Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Heather's Warm Chocolate Pudding Cake


 I've been missing my friend Heather. Do you have a friend like this? We used to see each other almost every day when I lived a few blocks from her house and now I'm across town and see her very rarely. It makes me sad. I miss her face. I'm not going to lie. I miss her chocolate cake. Okay. I miss both. Heather made the most delicious and moist warm chocolate pudding cake that really kicked some serious patootie. When it has a scoop of ice-cream on top it's like a tender pillow for soaking up the creamy cool dripping. It's the perfect dessert for summer .  It's also the best for taking to picnics and pot-lucks.  Heather got requests for it all time {usually from me at midnight}. I say that with some glorious love because y'all know how much I adore a good chocolate right? Mmm. Evil Heather. Thank you for being my sister-in-chocolate sin love .  It doesn't use eggs. It has just a few ingredients in the cake itself so it's easy to keep everything on-hand.  I'm not sure that's a good thing.  It's dangerous stuff. Highly addictive.  That being said, I'm sharing with you her original recipe. That is how much I love you. Try not to cry. It's emotional for me too.  Now it's like I live a few blocks away from your house and I can just stop in any time for some cake and a friendly chat over a plate of happiness. Right? With drizzling melty gooey ice cream on top. New secret-best-friends-hand-shake on it. Giggle. Smooches. Xoxo. {Yikes...that's a little too much love right?}

 At the end I'll share the gluten free sugar free version...yeah. I know Auntie Em just gasped. That's how much I love her too. Xoxo.

Heather's Warm Chocolate Pudding Cake
1 c. cake flour
3/4 c sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c walnuts (optional)
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c boiling water
Vanilla ice cream (optional)
 Get someone adorable to help mix. I found this little boy in my living room and he seemed to be very anxious to spend some time with me in the kitchen. Hello my darling boy. 
 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8X8X2 inc pan. In a bowl mix together the first 5 dry ingredients. Stir in the milk, oil and vanilla. 2. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  In a small bowl combine the 1/4 cocoa powder, brown sugar and boiling water. Slowly pour mixture over batter. This is the part that freaks me out every single time I make this pudding cake. You don't mix the cocoa mixture in with the cake. You pour it right into the pan and it sinks to the bottom...it is wild. 
 3. Bake for 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack let cool. Serve warm. Spoon cake into bowl, spoon pudding over cake. If desired top with vanilla ice cream. Seriously...look at that pudding layer and tell me it isn't the most amazing thing ever!
 Yup. Gooey chocolate pudding should be at the bottom of every pan of chocolate cake. 
 Heaven. 



Sugar Free End note. I double the cocoa. I also use natural sugar-free sweetener called erythritol in my baking instead so I don't pass out from all the sugar. You can use a 9 grain flour in place of the regular cake flour. I usually do that too. You can also just replace the flour and leavening with my 9 grain all purpose baking mix.

Gluten Free End Note:  Use my Whole Grain Gluten Free Flour Blend in place of the flour and use the recipe for whole grain all purpose flour replacement that incluces the xanthan gum. For the printable version of my gluten-free flour blend recipe alone go: Here.

I love Heather End Note: Go visit Heather's shop. She doesn't just bake. She's also very handy with yarn. Go figure.  She's amazing!! I don't have a baby but you can get them for babies who are on their way and who are just needing exta love from Heather. Seriously adorable. She does great aprons and crochets just about anything on her Etsy shop Brick Cabin Crafts.





There you go. Make chocolate pudding cake. You'll be glad you did. 


Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

8 comments:

Dash Interiors said...

OKAY AMAZING!! This blog is so great I am so happy I found it! YUMMY

http://abpetite.blogspot.com/

SimplySandi said...

Yum! I know my son will love this!

Anonymous said...

Mmmmmm.... Yummo! Drooling...and blissfully happy that I can make this gluten free! Family vacation up to Bear Lake in a couple weeks and I'm totally making this for everyone. They will think I am fantastic when the truth is I borrow fantastic ideas from Chef Tess!

Anonymous said...

I had a friend just like your Heather. She used to live just down the hall from me growing up and I saw her every day. I love her to pieces (she's one of my dearest friends)...and even though I only get to see her a few times a year now, every time I pull out one of her fantastic recipes its like she's right there beside me in the kitchen. And so I 'cook' with her all the time - because I miss her sweet smile and warm bubbly soul. And I teach my son lessons from when she accidently put 1 c of sugar in the pizza dough instead of 1 tsp.... some things you can never live down :) But its okay to make mistakes - as long as you learn enough from them NOT to repeat them. Anyways, I completly enjoyed this post because it reminded me so much of my special friend! Thanks so much!

Chef Tess said...

Oh dear...now I'm crying. Thank you darling...I miss you too!

Anonymous said...

What is your web address? I have a friend whose granddaughter has to have gluten free recipes and you have quite a few. Just wanted to give it to her. Thank you Linda Green

Chef Tess said...

http://www.cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com

chris luth said...

My mother used to make this cake for me when I was a boy, (yup, I'm that boy...)Sadly she passed away ten years ago, and sadly, took her chocolate pudding cake recipe with her. Sadly, my birthdays haven't been the same, both because I miss my mom, and because I miss this dessert as well. I'm so glad i found your recipe.