall, bakery-style fluffy scones is using cold butter (don’t let it soften!) and giving the dough time to rise before baking. This recipe is seriously an easy win and such a satisfying way to use up that discard you’ve been saving.
Chocolate Chip Sourdough Scones
Equipment
-
Mixing Bowls
-
Parchment Paper
-
Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour + extra if needed $0.23
- 2 tsp baking powder $0.08
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar $0.06
- ½ tsp salt $0.01
- 6 Tbsp cold butter* $0.66
- 1 cup chocolate chunks** $2.97
- ¼ cup sourdough discard*** $0.00
- ¼ cup milk + 1 Tbsp, divided (1 Tbsp reserved for icing) $0.06
- 2 eggs $0.82
- 1 tsp vanilla extract $0.47
- 1 cup powdered sugar $0.55
Instructions
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Gather ingredients and preheat the oven to 425ºF.
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Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, in a large bowl. Stir until they are very well combined.
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Grate the butter into the flour mixture and stir until the butter is well incorporated and no large lumps remain.
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Add the chocolate chunks to the flour mixture and stir to combine.
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Whisk together the sourdough discard, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.
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Pour the wet discard mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and chocolate chunks. Stir everything together until it forms a cohesive ball of dough, with no dry flour remaining on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too dry to come together into a single ball of dough, add a splash more milk (1 Tbsp or so) until it comes together.
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Form a dough ball at the bottom of your mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow your scone dough to proof for 1-3 hours, until your dough ball noticeably grows in size, at least by a quarter the volume, ideally the volume will double. (Yes, this step takes a little extra patience, but the fluffy texture from the sourdough makes these scones a little extra special! You could also bake this right away, they just won’t be as fluffy and will be more like a classic scone.)
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Press the dough out into an 8-inch diameter circle on a piece of parchment paper. Cut the circle into 6 wedges. (To stretch this recipe further, you could cut into 8 wedges.) Place the cut scones on a parchment lined baking sheet.
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Bake the scones in the preheated 425ºF oven for 15-17 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Transfer the baked scones to a wire rack to cool.
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While the scones are cooling, combine powdered sugar with 1 Tbsp milk until it forms a thick glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones, then enjoy!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
**You could use chocolate chips, but I find scones to be too bready without the larger pockets of chocolate created by using chunks.
***I use the discard from my 100% hydration starter. If you do not have any sourdough discard, you can make this scone recipe with 2 cups of flour instead, skipping the discard ingredient, and there’s no need to proof the dough for 1-3 hours.
Nutrition
how to make Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones step-by-step photos
Gather all of your ingredients together and preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Mix the dry ingredients: Add 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 3 Tbsp sugar, and ½ tsp salt to a large bowl. Mix until well combined.
Cut in the butter: Remove your butter from the freezer and grate 6 Tbsp of butter into the flour mixture. Stir until the butter is fully incorporated into the flour. There shouldn’t be any large lumps.
Add the chocolate: Stir 1 cup chocolate chunks (or chocolate chips) into the butter and flour mix.
Combine the remaining wet ingredients: In a different bowl, mix together ¼ cup sourdough discard, ¼ cup milk, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla extract.
Make the dough: Pour the wet sourdough mixture into the bowl with the flour and chocolate chunks. Stir everything together until it forms a cohesive ball of dough. There should be no dry flour remaining on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough seems too dry to come together into a single ball of dough, add a splash more milk (1 Tbsp or so) until it forms into a ball.
Proof the dough: Place the dough ball into your mixing bowl and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap. Leave your bowl in a warm location and let it proof for 1-3 hours until the dough ball has grown in size (by at least a quarter of the volume, but ideally, it will have doubled). You could bake the scones right away without proofing…but I highly recommend letting it proof so the texture of your sourdough chocolate chip scones will be extra special and fluffy.
Form the dough: Lay a piece of parchment paper on your work surface. Lay the proofed dough ball onto the parchment and press it out into an 8-inch diameter circle.
Slice the dough into 6 equal wedges (or 8 wedges if you want to make smaller scones).
Place the cutout dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you have any leftover chocolate chunks, feel free to press some into the top of the dough before baking (as I did here).
Bake: Place the baking tray into your preheated oven and bake for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the glaze: As you wait for your delicious sourdough scones to cool, you can make the simple glaze. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp milk to a bowl and combine until a thick glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones, then enjoy!
Just look how fluffy that crumb is…and don’t even get me started on the pockets of ooey gooey chocolate!
Recipe Success Tips
- Use cold butter. I pop a stick of butter in the freezer for 5–10 minutes before baking. It should be cold and firm but not rock-hard. Cold butter creates steam pockets as the scones bake, which makes them rise beautifully and gives you that tender, flaky texture.
- Grate the butter. Grating makes it super easy to mix the butter into the flour so it’s evenly distributed throughout the dough. No pastry cutter needed!
- Don’t skip the rise (unless you really want to!). Letting the dough rest and rise for 1–3 hours gives the sourdough discard time to work its magic. It helps the scones puff up and turn out extra fluffy. You can bake them without letting the dough rise, but they’ll turn out much flatter.
- Don’t overmix the dough. I combine the wet and dry ingredients just until the dough comes together. Overmixing can make the scones tough instead of tender.
Storage Instructions
Keep your homemade chocolate chip sourdough scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature and reheat (if desired) in the microwave or in a low oven.
You can also try freezing the unbaked, shaped dough by placing the wedges on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freezing until solid. Transfer the frozen dough to a freezer-safe bag and then bake from frozen, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time.
More Easy Scone recipes
The post Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones appeared first on Budget Bytes.
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