Pudding Cake
Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:57PM | Seeley deBorn Dessert. Old school.
A lot of the "pudding" that I ate as a kid was not the typical custardy stuff that most people think of. Pudding is a bit of an all purpose word for dessert in some parts of the world, and most of the ones I ate were usually baked, and looked kinda like big sweet dumplings served with a caramel-like sauce.
And then there was the chocolate version.
Granted, my mom was a fan of all things boxed and so hers was a little more instant than this one. Hers also advertised that no bowl was needed. The packets were emptied and mixed right in the baking dish.
No dishes! I'm in.
Chocolate Pudding Cake
Cake
- 1 c flour
- 5 tbsp cocoa
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 c brown sugar
- 1/2 c milk
- 1/2 butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla
Pudding
- 3/4 c brown sugar
- 5 tbsp cocoa
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1-1/2 c boiling water
- 1 tsp vanilla
Preheat the oven. Do it now. 350 degrees. (yes, I forgot this time)
Since we're doing this with no bowls, get out a baking pan. My mom used to make the boxed stuff in a corningware casserole dish, so that's what I'm doing. A glass pan would also work nicely.
Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and cinnamon.
Sifting removes lumps not only from cocoa,
but also from baking powder.
Now, the sugar.
Mix, mix, mix.
Okay, so far, I've used the baking pan, and one dry measure, and a measuring spoon. Things used to measure dry stuff can be rinsed and put away and therefore don't count as dishes.
Measure out half a cup of milk, and then drop in blobs of butter until the liquid level rises to 1 cup. This means you've added half a cup of butter.
Microwave this for about 30 seconds until the butter is just about melted. It should finish melting as you stir it. You want it warm, but not hot, since you're going to add the egg to this. And the vanilla.
I actually measured this time.
Beat the liquid until the egg is nicely mixed in, then pour it into the dry stuff.
Stir, stir, stir.
You'll have a lovely dark, glossy, brownie-like batter.
Okay, so since we mixed the liquid in the measuring cup, you're going to have to either get a bowl or wash the cup. I washed the cup, because all that's going into it now is dry stuff, which means I can just rinse it and put it away, and therefore it is washed only once and counts only as one dish.
You have no idea how often I rationalize shit like this.
Now, for the pudding part. More brown sugar, more cocoa, and more cinnamon. Mixed all together in the measuring cup
and then sprinkled over top of the batter.
DO NOT MIX.
A cup and a half of boiling water, with a teaspoon of vanilla in it (wait, does this mean I have to wash it again?? dammit) gets poured over the back of the mixing spoon.
This does two things: one, it removes momentum from the flow of the water so that it sprinkles gently over the batter and topping, and two, it rinses the spoon off.
DO NOT MIX.
I know it looks weird, and I know you want to mix it, and I know you don't believe me that this is going to work.
Ha, totally did.
30 minutes later it comes out of the oven looking like a pan of rich, dark brownies, with hot fudge sauce bubbling all around them.
Freaky.
Tasty.
Chocolatey.
Do you think I should try the caramel version?
Reader Comments (2)
Cakes made right in the pan we usually call "dump cakes". Personally, I don't think that makes them sound very appetizing, though. I've also only seen them made with mixes. This reminds me of a molten chocolate cake and looks amazing. I am totally trying this. I think I'll probably add a bit of almond extract or Disaronno.
Yeah, all the recipes I've seen for "dump cakes" seem to involve boxed cake mixes and cans of fruit. ... hm, I'll bet you could add fruit to one of these too!
This is a little different from a dump cake and more like the baked pudding my dad and grandma used to make, which is a caramel version.
This is definitely like a molten cake and I really wish I'd had some ice cream to go with it!