Texas Tornado Pudding Cake

Here’s a cake that does something that seems impossible. You pour liquid right over raw batter, slide it into the oven, and somehow it comes out with a fluffy chocolate cake on top and a thick, gooey pudding hiding underneath.

The cake layer is a simple mix of flour, sugar, cocoa, milk, and melted margarine. Stir it smooth, spread it in the pan. Then you dissolve brown sugar and cocoa in hot water and pour that syrupy mixture right on top of the batter. Don’t stir it. Just trust it.

As the cake bakes, the batter rises up through the liquid topping, and what’s left underneath transforms into a warm, spoonable chocolate sauce.

Scoop it out of the pan and flip it into a bowl so the pudding layer runs down over the cake. Serve it warm.

Pro Tips

• Do not stir the topping into the batter. This is the hardest part because every instinct says to mix it. Resist. The separation is what creates the two layers.
• Use hot water for the topping. Hot water dissolves the brown sugar and cocoa completely, giving you a smooth liquid that sinks evenly. Cold water leaves lumps and uneven pudding.
• Serve warm, straight from the oven. This cake is at its best when the pudding layer is still molten and pourable. As it cools, the sauce thickens and loses that lava-like quality.