Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding Recipe

This Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding recipe is rich, chocolatey and total comfort food. It’s like a chocolate sponge cake which magically creates it’s own chocolate sauce – all in one dish.

Rich, decadent and totally oozy, this Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding recipe is just the perfect comforting dessert. I mean, take a close look at this gorgeous thing.

The top of this Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding is like a soft, fluffy chocolate sponge cake but hidden down underneath is this rich chocolate sauce and it’s all totally magic because

1. It’s cooked all in one dish and is quick and simple
2. The sauce actually starts on top and by the end it’s seeped down to be a totally delightful surprise under the cake

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How to make Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

This is such a straightforward (and therefore perfect anytime) recipe. The butter is melted and this means there’s no need for creaming butter and sugar together, plus it also helps to keep the cake moist. It’s mixed with all the usual suspects – sugar, cocoa, flour, baking powder, milk, egg – and then poured straight into a greased casserole dish.

The chocolate sponge recipe is adapted from my very favourite chocolate cupcake recipe that I’ve used in everything from these Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes and these Loaded Rocky Road Cupcakes and even my Blackberry Chocolate Cake that I celebrated by second blog birthday with. This recipe is incredibly versatile and it works. every. time! I love it.

Now for the magic

That magical, luxurious chocolate sauce begins life as cocoa, sugar and boiling water. First we sprinkle the cocoa and sugar over the top of the chocolate sponge cake batter, then you very carefully dribble the boiling water all over the top. I say ‘carefully’ because if you just pour the boiling water over it will likely just drill a hole straight through the delicate, uncooked cake batter. The best way to do this is to pour the hot water slowly over an upturned spoon that you move over the top, quite close to the batter.

Bam! In the oven for a quick bake. The top will look a little dry but then as you dig through with your spoon, there is that lovely chocolate sauce right down the bottom. So clever and extremely yum!

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Serve your hot Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding with ice cream and berries like I have here or (and truth be told, my favourite way)  with runny custard (crème anglais). Yum, yum and triple yum! Get baking people 🙂

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5 from 3 votes

Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 6 serves

Author: Marie Roffey

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This Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding recipe is rich, chocolatey and total comfort food. It’s like a chocolate sponge cake which magically creates it’s own chocolate sauce – all in one dish.

Course: Dessert, Sweets

Cuisine: English

Keyword: chocolate, pudding, self saucing pudding

Ingredients

For the cake batter

• 1 cup (130g / 4.6oz) plain (AP) flour
• 1/4 cup (25g / 0.9oz) plain cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (100g / 3.5oz) light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup (57g or 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg, room temp
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk

For the chocolate sauce

• 1/4 cup (25g / 0.9oz) plain (or dutch processed) cocoa
• 1/2 cup (100g / 3.5oz) light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup boiling water

To Serve

• Fresh strawberries
• Vanilla Ice cream or custard crème anglaise

Instructions

For the cake batter

• Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan. Grease an (approximately) 8 inch pie dish with butter.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Mix well to combine.
• In a separate bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the melted butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. The mixture should look smooth before moving on.
• Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Stir through gently until just combined. Now add half of the milk, Mix gently again. Continue like this until all the flour and milk is combined… just. It is important not to overmix or be too heavy handed otherwise the cake may turn out dense and tough.
• Pour the batter into your prepared pie dish

For the chocolate sauce

• Mix together the cocoa and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle it evenly over the top of the cake batter
• With an upturned spoon in one hand, slowly dribble the boiling water over it, moving it around so the water is dribbled evenly over the whole cake (see notes)
• Bake the pudding for 25-30 minutes. The top should look dry and be a little springy.

Notes

1. Pouring the boiling water over the back of a spoon very slowly will allow it to sit on top of the cake batter and not create holes in your cake batter.
2. For best results you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).