Every evening around 9:00, I sit down with a cup of chamomile tea and something sweet and delicious.  This is, with out a doubt, the best way to end the day.

Chocolate Pudding Cake is a weird but good concoction.  Not a fancy cake or one I would make for company but it has the “retro” thing going for it and it definitely falls in the comfort food category.  This is a “dump” cake, very easy to make and we all have the ingredients on hand.  You can alter the ingredients and still end up with a successful dessert.  I also appreciate that it can be a vegan cake by substituting applesauce or oil for the butter.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

Cake -

1 cup flour

¾ cup raw sugar

¼ cup cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup soy milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pudding -

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup cocoa

1 ½ cup hot water with 2 chai tea bags

Grease an 8" square pan.

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Combine the melted butter, soy milk and vanilla and add to the dry ingredients and mix by hand. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Combine the brown sugar with the cocoa and sprinkle over the batter. Pour the hot chai on top but do not stir*. 

Place in a 350 oven and bake for 35- 40 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool for 15 minutes before serving. To serve, slice and flip the cake over so the pudding is on top.

1. *By some baking miracle that only Alton Brown could explain, the "pudding layer" migrates to the bottom of the cake during the baking process.  When you remove the cake from the oven it will look like an ordinary cake.  When you cut into it you will find all the pudding goodness UNDER the cake.  Can't explain how this happens but it works and is tasty :) 
   

This is a great cake to experiment with, following are some options to consider:

Cake options:

Omit the cinnamon.

Use 2 T applesauce in place of the butter or use oil.

Use regular milk in place of soy milk.

Pudding options:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup light rum

Or

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1 1/4 cup hot water or chai

1/4 cup rum

Or

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Or

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 cup hot coffee

Or

Sprinkle 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips on top of cake after the cocoa & brown sugar but before the water/tea/coffee.

Calories:

Total 1920 or if cut into 6 pieces 320 calories each.