Microwave Chocolate Pudding Cake
Updated July 23, 2024
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 10 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 6tablespoons/86 grams unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- ¼cup/60 milliliters whole milk
- 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½teaspoon instant coffee or espresso (optional)
- ¾cup/165 grams packed dark brown sugar
- 1cup/128 grams all-purpose flour
- ⅓cup/32 grams unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- ½teaspoon baking powder
- ¼teaspoon baking soda
- ½cup/110 grams dark brown sugar
- ¼cup/24 grams unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- ¼teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- ¾cup boiling water
- Ice cream, to serve
For the Cake
For the Topping
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the cake: Add the butter to a 1½- to 2-quart microwave-safe soufflé dish or casserole, then melt the butter in short bursts in the microwave.
- Step 2
Whisk in the milk, vanilla and instant coffee, if using. Whisk in the brown sugar, then add the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda and whisk until just combined.
- Step 3
Make the topping: In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Sprinkle over the cake batter.
- Step 4
Pour the boiling water over the top.
- Step 5
Cook in the microwave at full power until you can see the set cake start to emerge through the sauce in various spots and the sauce has thickened, 5 to 7 minutes. (It’s OK to periodically stop and check doneness partway through cooking.) The cake will continue to set as it cools.
- Step 6
Serve warm, with ice cream.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Yes,I'd like to make this in individual ramekins. Cooking instructions, please?
Would a 9 inch ceramic or glass ceramic pie plate work for this? An 8x8? I am confused what a 1/2-2 quart souffle dish would look like or why I would specifically need to use that? I know they are oval but I am trying to understand what size that would be...tx.
Let’s be real-the majority of us will be making this alone at 1 AM and need cook times for individual ramekins.
1 quart = 4 cups 1 1/2 quarts = 6 cups 2 quarts = 8 cups Take a measuring cup and use water to determine the capacity of your pie plate. A soufflé dish is round and has straight sides. Possibly chosen because it's most like a round metal cake pan, which can't be used in a microwave. IMO a straight sided dish (such as a casserole dish) might result in a more consistently cooked cake than a slope sided dish. May need to adjust cooking time based on dish dimensions & batter depth.
Here's what I did for individual ramekins. I had 6-ounce ramekins. Melted a slice of butter in each as directed. Halved the recipe and mixed in separate bowl. Put 1/4 of the cake mix, then 1/4 topping in each ramekin. Poured an estimated 1/4 of the boiling water into each one. Baked in my microwave for 5 minutes. They turned out great. I haven't made this in a bigger dish, so I'm not sure how it compares, but there was dense cake and gooey molten chocolate. Worked for me!
could you make this in the oven? We don't use a microwave.
Would love to know if a vegan version will work, with plant based butter and milk?
Could this dessert be made with Almond flour?
Can this be prepped ahead of time and then just add thr boiling water and pop in micro?
Does this cake require natural cocoa powder, or will it work with dutched cocoa powder?laura
Look up Nigella Lawson's Sticky Toffee Pudding. Her recipe calls for baking it in the oven.
it was so awesome and easy to make
An 8x8 glass or ceramic would be perfect for this. In fact, many traditional -oven- recipes call for an 8x8 pan.
This looks delicious! Are there any changes I should make if I want to bake it in the oven instead?
Agree! What would be the microwave times for individual serving bowls?
A handy recipe with ingredients I normally have around but just a bit too salty so will try with less salt next time.
Would like to just make half
In case anyone was wondering this reheats well!! I did one minute bursts until I was happy with the temp :)
To those who found it too salty, perhaps you were using Morton’s kosher salt, which is twice as salty as the Diamond kosher salt specified in the recipe. Or even worse, used regular table salt which in an equal amount would be even saltier.
It says in the recipe to use kosher salt so….
Halved the recipe. Made in a le crueset pie plate. Microwaved for 5 minutes. Perfect.
Easy to make. VERY sweet.
Did this with 1:1 gluten free flour. Great! Next time did this with half olive oil and the GF flour. Even better. Awesome little recipe for a go-to last minute yummy! Thanks
I cooked this for five minutes in my 1200 watt microwave and it was perfectly cooked. Make sure you use a light hand with the dry ingredients for the cake otherwise it will be a little dry and/or salty. But overall, just great. Once it’s served in bowls with whipped cream or ice cream, no one’s gonna know you used the microwave!
This cake is everything you want in a dessert and the ratio of effort to reward is remarkable. This recipe must have been written by a scientist - it’s so incredibly perfect. One note that ice cream with this is mandatory otherwise it’ll be too rich. Thank you!
Ramekin instructions: Made this twice to make sure I got it right. I quartered the recipe and then split that into 2 small ramekins so it wouldn’t overflow. Melted the butter in each, then divided each quartered ingredient amount between the 2 ramekins. Used a little less brown sugar cause I like my desserts less sweet. Added a little more hot water than the adjusted recipe called for. Microwaved for exactly 1 minute and it was perfect!
Too salty. Maybe half a teaspoon in the cake instead of 1tsp.
Too salty. But also too sweet and the chocolate flavor didn't really stand out.
Would this work with gluten free flour?
So salty. Cut down to 1/4 to 1/2 tsp.
If your cake was too salty, I bet you used Morton kosher salt. It it is finer than Diamond and will measure more and thus add more salt flavor. I wish the Times would specify Diamond and not say "such as." The difference is important.
Advertisement