WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS Instead of providing enough spoon-coating sauce to accompany the cake, some hot fudge pudding cakes are dry, with a disproportionate amount of cake, while others are soupy, with a wet, sticky, underdone cake. We wanted the hot fudge pudding cake of our dreams.
AMP UP FLAVOR WITH CHOCOLATE AND COCOA Pudding cake is made by sprinkling brownie batter with a mixture of sugar and cocoa, then pouring hot water on top and baking. For fuller chocolate flavor, we make our batter with a combination of Dutch-processed cocoa and semisweet chocolate. Just one egg yolk is enough egg to give us a fudgy consistency. Whole eggs make a cake that is too dry.
SWEETEN WITH BROWN AND WHITE SUGAR A combination of brown and white sugars gives our cake caramel-like sweetness. Including instant coffee with the hot water (which we bumped up to make plenty of “sauce”) heightens the chocolate flavor and keeps the sweetness in check.
BAKE LOW AND SLOW We bake the cake at a low oven temperature for 45 minutes to promote a good top crust and a silky sauce and rest the cake for 20 to 30 minutes before serving for fudgy cake with thick sauce.