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After taking this class, I read a lot of food blogs. Among those blogs, Not Without Salt by blogger Ashley Rodriguez has always been one of my favorites. There are many things I like about the blog. I like the simple but elegant web design, the stunning pictures of food, the warm stories about food Ashley wrote and most importantly, the easy yet creative recipes. Here I want to share a recipe of Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake that I read on the blog. It looks so good and I would like to try it out right after the finals.

HOT FUDGE PUDDING CAKE

adapted from Grandma and Cook’s Country

This recipe comes from my grandma’s archives. I love passing along recipes from her to my own family. With each dump of an ingredient and stir of the batter I’m reminded that grandma raised six wonderful children and lived to tell about it so surely I’ll survive raising three. Perhaps she, like me, used this cake on those desperate days to help pull through.

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup cocoa

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup milk

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon instant espresso powder

1 cup hot water

½ cup chocolate chips

Pre-heat your oven to 350*

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, ¼ cup cocoa, salt and ½ cup sugar. Whisk to combine. Stir in the milk, vanilla extract, egg yolk and melted butter. Spread into a buttered 9” square cake pan.

In a small bowl combine the remaining ½ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup cocoa. Whisk to break up clumps. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cake batter then sprinkle the cocoa powder and sugar mixture on top of that.

Combine the espresso powder with the hot water and pour all over the top but do not stir. Bake 35-40 minutes or until the edges of the cake feel baked but the middle still has a gentle jiggle as the sauce poured on top has now settled to the bottom to create a rich pudding. Brilliant, really.

Let cool in the pan for about 15-20 minutes before serving. Serve alongside whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Also, during this semester, I have posted lots of blogs about Chinese food. For those of you who are interested in Chinese food, I highly recommend you to watch the documentary A Bite of China directed by Xiaoqing Chen. It introduces history and stories behind various kind of traditional Chinese food. By watching it, you could learn a lot about Chinese food as well as Chinese culture. Here's the trailer with English subtitles. 

Last but not least, I want to say that I enjoyed reading all your blog posts and it was a real pleasure to share my thoughts about food here at Tipsy Old Mona Lisa. Gook luck with all your finals and have a fantastic summer!