Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake

This Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake is made with a layer of moist chocolate cake and a layer of fudge which sinks to the bottom as the cake rises, creating a delicious molten lava pudding. The cake is very simple to make and takes only 45 minutes including the baking time! Similar to a molten lava cake, it is always a crowd pleaser, especially during the colder months.

The chocolate cake recipe is inspired by my delectable, and very popular, Easy Chocolate Cake. That cake is incredible on its own, but the hot fudge pudding just takes it to the next level.

hot fudge chocolate cake in a ceramic dish with a spoon pulling out a serving revealing a layer of hot fudge underneath the chocolate cake, pic from the top

hot fudge chocolate cake in a ceramic dish with 2 spoon pulled out into 2 bowl revealing layer of hot fudge sauce under the cake. cake is moist and rich and saucy

close up of chocolate pudding cake in a dish with a spoon pulling out a scoop showing the molten pudding fudge sauce on the bottom

Pssst – do you want to make this cake even easier? Try my Microwave Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake which comes together in just 15 minutes with no eggs, and has the same decadent fudge sauce in it!

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INGREDIENTS REQUIRED

This Hot Fudgy Chocolate Pudding Cake is made using simple ingredients you should already have in your pantry (all quantities are given in the recipe card at the bottom of this post):

Chocolate Cake:

All purpose flour
Granulated sugar – can be substituted with caster sugar
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
Large eggs
Vegetable oil – or use any other neutral tasting oil
Buttermilk – if you don’t have buttermilk, you can easily make it yourself with milk and vinegar or lemon juice
Boiling water – this helps bloom the cocoa powder
Cocoa powder – I recommend Dutch processed, but you can also use natural unsweetened cocoa powder
Instant coffee

Hot Fudge Pudding:

Granulated sugar
Light brown sugar
Cocoa powder – Dutch processed or natural
Boiling water

hot fudge chocolate cake in a ceramic dish with a spoon pulling out a serving revealing a layer of hot fudge underneath the chocolate cake

HOW TO MAKE HOT FUDGE CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE

Let’s go over the simple method to make this cake – it should not take you longer than 15 minutes of work! First, check out this video in which you can see the method in action:

1. Prepare the cake batter

Before getting started, pre-heat your oven to 350F (conventional) and brush a 7×11″ baking dish (I used ceramic) with a little butter.

In a clean bowl, combine all the dry ingredients except the cocoa powder, making sure to sift the flour. Use a whisk to mix them together.

To the dry ingredients, add the eggs, oil and buttermilk, and gently whisk until combined. If you see any lumps forming, use the whisk to break them down, but avoid overmixing the batter.

eggs and oil added to dry ingredients in a bowl

In a separate bowl, pour boiling water over the cocoa powder and instant coffee, and whisk until you see a shiny, smooth chocolatey mixture. This step will ‘bloom’ the cocoa powder, bringing out its lovely chocolate aroma and flavor.

cocoa powder and water mixed to make a smooth chocolate mixture

Pour the bloomed cocoa mix into the rest of the batter, and gently fold until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.

chocolate mix being whisked into cake batter

2. Add the Hot Fudge Pudding ingredients

This part is so simple, and feels like it should be wrong but it isn’t! First, mix together the two types of sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl, making sure to break down any lumps.

Then, sprinkle over the mixture on top of the cake batter inside the baking pan, trying your best to spread it out evenly.

Then, carefully pour over the boiling water in the same baking pan. Be careful not to splash the water – you can use the back of a spoon to help pour more slowly and evenly, and try to get the water spread evenly too.

hot fudge cake batter in a baking dish with sugar sprinkled on top

boiling water on top of cake batter in a baking dish

3. Bake the cake

Bake the cake for ~30 minutes. In the oven, a few magical things will happen:

The hot water will dissolve the sugars and cocoa, and cook down to form a fudgy sauce
The cake will bake and rise
The fudgy sauce will sink to the bottom

You want to stop baking the cake when it feels firm to touch on the top, but a toothpick inserted should have fudge on it! With this cake, I find it is better to lean towards underbaking than overbaking, as we want it to be like molten lava.

hot fudge chocolate cake in a ceramic baking dish from the top

4. Serve!

That’s it! Now it is time to enjoy your hard work. Serve the cake while it is still hot. Just like molten lava cake, this cake is great with some vanilla ice cream on top.