Name: Brownie Pudding Cake
Yield: Makes 1 cake
Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour; 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 3/4 teaspoon double-acting baking powder; 3/4 teaspoon salt; 2 large eggs; 1 cup granulated sugar; 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled; 1/2 cup milk; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 cup chopped walnuts; 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar; 1 1/3 cups boiling water; Accompaniment: coffee ice cream

A square baking dish with a serving spoon in brownie pudding cake and two bowls of cake with ice cream on the side.

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone

Recipes for this dessert, also known as chocolate upside-down cake and hot fudge pudding cake, turn up in cookbooks published by women's clubs and church guilds all around the Midwest. The cake separates into layers as it bakes, making its own sauce.

Recipe notes

See Related Recipes and Cooking Tips

What to Cook in September
Easy weeknight dinners, football snack ideas, and more favorite recipes for the month ahead.
Our Most Popular Recipes Right Now
3-ingredient cookies, soothing soups, and chana masala cheese fries helped ease us all into fall.
41 Chocolate Valentine's Day Desserts
The way to anyone's heart: chocolate.
27 Ways to Un-Boring Brownies
Think brownies are just ooey, gooey, decadent chocolate squares? They are. And so much more. Here, our favorite variations on the theme.
The Mixer-Free Chocolate Cake Anybody Can Bake
One writer thought he couldn't bake, so he never did. Then he met pudding cake, and that changed everything.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

A generous glug of stout gives this snackable loaf a malty depth.

Super Seedy Power Cookies

As energizing as an energy bar, with a much simpler ingredient list.

Hot Honey–Glazed Salmon

This broiled hot honey salmon recipe results in sweet, spicy, glossy fish coated in a homemade hot honey glaze for an easy weeknight dinner or make-ahead lunch.

Golden Mushroom Soup With Orzo & a Pat of Butter

This is the type of soup that, at first glance, might seem a little…unexciting. But you’re underestimating the power of mushrooms, which do the heavy lifting.