Rebecca Shetler Fast

Black Fudge Pudding Cake

Rebecca Shetler Fast
Black Fudge Pudding Cake

It has been a busy month for us here in The Hungry Hounds household, and Paul and I have been out of the kitchen more than in it these past weeks. While Paul is traveling in Haiti working to develop our Hurricane response projects, I am working remotely from North America. In the meantime, little Madeline is happily catching up on lost playtime with her family. We are reposting our recipe for Black Fudge Pudding Cake today, to send you into the Christmas season well armed with a fabulous and easy dessert that is both cake and pudding in one. Somewhere between a fudge brownie and a custard, there is not much to improve in this sumptuous chocolate dessert. If you are a hot fudge pudding cake novice, it is an easy, quick, and guest-impressing dessert that assembles like a science project.

Yield: 8 portions

Ingredients:

   Wet batter:

  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup black cocoa powder (can substitute regular cocoa)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips
  • 6 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla

   Dry mixture:

   Coffee mixture:

  • 1 1/2 cups hot water (or substitute w/ fresh brewed coffee, omit espresso powder)
  • 2 teaspoons espresso powder

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 400. Prep 8 ramekins, spray with non-stick cooking spray or coat with butter. Place ramekins on a baking sheet for easier oven removal.
  2. For the wet batter: In a bowl or mixer, combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips). Stir in the melted butter, egg, milk and vanilla and mix to combine.
  3. Divide the mixture evenly between the ramekins (about ¼ cup each). Spread the chocolate batter evenly, wetting your hands works well, as the batter tends to be sticky.
  4. For the dry mixture: whisk together the sugars and dark cocoa until evenly combined.
  5. Pour the sugar mixture evenly over the ramekins, about 2 tablespoons per ramekin. Do not stir.
  6. For the coffee mixture: Mix together the hot water and espresso powder and pour evenly over ramekins, about 3 tablespoons per container. Do not stir.
  7. Bake the ramekins for 20 minutes, they should be puffed up in the middle and just set. If you are going to be eating the cakes out of the ramekins, let them stand for 15-20 minutes. We like to invert ours right away and eat the gooey dessert while it is still quite warm, we find that when it comes to Black Fudge Pudding Cakes, we just don’t have the self-control to wait! Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or berries.


Note: To bake in a 9 inch baking dish. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the middle appears almost set. Allow to cool for 20 minutes before eating

Rebecca Shetler FastComment

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Mexican Chocolate Custard Cake is our favorite chocolate cake. This fabulous cake is flourless, supremely decadent, dead simple to make, and perfectly balances the subtle spiciness of ancho and cinnamon with a dark fudgy texture. But perhaps the most eloquent endorsement: an enormous bite mark and accompanying slobber stains across the recipe from our sleepy greyhound Leo, who, apparently knows a good recipe when he sees one! While you may be wondering about the wisdom of making a spectacularly sumptuous, rich, pudding-like chocolate cake smack dab in the middle of the holidays, don’t. Dig deep people, this one is worth it!  Or, as one of our dessert tasters muttered under his chocolate-laced breath; “You’ve got to be dead not to like this.” Eat on. 

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For Paul, hot fudge pudding cakes evoke memories of childhood birthdays in Tanzania and this sweet treat that is both cake and pudding in one. Somewhere between a fudge brownie and a custard, there is not much to improve in this sumptuous chocolate dessert. If you are a hot fudge pudding cake novice, it is an easy, quick, and guest impressing dessert that assembles like a science project. In our version, Black Fudge Pudding Cakes, we deepen the flavor with rich black cocoa powder, espresso, and dark chocolate chips. This week we made one batch to serve eight... and found that it only served two, delicious! 

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