Chocolate Pudding Cake

Chocolate pudding is one dessert that has always been in great demand. This is one recipe that is most requested for whenever we have a pot luck. It is easy, quick and does not call for too many ingredients. To top it off, it is eggless which makes it a perfect dessert for most of our friends.

I am not sure where I got this recipe from but it has been in my handwritten recpe book for a number of years.

I have chronicled my family's addiction for chocolate many many times. This is one dessert that can be rustled up within minutes and will satiate the most demanding chocoholic. I promise you this. Just try it out once and you will be a fan forever. It has a nice fudgey cake like top with a saucey, custardy pudding bottom. It is like two desserts combined to give one heavenly result.

I think the only downside to this dessert is that it can give you a sugar high. My brother insists that it gives an instant hight which lasts the whole day!!!!. But my son did not agree. He feels it is just perfect the way it is.

So here goes with the recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Topping:

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup boiling hot water

Method:

Heat oven to 180 deg C.

Mix all the dry ingredients ( the flour, sugar, baking powder ad the salt) in a bowl.

Add the milk, melted butter and the vanilla essence and mix well togehter.

It will be a thickish batter.

Pour into a greased 9 inch square baking dish.

Mix the dry topping ingredients ( both the sugars and the cocoa) and sprinkle over the cake batter.

Finally pour the boiling water over it carefully without mixing or stirring at all.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve hot or cold preferably with vanilla icecream .

Enjoy!!!!

The Quest For The Perfect Brownie

I am surrounded by a family of chocoholics. Chocolate in any form is devoured at a rapid pace in this household. I have yet to see this level of dedication to chocolate anywhere else. There are people in my family who at a chinese restaurant, will eat lychees with chocolate ice cream. That is the truth, cross my heart. There are others ( you know who you are!!!) whose idea of heaven on earth is Death by Chocolate eaten at Corner House, Bangalore. No visit to Bangalore is complete without one visit there. Damn the diet, and forget the calorie count. Everything is left by the wayside when it comes to chocolate for all of them.

Sure enough, genetics ensured that my son ended up being a chocoholic too. I have seen him "Drool"... Yes drool, no other word fits the description of him salivating when he sees a bowl of decadent chocolate mousse or an absolutely yummy chocolate truffle cake. When we are out at dinner, he will ensure that he orders the most chocolate saturated item on the menu. And eat it with such pleasure too. It is most amusing to watch him savour every bite of his chocolate.

In trying to satisfy his chocolate cravings I have been on the lookout for a nice fudgy brownie recipe almost forever (you know you can never have that absolutely perfect recipe for anything). Looked and looked and tried out many many recipes.

Finally got this one a couple of years back from a friend and then realised later that it was from the Hersheys site. The recipe is easy and the brownies come out really fudgy and chocolatey. For me the final approval obviously came from my son who rated it as "very nice, mummy. Can I have some more? Plenty more?"

It has a nice crumbly outside, and the insides are 100% melty gooey chocolate goodness. Needless to say, it is pretty rich (I mean, have you looked at the ingredients? :)

Here's the recipe....

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts(optional)

Method:

Heat oven to 170 deg C. Grease and flour 9-inch square baking pan. A suggestion here is to use parchment paper or foil to line the pan otherwise it may stick to the bottom.

Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl.

Add eggs and beat well with spoon.

Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended.

Stir in nuts, if desired.

Spread batter evenly into the pan.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Dust with powdered sugar for decoration.