Crockpot Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
A soft chocolate cake on top and a pool of hot fudge sauce underneath, made by pouring hot water over the batter. Serve it warm with ice cream.
- Crockpot
- Slow cooker
- No meat
- Dessert
- 165 min total
- Serves 8
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
Enter a number of at least ½, in steps of ½.
Original recipe serves 8. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
Cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 3 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Fudge topping
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups water, boiling
- nonstick cooking spray
- vanilla ice cream, to serve
Gear
- Slow cooker, 4 to 6 quart
- Mixing bowl and whisk
- Clean kitchen towel
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Steps
Step 1: Spray a 4 to 6 quart slow cooker well.
Step 2: In a bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, 3 tbsp cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in the milk, melted butter and vanilla just until smooth. The batter will be thick. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Step 3: Spread the batter evenly in the bottom of the slow cooker.
Step 4: Mix the brown sugar and 0.25 cup cocoa and sprinkle it evenly over the batter. Do not stir.
Step 5: Pour the boiling water gently and evenly across the whole surface, moving the kettle around as you go. Do not stir.
Step 6: Lay a clean kitchen towel or a few paper towels across the top of the cooker and put the lid on over it. Cook on High 2 to 2.5 hours, until the top looks set and springs back lightly. The edges will be bubbly.
Step 7: Turn off the cooker, take off the lid and let it rest 15 minutes. Scoop it into bowls, spooning the fudge sauce from the bottom over the cake. Top with ice cream.
Swaps
- Chocolate chips: Leave them out, or swap in peanut butter chips.
- Water: Use hot brewed coffee instead of water for a deeper chocolate flavor.
- Milk: Any milk works, including oat milk.
Tips
- The towel under the lid catches condensation, so it doesn’t drip back onto the cake and leave wet spots.
- Give it a 15 minute rest off the heat so the fudge on the bottom can firm up a little.
- It’s best warm on the day it’s made. Reheat leftovers in the microwave.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
Every time I make this, someone watches me pour hot water over cake batter and asks if I’ve lost my mind. Then they taste it and ask for the recipe.
Here’s the science behind the trick. The batter is stiff and full of air bubbles from the baking powder, so it’s the buoyant one in this relationship. The sweet, cocoa-dark water is heavier. Give them some heat and they trade places: the cake floats up and sets, and the syrup settles underneath, cooking down into a spoonable chocolate sauce.
You end up with two desserts from one pot, and you never made a separate sauce.
The towel under the lid is a slow cooker trick worth knowing. A sealed slow cooker drips steam back onto whatever’s cooking, which is fine for soup but not for cake. The towel catches it.
Warm cake, hot fudge, cold ice cream. That’s the trifecta.
HAM out.
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