And a Happy Birthday to ME!

My greatest apologies for not blogging for a few days.  I was a little distracted by MY BIRTHDAY!  Yes, I hit the big quarter century mark, but I don't feel a day older.  It was a great birthday week topped off by a great birthday weekend and a great birthday gift.  My husband got me one of the best gifts ever... a cupcake carrier and a professional cake decorating set!  I can now take my goodies with me everywhere I go.  YOU may even have a chance to enjoy them yourselves! But enough about me, this is, I'm sure, what you really wanted to know... what did I have for my birthday cake?  I made Hot Fudge Pudding Cake.  Yes, I made my own cake.  But I wanted to!

I found the recipe in my Taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook (50th Anniversary Edition).  A great cookbook to have if you ask me.  Anyways, I wasn't sure how the cake was going to turn out considering there was no fudge or pudding listed in the ingredients, and I was even asked a few times why it was called Hot Fudge Pudding Cake, but was unable to respond.  But now I know why, it's all about the water.  The key was to mix the main ingredients together first, the flour, sugar, cocoa, etc., then sprinkle the rest of the dry ingredients on top and pour steaming hot water over top (about 1 and a quarter cup).  Then I put it in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 and it came out perfectly.  It ended up having a brownie like texture to it, but when you spooned it out of the pan it was so moist, I finally understood the title.  There was a fudge like consistency on the bottom that was spooned on top of the cake.  It was just awesome.  The only thing we decided would make it even better would be to add chocolate chips or something of that nature to the batter, to give it a little crunch.  Other than that it was a great birthday cake.  One thing I do have to inform you of is in the recipe it says to add baby food, but my book said to add 1/3 cup of melted butter.  So that is what I did.  But, you could also substitute for a 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt.  That would work just as well.

Enjoy!