Hot Fudge Cake: This easy hot fudge cake (aka brownie pudding) is a crowd-pleaser filled with fudgy chocolate flavor! “Wow,” your guests with this decadent dessert (that is super quick and easy to make)!
Quick Overview: Combine dry ingredients, stir in wet ingredients, and spread in the pan. Sprinkle brown sugar/cocoa over the top of the cake batter, pour hot water over (trust us) and then bake at 350°!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
If you like chocolate…or brownies…or chocolate cake…or hot fudge sauce…or all of the above, then this recipe was made for you! (Well, this recipe and this Ding Dong Cake for sure!)
This hot fudge has all the chocolate flavor you want from a brownie or chocolate cake, and all the moist, gooey goodness of a hot fudge pudding cake. The hot fudge sauce (that makes itself right in the pan while it bakes) is the thing that puts this recipe over the top!
This old-fashioned hot fudge cake recipe is very similar to a lava cake and it’s guaranteed to be a hit with anyone you share it with! (This old-fashioned chocolate cake is one to keep on hand too!)
Be prepared for people to ask you for your recipe because this is truly the hot fudge cake to beat all chocolate fudge cakes!
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Ingredients
Can you believe you can make this gooey, decadent-looking dessert with simple ingredients that most of us keep as pantry staples? It’s true!
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
This is all you need to make hot fudge cake:
Ingredient Notes:
- Cocoa Powder – you’ll use 6 Tablespoons but not all at the same time. Make sure you use 4 Tablespoons in the first layer and then the remaining 2 in the second, powdery layer.
- Milk – I used 1% milk but you can use whole, 2%, or skim! Or, you can even try using almond milk, coconut milk, or your favorite type of milk.
- Brown Sugar – I lightly packed our brown sugar for this. (Meaning, I gently pressed it down in to the ½ cup measurement, before pouring it.)
How to Make Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
- Heat oven to 350℉ and grease an 8 inch square cake pan or a rectangular pan that has a 2 quart (8 cup) capacity.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and 4 Tablespoons of the cocoa powder.
- Add the milk, vanilla, and melted butter and stir until smooth. The batter will be thick.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and the remaining 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the cake layer in the pan.
- Pour hot water over the brown sugar mixture.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees f. The cake should be set in the center and you will see the sauce bubble up around the edges when it’s finished.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve your warm chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.
Substitutions
If you need to make a substitution, here are our suggestions:
- Coffee for Water – instead of using water, you could pour cold brewed coffee over the brown sugar and cocoa mixture. The result will be a slight mocha flavor to your hot fudge cake!
- Milk Swap – instead of using milk, you could use whole milk or heavy cream to create an even richer hot fudge cake! Also, if you have buttermilk in the fridge that works in place of the milk as well.
Variations
This recipe is AMAZING (it might be the greatest thing since apple pie) as it is, but we know some people will want to jazz it up a bit to make it their own. We love a good kitchen experiment, so here are some of our suggestions:
- Extra Chocolate – if you want to take the fudge in hot fudge cake to a new level, try mixing in ½ cup of chocolate chips to your batter! Get creative and try it out with dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips or even butterscotch chips!
- Mix-Ins – are you one of those folks that likes nuts in your brownies? Then you should definitely try mixing in ½-1 cup of chopped walnuts into the batter before baking!
How should I serve hot fudge cake?
You can serve your hot fudge cake just as it is, warm and gooey and delicious!
You could also serve your hot fudge cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
Or you could make yourself a hot fudge cake sundae! Put some ice cream in a bowl, crumble some hot fudge cake on top of it and drizzle a bit of chocolate sauce over it all! You can also add and of your other favorite ice cream toppings to this. Yum!
Equipment
You can use any dish that can hold 2 quarts for this recipe (a square baking pan, circular pan, or rectangular baking dish all work).
Depending on how wide the dish is, you may need to start checking for doneness at the 30 minute mark. I do not recommend using a 9×13 for this recipe because your batter would be spread out too thin.
Storage
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you are ready to eat them, simply put your cake on a microwave-safe plate and reheat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.
Expert Tips
- Baking Process: After baking for about 20 minutes, the cake will look done but keep watching for the sides to bubble up because the water is still baking underneath the cake. The center of the cake will also be lifting up and down while baking, and that’s ok too.
- Cleaning Tip: You may want to place your pan on a larger baking sheet pan to catch any spillover since the sauce does bubble up slightly as the cake bakes.
FAQs
The cake should not look wet or jiggly in the center when it is done. You will see the sauce bubble up around the edges during the last 10 minutes of baking.
The toothpick test doesn’t work very well for this recipe. Your toothpick won’t come out clean because of the sauce layer.
The hot fudge cake is best served warm, but it’s still a delicious dessert either way! The thing to know is that the colder the cake becomes, the thicker the sauce becomes. Hot cake with cold ice cream is my favorite way to serve this.
I don’t recommend making this dessert ahead of time. The longer this dessert is stored, the more the sauce is soaked into the cake.
Any leftovers will still be delicious, but you won’t have the benefit of the sauce remaining separate unless the dessert is served right away.
As long as the dish can hold 2 quarts, you should be able to use it in this recipe. Depending on how wide the dish is, you may need to start checking for doneness at the 30 minute mark. I do not recommend using a 9×13 for this recipe because your batter would spread out too thin.
Both are delicious (give us all the chocolate), but they are actually very different. Chocolate cake is a light, airy dessert with a finer crumb.
Hot fudge cake is a very dense, brownie-like cake with a fudge sauce!
The big difference here, much like chocolate cake vs. fudge cake, is the density.
Chocolate syrup is thinner and is usually made with cocoa powder and water as ingredients. Hot fudge is thicker and typically calls for chocolate and butter in the ingredients!
Related Recipes
If you’re looking for more delicious, easy recipes for desserts, check out our pineapple dump cake and our brownie mix cookies! Or, if chocolate cake is your favorite, these mini chocolate cakes are so fun to make and eat, and this Depression Cake uses vinegar of all things!
Recipe
Hot Fudge Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder divided
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 ¾ cups hot water
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350℉ and grease an 8 inch square cake pan or a rectangular pan that has a 2 quart (8 cup) capacity.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and 4 Tablespoons of the cocoa powder.
- Add the milk, vanilla, and melted butter and stir until smooth. The batter will be thick.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and the remaining 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter in the pan.
- Pour hot water over the brown sugar mixture.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees f. The cake should be set in the center and you will see the sauce bubble up around the edges when it's finished.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Cindy says
Delicious! Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter to make it extra special.
Jessica says
Oh that sounds lovely! Thank you so much for sharing. So glad that you liked this hot fudge cake too!
Erin says
YUM! My aunt used to make a cake like this and I haven’t been able to track down the recipe.
Samantha says
Fudge is my absolute favorite! This cake was such a hit in my house! We are all chocolate lovers and couldn’t stop eating it! Thanks for sharing!
Kristyn says
Gooey & chocolate-y, what’s not to love?! This is one of my favorite cakes!! Everyone always loves it!