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Hot Fudge Pudding Cake is a delicious, vintage recipe that everyone absolutely loves! A fudge sauce forms under a rich chocolate cake as it bakes in the oven.
If you follow us over on Instagram, then you probably know that we just came home from a family vacation at Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania! This was our second year visiting the park, and we decided that on this trip we would sign up for the Create Your Own Candy Bar at Hershey’s Chocolate World, located just outside the amusement park.
Each of us had the chance to make a custom chocolate bar – choosing the type of chocolate we wanted as the base, additional ingredients to include such as chocolate or butterscotch ships, pretzel bits and more; we designed our own label for our candy bars; and we got to watch it being made right before our eyes! Here are a few photos from our fun production tour:
So all of that wonderful chocolate had us craving a sweet treat when we got home – and we decided to make this fantastic Hot Fudge Pudding Cake from the Hershey’s Kitchen website.
This Hot Fudge Pudding Cake is outrageously good – and it couldn’t be any easier to make! A simple batter (made from Hershey’s cocoa of course) is first spooned into the bottom of a lightly greased pan or baking dish. Then a dry cocoa mixture is sprinkled on top of the batter. Finally – right before baking – hot water gets poured over the top of the dry cocoa mixture. But don’t stir it in – that process creates this fantastic, almost-crunchy topping on this Hot Fudge Pudding Cake as it bakes!
Then – once the Hot Fudge Pudding Cake comes out of the oven, just use a spoon to serve. You’ll end up with a super moist cake with a warm and fudgy pudding center – plus a sweet crunchy topping! Served with some vanilla ice cream – this is one amazingly good dessert that any chocolate lover will enjoy!
Disclaimer: I was not compensated by Hershey’s for this post. We are simply sharing our vacation story with you today as well as the inspiration behind our recipe.
Additional note: We’ve received a few reader comments below complaining that the cake was very runny and not fudgy. We’ve retested the recipe ourselves and can confirm that it is written correctly. But feel free to bake the cake for a few minutes longer if necessary (ovens may vary), and also make sure that you allow the cake to sit for 15 minutes before serving to give the sauce time to set up.
You may enjoy these other Chocolate Dessert recipes:
- Mexican Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
- Double Chocolate Pudding
- No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Pie
- Chocolate Ranger Cookies
- Homemade Magic Shell
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Recipe adapted from Hershey’s Kitchens
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened Hershey’s Cocoa powder, divided
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cups hot water
- Vanilla ice cream, if desired for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a pot of water on the stove to very hot (just under a simmer).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine ¾ cup of the granulated sugar, flour, ¼ cup of the cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, melted butter and vanilla and mix until smooth.
- Pour the batter into an lightly greased 2-quart ceramic dish (as shown in our photos) or a 9-inch square baking pan (if it’s a non-stick pan, you don’t have to grease it) and spread evenly.
- In a small bowl, stir together the remaining ½ cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, remaining ¼ cup cocoa and mix well. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter in your dish or pan. Pour the hot water over the top – but do not stir!
- Bake 35-40 minutes if using a glass dish (or 30-35 minutes if using a metal pan) – or until the center is almost set. Remove your dish from the oven and allow it to stand for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, spoon the cake into individual serving bowls – making sure to spoon the fudgy sauce from the bottom of the pan over the top of the cake. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired and serve immediately.
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This looks delicious, thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome Suzanne – hope you’ll give the recipe a try!
Hi! This looks absolutely amazing! I’m all ready to make this but have to ask: Hershey’s Cocoa in the ingredients, is that unsweetened cocoa powder, or hot chocolate powder? Thanks!!
Hi Linda – It’s the unsweetened cocoa powder (I’ll clarify that in the list).
Delicious! Doubled in a 9 x13. It was a huge hit with the kids & adults alike!
Thanks Laurie! We get a lot of questions about doubling this recipe – so glad to know it worked out in a 9×13!
I know this post is from several years ago so I don’t know if you’ll even see this. If so my question is can I use I can’t believe it’s not butter in a crock? Thanks
Hi Jennifer – We’ve only made this recipe with butter, so I’m not sure. I just looked on their website and while they state it’s meant as a one-to-one butter substitute, they also point out that there is less fat than butter so it may impact the texture.
This was DELICIOUS! Easy to make, and so good with vanilla ice cream.
Thanks Nancy!
Hi there. This looks amazing. What size dish is it you use? Maybe I’m missing that and I’m about to bake it.
Hi Kim – Step 3 of the recipe has the dish size info (either a 2 quart dish or a 9×9 pan)
Did not serve within 15 minutes and what would have been the pudding ended up just being sauce but still delicious. I baked it for 40 minutes using a Corning Ware dish may have needed to bake it a bit longer. No com-lints from those who ate it….lol
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Tom!
mixed, baked, and allowed to rest exactly as directed. It never became anything other than a chocolate liquid. In fact, the “cake” part became more liquid! I was aware of the difficulties that others had had so my husband checked as I followed directions. I don’t understand, but will not use this recipe again.
Oh no Susan…I don’t understand either as this seems to happen to just some of our readers. Are you buy any chance in a higher altitude? I’m not sure if that would make a difference – but trying to understand ourselves too.
Simply incredible! Not too sweet, but definitely rich. Easy to make and turned out perfect the first try. This is my new favorite midnight snack.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Raina!
can this be converted to a 9X13 pan by doubling the recipe and how
Hi Carol – We’ve only made this as written, baked in a 9×9 pan. I’m sure you can double it in a larger pan (but a 9×13 is less than double of a 9×9 – so ideally, you’d want a pan larger than 9×13), but it will impact the baking time and/or how much pudding sauce you see in the bottom under the cake. If it were me, I’d use two pans and follow the recipe as written to ensure the best results. Hope that helps!