Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake
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Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake is one of those desserts that feels way more impressive than the amount of effort it takes. If you love warm chocolate desserts like Chocolate Chip Cookies, Browned Butter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, or Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies, this one has that same cozy chocolate-chip flavor but with a gooey fudgy sauce underneath. The boiling water poured over the batter before baking creates the pudding-like texture that makes this dessert so good served warm with ice cream. It’s easy to make, deeply chocolatey, and one of those desserts people immediately go back for.
Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake
- Gooey chocolate sauce forms underneath while baking
- Made with simple pantry ingredients
- No frosting needed
- Best served warm
- Rich chocolate flavor with melted chocolate throughout
- Easy to make gluten-free or dairy-free if needed
Warm, Gooey, and Ridiculously Chocolatey
I love anything warm, gooey, and chocolate, so this one is very much my kind of dessert. It’s made in one dish, comes together with simple ingredients, and somehow bakes into a soft cake with its own fudgy sauce underneath. Basically, you do very little and the oven does the dramatic part.
What Is Chocolatec Chi[ Pudding Cake?
Chocolate Chip pudding cake is a self-saucing dessert that separates while baking into two layers: a soft cake on top and a warm chocolate sauce underneath. The boiling water added before baking helps create the pudding-like layer at the bottom.
Ingredients Needed To Make This Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake
Chocolate Chip Cake Layer
- Flour: Gives the cake structure while still keeping the texture soft and tender.
- Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and helps create the soft cake layer.
- Baking powder: Helps the cake rise while baking.
- Kosher salt: Balances the sweetness and deepens the chocolate flavor.
- Milk: Adds moisture to the batter. Whole milk works best, but lower-fat milk can also be used.
- Vanilla extract: Adds warmth and enhances the chocolate flavor.
- Unsalted butter: Creates a rich buttery texture throughout the cake.
- Dark chocolate or chocolate chips: Dark chocolate gives the pudding layer a deeper flavor, while semi-sweet chocolate chips make it slightly sweeter and more classic.
Chocolate Topping
- Brown sugar: Helps create the gooey caramel-like chocolate sauce underneath the cake.
- Granulated sugar: Balances the richness and helps form the pudding layer.
- Grated dark chocolate: Melts into the hot water to create the fudgy sauce.
- Boiling water: The boiling water is what transforms this into a self-saucing chocolate pudding cake. Do not stir it into the batter.
How To Make Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 7×10-inch baking dish with high sides. This cake creates a fudgy sauce underneath as it bakes, so you want enough room for the layers to form properly.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the milk, vanilla, melted butter, and chopped chocolate, then mix just until combined. The batter will be thick.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish using a spatula.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and grated chocolate evenly over the top of the batter.
- Carefully pour the boiling water over the entire dish. Do not stir. It will look strange at this stage, but the water helps create the rich pudding-like sauce underneath while the cake bakes.
- Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the top looks baked and cake-like while the bottom stays gooey underneath.
- Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Spoon it warm into bowls with vanilla ice cream for the best texture.
How To Tell When Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake Is Done
The top should look baked and slightly firm while the bottom stays soft and saucy. Avoid overbaking or the pudding layer can dry out.
Tips for the Best Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake
- Do not stir after adding boiling water
- Use high-quality chocolate for richer flavor
- Serve warm for the best texture
- Let rest 10 minutes before scooping
- Use a deep baking dish
- If you love warm chocolate desserts, my turtle brownies are my favorites.
Storage and Reheating
- Store leftover chocolate pudding cake covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The fudgy sauce will thicken as it chills, so the texture will be less molten straight from the fridge.
- To reheat, warm individual servings in the microwave for 20–30 seconds, or until the cake is soft and the sauce loosens again. Add a scoop of ice cream after reheating if you want it closer to the fresh-baked texture.
Why This Recipe Works
This recipe creates two layers while baking: a soft chocolate cake on top and a rich fudgy sauce underneath. The boiling water poured over the topping melts everything together as the cake bakes, creating the gooey pudding texture
Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake
Equipment
- Whisk or spatula
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Layer
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1:1 gluten-free flour)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup milk (or oat milk if dairy free)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (or dairy-free butter)
- 2.7 ounces dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips (chopped)
Chocolate Topping
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2.5 ounes dark chocolate (grated or finely chopped)
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 7×10-inch baking dish with nonstick baking spray. Make sure the dish has sides at least 2 inches tall so the sauce has room to bubble as it bakes.
- In a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and kosher salt. Stir to combine.
- Add the milk, vanilla extract, melted butter, and chopped chocolate. Stir just until the batter comes together. Do not overmix.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar and granulated sugar evenly over the top of the batter.
- Sprinkle the grated or finely chopped chocolate over the sugar layer.
- Carefully pour the boiling water over the top of the cake. Do not stir. The water will look like it is sitting on top, but it helps create the fudgy pudding sauce underneath as the cake bakes.
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top looks set and cake-like. The bottom should still be soft and saucy.
- Let the cake rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or dairy-free ice cream.
Notes
- Do not stir after adding the boiling water. This is what helps create the sauce underneath.
- Use a baking dish with sides at least 2 inches tall so the cake and sauce do not overflow.
- The cake is best served warm while the sauce is still gooey.
- The sauce will thicken as the cake cools or chills.
- For gluten-free, use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend.
- For dairy-free, use dairy-free milk, dairy-free butter, and dairy-free ice cream.
Nutrition
Commonly Asked Questions
Yes. Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. The texture should still be soft and gooey as long as the flour blend is meant to replace regular flour cup for cup.
Absolutely! Use dairy-free milk and dairy-free butter in the cake batter. Serve it with dairy-free ice cream if you want to keep the whole dessert dairy-free.
The boiling water helps create the fudgy sauce underneath the cake while it bakes. It may look strange before going into the oven, but do not stir it in. The layers separate as the cake bakes.
Yes. Chocolate pudding cake should have a soft cake layer on top and a gooey pudding-like sauce underneath. If it is baked until completely firm, it has likely been overbaked.
Regular chocolate cake bakes into one cake-like texture. Chocolate pudding cake creates its own sauce underneath while baking, so it has a soft cake layer on top and a warm fudgy pudding layer on the bottom.
Delicious! Served at a family function and not a single piece was left!
So happy to hear it was well loved!!!