Chocolate Pudding Cake

I just ran the Sun Run for the second year in a row... and I think my time was much better than last years. Last year I joined the "purple" group of runners expecting to finish the race in an hour and fifteen minutes, but this year I decided to join the "green" group, as I anticipated completing the race under an hour. I pleasantly surprised myself by finishing the 10k in 50minutes even!! Yay me :) This year was the 25th anniversary of the Sun Run, but strangely enough there were fewer runners at this years event than there were last year!? Go figure. But even though there were fewer than last year, there were still around 50,000 participants registered to run!

So, to treat myself and my dad (who decided that he'd join me on the Sun Run for a second time! Yay dad!) for a job well done, I decided to whip up something warm, comforting, chocolaty and gooey... chocolate pudding cake!


Chocolate Pudding Cake

Pudding
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cake

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
1. For Pudding: in a saucepan, heat the water with chocolate chips until the chocolate chips melt. In a bowl, stir the brown sugar and four tablespoons of cocoa together. Add brown sugar-cocoa mixture to the saucepan and stir until mixed. Remove from heat and add the vanilla
2. For the Cake: mix flour, granulated sugar, four tablespoons cocoa, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add milk and vegetable oil and mix until combined. Scrape batter into an un-greased 9x9 baking pan.

3. Pour hot pudding mixture over batter. Place pan in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack.

4. Serve pudding-cake hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

The cake was amazing, even the cooled down pieces (as pictured directly above) were still slightly "gooey" and chewy the next day. But of course, the best part was eating the cake while it was still piping hot, fresh from the oven... with a scoop of my favorite ice-cream (rainbow flavor!). This recipe is definitely a keeper and I will be making this recipe a staple in our house-hold... not only for a post-run snack, but for anytime I want chocolate cake... because it's just so simple to make!