Our work on this recipe has been so stimulating that we hardly know what to do with ourselves. Chocolate pudding cake sounds delicious and it should be—so why has every recipe we’ve tried left us disappointed? The most promising versions are those in which you pour boiling water over the top and don’t stir it in, creating variations in texture from sauce to pudding to moist, delicious cake. But the flavor of sauce was thin and the cake too often dry. Analyzing the specifics of its disappointing features invited inspiration to strike. Thin sauce? Add dairy. Bland flavor? Add more chocolate..
The first time we tried the recipe with cream and oats and all, we had to remind ourselves to breathe. What if it’s glorious? we hoped. What if it’s dry and weird? we feared. In fact it was delicious, but the chocolate flavor still had potential for improvement. We switched from baking powder to soda, added a bit more vanilla, adjusted the chocolate levels and we had it. And now you should go have it.
Chocolate Pudding Cake Reinvented
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
2/3 cup natural cocoa, divided
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups flour (or ground oats, made from 1 3/4 cups oats ground to flour in the blender)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
Two eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or whole milk, if you run out)
1/2 cup boiling water
Place butter in a 3-quart baking dish and put it in the oven as it heats to 350°.
Combine 1/3 cup cocoa with 1 cup brown sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
Whisk remaining 1/3 cup cocoa, white sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
Whisk together 3/4 cup milk, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter in a Pyrex measuring cup. Pour over flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until mostly combined—there can still be a few flour streaks. Add chocolate chips and stir again, only until combined. Sprinkle brown sugar cocoa powder mixture evenly over the top of the cake, then pour milk/buttermilk evenly over that, followed by boiling water. Do not stir!
Bake for 38 to 42 minutes. The cake can still jiggle a bit when it’s done, but it should act more like cake than like pudding when you gently shake the pan. Let it rest for 15 minutes, then serve with vanilla ice cream. It’s also delicious at room temperature.