Easy Chocolate Pudding Cake Recipe with Cake Mix (4 Ingredients)
Growing up, a warm chocolate cake on the dinner table on a weeknight felt like a small celebration. This chocolate pudding cake is a self-saucing dessert that forms a rich, fudgy, delicious layer beneath the cake as it bakes, topped with melted chocolate chips. It takes only four pantry ingredients and no mixing bowl, making it one of the simplest homemade chocolate cakes you can put together. Serve it warm straight from the pan with vanilla ice cream for a weeknight dessert that comes together in under 30 minutes.
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Chocolate pudding cake is a classic American dessert built on the idea that the right pantry ingredients can do almost all the work. When the batter goes into the oven, the cook-and-serve pudding creates a fudgy sauce that settles below the cake layer, giving you two distinct textures in a single pan.
The result is part molten cake, part hot fudge pudding. Chocolate chips sprinkled over the top melt during baking, so the finished cake needs no frosting or additional toppings.
This recipe uses only four ingredients: a box of chocolate cake mix, a package of cook-and-serve chocolate pudding mix, milk, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. It comes together without a mixing bowl and bakes in about 20 minutes.
Why this recipe works
Cook-and-serve pudding is the key ingredient here. Unlike instant pudding, which is formulated to set cold and tends to get gummy when baked, cook-and-serve pudding thickens under heat. When it bakes beneath the cake layer, it stays saucy and fudgy rather than turning dense or starchy.
Mixing the dry cake mix directly into the cooked pudding means you skip the oil, eggs, and water the box calls for. The pudding supplies the moisture and fat the batter needs, which is why the finished cake is dense and fudgy rather than light and springy.
Chocolate chips on top melt into a thin layer during baking, adding a third dimension of chocolate flavor and making any additional frosting unnecessary. Together, these three layers create a dessert that is richer than a standard boxed cake, with almost no extra effort.
Ingredients for hot fudge pudding cake
This chocolate pudding cake recipe is very easy to make with four very simple ingredients: Get the measurements in the recipe card below.
- Chocolate pudding mix (cook-and-serve) – Creates a self-saucing base and adds intense chocolate flavor throughout. Use cook-and-serve pudding, not instant; it will not create the fudgy sauce layer that defines the recipe.
- Chocolate cake mix – Forms the cake layer and provides structure while keeping preparation simple. I do not recommend the Betty Crocker brand, as it contains less by weight, and the recipe will not yield good results.
- Milk – Activates the pudding mix and creates the perfect consistency for baking
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips – Provides melty chocolate topping and textural contrast
You can use Duncan Hines to make Duncan Hines chocolate pudding cake or your favorite chocolate cake mix.
How to make this Chocolate Pudding Cake Recipe with Cake Mix
This chocolate cake recipe with pudding mix couldn’t be easier to make. Here are the steps to follow:
- Combine the milk and pudding, then cook, stirring or whisking occasionally, until thick.
- Add the cake mix to the wet ingredients (pudding mixture) and whisk or spoon until well combined.
- Pour the cake batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes in a 350°F oven.
CopyKat Tip: Lining the sides and bottom of pan with aluminum foil makes removing the baked cake from the pan easier.
How to Serve Chocolate Pudding Cake
When this cake comes out of the oven, you will want to serve it on plates or in dessert dishes with either a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or in a pinch, Cool Whip will work. Either topping will work just fine.
If you do not finish this cake in one sitting, I suggest warming it in the microwave before serving it the second time.
Recipe Variations
This recipe is for a rich, moist chocolate cake with pudding. However, you can try some variations if you want. Here are a few ideas:
- Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the batter for an extra-rich flavor.
- If you like nuts on your cake, add some finely chopped pecans or walnuts to the chocolate chips.
- Drizzle hot fudge sauce over the top.
- Sprinkle brown sugar over the batter for a slight caramel flavor.
- Dust lightly with some unsweetened cocoa powder for garnish.
- Dress your chocolate cake up by adding a few berries or some sprinkles on top.
- Substitute peanut butter chips for chocolate chips (or mix them).
- Try it with vanilla pudding and a lemon or orange cake mix with white chocolate chips.
- Make it with a yellow cake mix, butterscotch pudding, and butterscotch chips.
- If you want, you can make the recipe as cupcakes. Be sure to use cupcake liners.
Want to use a square baking pan? You’ll need to use two 8-inch ones.
Storage & Reheating Instructions
- Refrigerator Storage: Store covered in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator
- Serving Cold: Delicious served chilled directly from the refrigerator
- Reheating: Microwave individual portions for 30 seconds to restore gooey texture
- Freezer Storage: Can be frozen for up to 3 months, though texture may change slightly upon thawing
Love Chocolate Desserts? Try These Recipes!
- Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie
- Chocolate Delight
- Frozen Hot Chocolate
- German Chocolate Pie
- Heath Bar Cake
- Homemade Chocolate Pie
Favorite Cake Recipes
- Bacardi Rum Cake
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- Mountain Dew Cake
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Check out my easy cake recipes and the best Christmas desserts on CopyKat!
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Chocolate Pudding Cake With Cake Mix
Ingredients
- 1 5-ounce box cook & serve chocolate pudding
- 2 cups milk
- 1 15.25 ounce box chocolate cake mix
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a 3-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, combine milk and pudding cook until thick, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
- Add cake mix and mix well.
- Pour the batter into a 9×13-inch pan.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes. When it's done the cake will be shiny and will pull away from sides of pan.
Notes
- The center will look soft when you pull the cake from the oven. That is the pudding layer, not underdone batter. If the top is set and the edges have pulled slightly from the pan, the cake is done.
- Lining the baking dish with aluminum foil before adding the batter makes slicing and removing portions significantly easier.
- For the cleanest slices, let the cake rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- This cake is best served warm. If it has cooled, reheat individual portions in the microwave to bring back the gooey texture.
My aunt has made these my whole life and now I make them. Can I put in a smaller pan so they are taller?
I think that this doesn’t have enough leavening in it to make it stand taller.
Have you ever tried cooking it in a loaf pan? I grew up in the Chicago area ordering these from Market Day at school and they always came single slice wrapped in the loaf pan shape. Now out in Colorado I would love to recreate exactly the same thing from my childhood for my kids but I assume the cooking temp/time would be very different in a loaf pan vs. the 13×9.
I have not tried cooking these in a loaf pan. The temperature would be the same, the cooking time would be different. I think you could divide this into 2 loaf pans, but honestly without cooking it, I couldn’t give you an exact time to bake this at, I would guess with 35 to 45 minutes.
I have made this cake recipe for years as it came out of an old 60’s Betty Crocker cakes and frosting cookbook. Never used instant pudding. It has been a family favorite for years. We like to add chpped walnuts to the top along with the chocolate chips. This cake travels well too for potlucks or ? Great cake!
Could you share what the name of the recipe is in the Betty Crocker Cakes and Frosting Cookbook? I was not able to find it. I never really had a recipe for this was just told make the pudding and add the cake mix so I used 3 cups.
Can I use instant pudding?
I would use the kind that you cook. I think it will provide a better texture to the cake.
A 5 oz box of pudding does need 3 cups of milk according to the directions to make pudding. A 3.5 oz box has 3 cups do I agree I think if using a 5 oz box, use 3 cups. I made it with 3 cups and it was gooey but not difficult to spread in the pan at all as mentioned above. Thanks for the tip about the chocolate chips being over powering. I just sprinkled a handful on top not the entire bag and it came out perfect. Simple and delicious!
I would use the box of pudding that is 4 servings. I know sometimes companies change the weights of things.
Could you add oil and eggs to make it more cake like?
I haven’t tried the recipe this way, if you want to make a chocolate cake that is more cake-like, I would start with a different recipe.
I used 3 eggs (what the cake box says) and it turned out great. I made the butterscotch cake with walnuts like my grandmother used to ♥
I made this recipe as it calls for and the cake part is good and we loved it but the semisweet chocolate overpowered it. Good with vanilla ice cream,
This cake came out extremely moist and tasty. Family loved it and they didn’t miss the frosting. Only one thing about this recipe is that the batter comes out very thick, almost impossible to work with and very hard to spread in the pan. The pudding mix calls for 3 cups of milk. So I am wondering if maybe this recipe should have said 3. I would appreciate any feedback.
The box of pudding mix that I used required only 2 cups of milk. You are right, the mix is very thick, but I believe this was the intent of the recipe.
I have made this cake a lot but in my recipe I put the amount of oil that the cake originally calls for. And then add 2 cups of milk with the pudding.