Why you are cooking this tonight
The self-saucing chocolate pudding is magic. You put a dry cake batter in a dish, tip a terrifying amount of cocoa and sugar on top, pour boiling water over the whole thing, and shove it in the oven. Thirty-five minutes later, you have a dense chocolate cake sitting in a pool of warm glossy chocolate sauce, without ever having made a sauce.
This was the dessert of every Country Women’s Association cookbook in Australia for six decades, and for good reason: it uses what is in the cupboard, takes fifteen minutes to throw together, and looks like you did something clever. Serve straight from the dish with a jug of cream and the smugness you have earned.
Notes on method
The boiling water goes on top: do not stir. It works its way down as it bakes and creates the sauce layer. Use good dark cocoa – Dutch-process has more flavour.
What to pour with it
A Victorian pinot noir, or a glass of Rutherglen tokay for full winter comfort. If cocktails, an Espresso Martini is the perfect after.
Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur
Espresso Martini afterwards. Chocolate and coffee, always.
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The recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 170°C fan-forced. Grease a 1.5-litre baking dish.
- Sift flour, salt and first 2 tbsp cocoa into a bowl. Stir in caster sugar.
- Whisk milk, melted butter and vanilla together. Pour into dry ingredients, whisk until smooth.
- Spread batter evenly into the dish.
- Mix brown sugar and remaining 3 tbsp cocoa. Sprinkle evenly over the batter.
- Pour boiling water over the back of a spoon onto the sugar layer. Do NOT stir.
- Bake 30-35 minutes until top is cakey and sauce is bubbling underneath.
- Rest 5 minutes. Serve straight from the dish with thick cream or vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition
Two things that go wrong
You stirred after pouring the boiling water.
DO NOT STIR. The whole magic is the water sinking through the sugar layer to form the sauce while the cake bakes above. Stir and you’ve made wet brown soup. Pour the water over the back of a spoon and walk away.
Your boiling water wasn’t actually boiling.
Lukewarm water doesn’t trigger the sauce reaction. Use water straight from the kettle, the second it boils. The temperature differential is what creates the layers.
Variations worth knowing
- MochaAdd 2 teaspoons of espresso powder to the cake batter and 2 tablespoons of strong brewed coffee to the boiling water mixture.
- Salted caramel self-saucingReplace cocoa with salted caramel sauce. Sprinkle sea salt flakes on top before baking.
- Orange chocolateAdd the zest of an orange to the batter and 30ml of Cointreau to the water. Christmas-pudding adjacent.
Leftovers and make ahead
Best the moment it comes out of the oven — the sauce thickens as it cools and the cake top hardens. If you have leftovers, microwave individual portions for 60 seconds with a splash of cream on top to bring the sauce back. Keeps 2 days in the fridge.