More often than not, I am overwhelmed with the intense desire to sit on the couch and dig in to some type of warm, gooey, chocolate anything. While I usually fulfill this craving with a warm pan of brownies or decadent double chocolate cookies, I decided to take the more interesting and adventurous route by flipping through my new Baked Occasions cookbook. After spending an embarrassing and ridiculous amount of time obsessing over the abundance of insanely delicious and decadent desserts, I finally settled on the hot chocolate pudding cake. The "cake" consists of a layer of a rich and eggy chocolate pudding on the bottom, covered by a layer of soft chocolate cake, studded with dark chocolate chunks. Needless to say, this cake, my spoon and I had a lovely night together.
Ingredients:
Cake Batter-
-3/4 cup, plus 2 tbsp of flour
-1 tsp of baking powder
-1/4 tsp of baking soda
-1/2 tsp of salt
-2 egg yolks
-1/2 cup of buttermilk
-2 tablespoons of canola oil
-1/2 stick of butter
-1 & 1/2 oz of chopped dark chocolate
-1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
-3/4 cup of packed brown sugar
-1 tbsp of vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping-
-1/3 cup of granulated sugar
-1/3 cup of packed brown sugar
-1/4 cup, plus 1 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 & 1/4 cups of boiling water
-1 & 1/2 tsp of espresso powder
-2 oz of chopped dark chocolate
Recipe:
Cake Batter-
-Preheat you oven to 350 degrees
-Spray an 8-by-8-by-2-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside
-Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
-In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, buttermilk, and oil
-Over a pot of simmering water, place a glass bowl with the butter and chopped dark chocolate
-Stir over low heat until butter and chocolate are almost completely melted
-Add the cocoa powder to the glass bowl and whisk the mixture until everything is completely combined
-Remove from heat and continue whisking for about a minute, just to cool the mixture a bit
-Add the brown sugar and vanilla and whisk until combined
-Add in the buttermilk mixture and whisk until combined
-Add flour mixture and fold it in using a spatula
-Use the spatula to spread the batter into the prepared pan
Chocolate Topping-
-Combine both sugars and cocoa powder using your fingers to break up the large clumps of brown sugar
-Stir together the boiling water and espresso powder until completely combined
-Sprinkle the dark chocolate chunks over the cake batter, followed by the sugar and cocoa powder mixture
-Pour the hot espresso over the sugar mixture
-Bake for 35 minutes- you'll know the cake is done when it feels set on the edges yet jiggly in the middle
-Let cake sit for about 20 minutes
-Scoop out cake while still warm, making sure to get the pudding from the bottom!
UGH.