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! 

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.