If you love chocolate pudding (and who doesn't?) then you will adore this chocolate pudding cake! It's your childhood favourite dessert in cake form with a cocoa dusted chocolate pudding or mousse in a sliceable form. It's a very simple recipe but I promise my tips will turn out a perfect chocolate pudding mousse cake every time! It can also be done easily in the Thermomix and is gluten free too. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.
Dear Reader if you grew up eating things like Yogo or other chocolate puddings, I promise that you will love this chocolate pudding recipe. I only got to eat Yogo very occasionally but it is such a nostalgic, comforting dessert that I haven't had in decades. And I suspect that perhaps Yogo doesn't taste that amazing now because a lot of childhood foods aren't as good when you try them as an adult. But this one does!
Tips For Making Chocolate Pudding Mousse Cake
This is a simple recipe but it has lots of points where it can go wrong. Trust me, I KNOW! I am back from the coalface to tell you how to ensure that your chocolate pudding cake sets properly after I made several attempts at this!
1 - I use gelatine powder where 2 teaspoons sets 500ml/1pint of liquid. If you use gelatine leaves you will just need enough gelatine leaves to set 2 litres/4.2pints of liquid. It should indicate the setting property on the packet.
2 - Please ensure that you either weigh the gelatine or measure the gelatine in teaspoons and not tablespoons. In Australia 4 teaspoons make up 1 tablespoon but in other countries it is only 3 teaspoons per 1 tablespoon and you can see why it can be a problem because 1 teaspoon makes a difference in setting! So please measure 8 teaspoons of gelatin powder or it is even easier to weigh 29g/1oz of powder.
3 - I love making this chocolate pudding cake in the Thermomix as the active time is minimal.
4 - I like adding some coffee to chocolate desserts as this enhances the chocolate flavour. But you can skip this if you are serving this to kids and just use water.
5 - Make sure to double line your loaf tin with parchment. My loaf tin measured 19.5cm x 10cm x 11cm/7.6x4x4.3inches. I grease the tin first with oil spray and then add the parchment so that it sticks. Adding some pegs secures the parchment in place.
6 - Pass the pudding mixture through a sieve when pouring it into the loaf tin.
7 - Make sure to set this overnight, I don't advise setting this for just 6 hours like some jellies and panna cottas. This is an entire cake size so it will need the extra time. When I checked it after 6 hours there was a lot of movement still so don't risk it.
8 -You can make this vegan by using a plant based milk and agar instead of gelatine. Just make sure to check the quantity of agar as it differs a lot from gelatine.
Looking for other no bake chocolate cakes? I got you! Try this Chocolate Marquesa Cake, this No Bake Smores Pie or this Chocolate Tiramisu!
Now while this cake is simple, I hardly had a simple time with it. I saw some recipes that didn't specify using any gelatine at all, just cornflour to thicken it up and I'm here to tell you that this will not work in a large cake form. It will be sloppy. That was attempt #1. Then I saw another recipe that said to just add 1 teaspoon of gelatine powder. Again a disaster. It flopped flaccidly on my platter (see sad picture below). I gritted my teeth but then remembered that gelatine is thermoreversible so it can go from liquid to set to liquid to set again (as long as you don't heat it up too high). I also saw another recipe that made it in a milk carton so I thought I'd try that.
That next morning, I had high hopes for this attempt. I liked the idea of tearing open a milk carton although this blogger didn't have any footage of her removing it from the carton so that made me a bit worried. And it was a disaster. The pudding wasn't set and getting it out of the carton was an unmitigated disaster. It looked like a liver that had been in a car accident. I had chocolate all over me and the counter.
But I am not nothing if not tenacious. And I thought that I was just going to use my own ideas from now on. I discarded the idea of a milk carton and used a loaf tin and then used the amount of gelatine I thought would work. I wanted the cake to be set but I didn't want it stiff. It still had to have a pudding-like texture. Even then I actually wasn't sure if it would set. Late that night I shook the tin slightly and the pudding tilted to one side like a ship in high seas. But I was tired and I just shut the fridge door and shut the door on the problem.
That Sunday morning I woke up and I shook the tin again. There was a tiny wobble but it was set! I slid it out of the tin and the pudding had just the right texture! It was soft but it was definitely set and sliceable. Luckily I took copious notes so I knew exactly how much gelatine to use because I don't want you to waste your time Dear Reader!
So tell me Dear Reader, did you have chocolate pudding growing up? What was your favourite childhood treat and do you still eat it now?
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