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If you’re craving the ultimate comfort dessert, self saucing chocolate pudding is the answer. Rich, gooey and indulgent, this classic pudding magically creates its own silky chocolate sauce as it bakes. It’s the kind of treat that feels decadent enough for a dinner party, yet simple enough to whip up on a weeknight with pantry staples.
I like to serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of cream, but it’s also great on its own. The method here almost guarantees a fudgy base topped with a warm chocolate sauce, which I will be dreaming about for the foreseeable future. If you like fudgy chocolate desserts, try my Melt-in-the-Middle Chocolate Cake.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- It’s so simple to pull together, it’s easy enough for a weeknight if you are after something indulgent and delicious like this.
- The pudding creates its own chocolate sauce, so there’s no need for you to add another pan to your washing up and make your own chocolate sauce (or buy one!)
- Rich chocolate flavour through the pudding with soft sponge and a decadent chocolate sauce, all in one dish.
Ingredients:
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements
Self-raising flour – also known as self-rising flour but see below for how to adapt plain (all-purpose) flour if that’s what you have.
Cocoa powder – make sure you use the unsweetened variety (and definitely not hot chocolate powder!)
Milk – full-fat (whole) milk is best for flavour and texture.
Substitutions and Variations
Self-raising flour: You can make your own by mixing 250g plain (all-purpose) flour with 2.5 teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt.
Soft light brown sugar – you could use caster sugar but soft light brown sugar gives a slight caramel flavour which makes this recipe even more delicious.
Here’s how to make Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding:
The full recipe is down below for more detailed instructions but these few pictures make up a step-by-step guide, that will help you when making this pudding.
ONE: Preheat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/355F. Grease a large baking dish. In a large mixing bowl, gently whisk together the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt until combined.
TWO: In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, melted butter and milk.
THREE: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together to form a smooth batter.
FOUR: Pour into the prepared baking dish and smooth over the top. Set aside.
FIVE: Meanwhile, for the sauce: mix together the boiling water, sugar and cocoa powder in a large jug until the sugar has dissolved. Carefully pour over the batter.
SIX: Bake for 23-25 minutes or until the surface looks firm, risen and crisp – the exact time will depend on the size and shape of your dish.
Cooking Tips
Making the puddings in individual tins: You can divide the batter and sauce between individual oven-proof dishes (make sure there is enough room at the top for the batter to rise), but remember to reduce the baking time accordingly. Start with 10-15 minutes and see.
Choosing a big enough dish: my advice would be to err on the larger side for the dish because once you add the water, you don’t want it to overflow in the oven as it heats up. Your dish should ideally hold 1.5L.
If you don’t know how to measure this, fill a measuring jug with 1.5L of water and pour into the empty dish and see how much liquid sits in it.
Frequently Asked Questions
A British-style baked pudding where a light chocolate sponge bakes on top while a glossy hot chocolate sauce forms underneath. Sugar and cocoa sprinkled over the batter dissolve in boiling water. As it bakes, they sink to the bottom of the baking dish and thicken into a sauce, while steam lifts the sponge above.
Although a self saucing chocolate pudding is best served warm from the oven, you can leave any leftovers to cool completely before covering and chilling in the fridge. Spoon portions into bowls and reheat in 20 second blasts in the microwave until hot.
It was likely overbaked or left standing too long before serving. Bake to a soft wobble and only let it sit for a few minutes before serving. If you are concerned, err on the side of underbaked rather than overbaked.
It’s tricky to make this pudding ahead of time as you lose the ‘sauciness’ but you could mix up the dry ingredients in the bowl, the wet ingredients in a jug (keep in fridge) and then when ready to bake, fold them together, add to the dish and top with the chocolate water to the sauce.
Other recipes you might like
Try my Rich Chocolate Mousse, my Dark Chocolate Brownies with White Choc Chunks or this Chocolate and Courgette Cake. You can’t taste the courgette but it keeps the cake super moist. As far as celebration cakes go, this Simple Moist Chocolate Cake is perfect as is this White Choc and Raspberry Cake.
Easy Baking Recipes
Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Easy Baking Recipes
Chocolate Mud Cake with Malted Whipped Cream
Easy Baking Recipes
Matilda’s Chocolate Cake
Easy Baking Recipes
Chocolate Fudge Cake
If you tried this Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding or any other recipe on the site, please do leave a comment and let us know how it went!
Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
For the pudding:
- 250 g self-raising flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 150 g caster sugar
- 50 g cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
- 3 large eggs
- 100 g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
- 150 ml full-fat milk
For the chocolate sauce:
- 300 ml boiling water
- 200 g soft light brown sugar
- 25 g cocoa powder
To serve (optional):
- Vanilla ice cream
- Double cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/355F and lightly butter a 1.25-1.5 L oven-proof dish.
- In a large mixing bowl, gently whisk together the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, melted butter and milk. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix together to form a smooth batter.
- Pour into the prepared baking dish and smooth over the top. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, for the sauce: mix together the boiling water, sugar and cocoa powder in a large jug until the sugar has dissolved. Carefully pour over the pudding batter – it will look a bit odd at this point but don’t worry, it is normal!
- Bake for 23-25 minutes or until the surface looks firm, risen and crisp – the exact time will depend on the size and shape of your dish. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 1-2 minutes to settle.
- Spoon into bowls, revealing the rich chocolate sauce hidden underneath the sponge (make sure you spoon plenty of this onto each portion). Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and/or cream, if desired.
- The video below will help with this recipe
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Is there any way to convert the recipe to US measurements, that is, cups and teaspoons/Tablespoons?
I’m working on it! There is a way to do it but I found them wildly inaccurate and that’s a nightmare for baking! But will try and add more in the recipes themselves x
I’ve made this luscious pud 3 times now and it’s truly such a comfort. I have mine with a generous helping of double cream and occasionally strawberries if I want to feel better about myself! It’s incredibly moreish.
This is your sign to make this!