Saucy Chocolate Cake

This is a self-saucing chocolate cake that does something magical in the oven. You spread a simple cocoa batter in a pan, pour a mixture of brown sugar, cocoa, and boiling water right over the top, and bake. The batter rises through the liquid and forms a springy cake on top, while the sugar-water mixture sinks to the bottom and becomes a rich, fudgy pudding sauce.

It looks wrong going into the oven. Pouring boiling water over raw batter feels like you’re ruining it. You’re not. Trust the process.

Serve this warm, scooping from the dish so each serving gets a piece of cake sitting in a puddle of that hot chocolate sauce. A dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top is all it needs.

Kitchen Tips

• Pour the boiling water gently over the back of a spoon to distribute it evenly across the batter without creating craters
• Don’t stir after pouring. The layers need to separate naturally during baking. Mixing them together defeats the whole concept
• The cake is done when the top springs back to a light touch. The sauce underneath will still be liquid, and that’s exactly right
• Cool for 30 minutes, but no longer. This is meant to be served warm while the sauce is still flowing

Variations

• A la mode: Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. The hot sauce melts the ice cream into a second sauce layer
• Mocha version: Replace the boiling water with hot brewed coffee for a deeper, more complex chocolate flavor
• Peanut butter swirl: Drop small spoonfuls of peanut butter onto the batter before adding the topping for a chocolate-peanut butter pudding cake