Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

This chocolatey, moist, cake-like pudding, with its own gooey, fudgy sauce is a classic, old fashioned dessert that is a winner! It’s SO simple to make – a ‘melt and mix’ recipe that is prepared in 10 minutes and then left to bake for 30 minutes. A family favourite, and also a crowd-pleaser for when you have guests over. This really is comfort food at its best. You must try this pudding!

I just love this pudding. Not only is it quick and easy to prepare, but it tastes wonderful. To prepare the pudding, a very simple and quick one-bowl batter is made, as well as a liquid layer which is poured over the top. When it is baked in the oven, they come together to form a cake-like layer with a chocolate sauce layer hidden underneath – a great combination! The moist cake-like layer has a lovely soft crust on top. When you put a spoon into the pudding, it is then that the chocolate sauce layer is revealed. All together it is gooey, chocolatey and crying out to be served warm with ice-cream!

The beauty of this recipe is that it is made with just 8 ingredients that are all pantry staples. It is a melt and mix recipe (love this!) that is all combined together in a bowl with a spoon (I have been known to mix it all up in the dish I cook it in).

My version is egg-free and can be made gluten-free by simply subsituting the plain flour and baking powder for gluten-free products.

Here are the ingredients:

• Plain Flour – just plain all-purpose flour. Replace with gluten-free flour if you like.
• Baking Powder – is the rising agent. Replace with gluten-free baking powder if you like.
• Cocoa – use any type of unsweetened Cocoa Powder. Dutch Processed Cocoa powder is a richer more intense cocoa compared to normal cocoa and it is delicious, however I often use just normal Cocoa powder. The cocoa in this recipe is what gives the ‘chocolate’ flavour. No actual chocolate is used in this classic dessert. I just love it and see no reason to change this old-fashioned recipe.
• Sugar – white or caster sugar is fine. You can use brown sugar if you prefer. I often will use brown sugar in the topping.
• Salt – table salt or sea-salt are both ok to use here. Salt helps break up the sweetness.
• Butter – salted or unsalted is ok here too. For this recipe, the butter is melted.
• Milk – I use full-fat milk.
• Vanilla Extract – I always use vanilla extract in my bakes instead of vanilla essence.

The cocoa, sugar and vanilla essence is also used again for the topping where it is mixed with boiling water. A lot of recipes say to sprinkle the cocoa and sugar over the batter and then pour over boiling water, but for my recipe, I mix them all together first in a jug, and then pour this combined mix over the top of the batter.

It really is a crowd-pleaser. My family often asks me to make this dessert and everyone I have made this for has enjoyed it. This recipe is adapted from a charity cookbook from my late Aunt’s golf club.

I love these easy, classic recipes that have been cooked for generations. I can see why when they taste this good and are fuss-free to make!

Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

This chocolatey, moist, cake-like pudding, with its own gooey, fudgy sauce is a classic, old fashioned dessert that is a winner! It's SO simple to make – a 'melt and mix' recipe that is prepared in 10 minutes and then left to bake for 30 minutes. A family favourite, and also a crowd-pleaser for when you have guests over. This really is comfort food at its best. You must try this pudding!

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Course: Dessert, Sweet

Cuisine: Australian

Keyword: chocolate, chocolate pudding, chocolate self saucing pudding, dessert, easy dessert, gluten-free, gluten-free self saucing chocolate pudding, pudding, self saucing chocolate pudding, sweet

Servings: 6

Calories: 369kcal

Author: Katrina | Katy’s Food Finds

Equipment

• large bowl
• small jug or bowl
• 1.2 litre (5 cup) capacity baking dish (mine is 7.5cm high), round or square

Ingredients

Pudding Batter:

• 1 c flour plain, all-purpose
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 150 g sugar (2/3 cup)
• 15 g cocoa powder (1 dessertspoon)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 60 g butter
• 1/2 c milk full cream, (125ml)

Topping:

• 150 g sugar (2/3 cup) or brown sugar (see notes)
• 15 g cocoa powder (1 dessertspoon)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 375 ml boiling water (1 1/2 cups)

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C.

  Grease a large (1.6 litre or 6 cup capacity) baking dish with butter and set aside.

Batter

• Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa together in a large bowl. Add sugar and stir to combine. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add milk, vanilla extract and melted butter. Mix everything together until smooth. Spread the batter into the greased baking dish and even out.

Topping

• In a jug, add sugar, cocoa and vanilla extract. Add the boiling water – start by adding just enough to mix the dry ingredients together to a liquid sludge, then add the rest. If you add the water all at once, you sometimes get clumps of cocoa powder.

  Pour the hot liquid slowly and carefully over the batter. Do this by pouring the topping onto the back of a dessertspoon, all over the batter. This helps distribute the liquid onto the top of the batter gently, without creating holes in the batter.

  Transfer the dish to the preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cake is springy to the touch. The top forms a bit of a crust which is delicious. The bottom will now have formed a liquid sauce which will become gooey when rested. The cooking time can vary by 5-10 minutes depending on how deep or shallow your baking dish is.

  Allow to rest for 5 minutes and serve straight away (see notes). This pudding is best served using a large serving spoon as it is a homely dessert. Feel free to cut it up if you prefer.

  Delicious served with cream or ice-cream. Our favourite is Vanilla Bean Ice-cream!

  Storage – if you have any left-over, keep covered in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Notes

This recipe feeds 4-6 people depending on how big your servings are.

Re: Baking Dish. I like to use a dish that is approximately 7-8cm deep. I use a round corningware casserole dish which is a 5 cup capacity (1.2 litres). In the photos I have used a square Staub baking dish as I doubled the recipe to feed 8 people. A deeper dish can sometimes take 5 minutes more to cook.

Serve the pudding as soon as it has rested (only 5 minutes). The sauce will be lovely and runny (like cream).

When the pudding is completely cold, the sauce becomes more fudgy and thick, which is still delicious. Leftovers are wonderful the next day – my family have been known to eat it straight from the fridge but it can also be reheated. The ‘stuck on the side of the dish, gooey bits’ are quite delicious ☺️.

This recipe can easily be made Gluten-free by replacing the flour and baking powder for gluten-free versions.

Here are the ingredients:

• Plain Flour – just plain all-purpose flour. Replace with gluten-free flour if you like.
• Baking Powder – is the rising agent. Replace with gluten-free baking powder if you like.
• Cocoa – use any type of unsweetened Cocoa Powder. Dutch Processed Cocoa powder is a richer more intense cocoa compared to normal cocoa and it is delicious, however I often use just normal Cocoa powder. The cocoa in this recipe is what gives the ‘chocolate’ flavour. No actual chocolate is used in this classic dessert. I just love it and see no reason to change this old-fashioned recipe.
• Sugar – white or caster sugar is fine. You can use brown sugar if you prefer. I often use brown sugar in the topping. 
• Salt – table salt or sea-salt are both ok to use here. Salt helps break up the sweetness.
• Butter – salted or unsalted is ok here too. For this recipe, the butter is melted.
• Milk – I use full-fat milk.
• Vanilla Extract – I always use vanilla extract in my bakes instead of vanilla essence.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 369kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 360mg | Potassium: 125mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 51g | Vitamin A: 283IU | Calcium: 82mg | Iron: 2mg

Have you cooked one of my recipes? I’d love you to tag me @katysfoodfinds or #katysfoodfinds!