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Viral Brownie Pudding Recipe


Course Dessert
Cuisine American, British
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 9 people
A dish of brownie pudding with two spoons in it a two scoops of vanilla ice cream on top.
Ina Garten’s Brownie Pudding has gone viral for its rich, fudgy, and irresistibly gooey texture. With just 15 minutes of prep and simple pantry ingredients, this easy brownie pudding recipe bakes into a molten-style chocolate dessert that feels impressive but is effortless to make at home.

Ingredients  

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325℉, grease a 2-quart baking dish with butter, and place it in a deep roasting pan, or similar. Pro Tip: Use the butter wrappers to grease the dish.
  • Add enough hot tap water to the roasting pan so that it's halfway up the sides of the baking pan the batter will go in.
  • Melt 1 cup unsalted butter in a medium pot, then remove from heat and allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the batter.
  • Add 4 x-large eggs and 2 cups granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or to a large bowl with a hand mixer, and beat on speed 6 for 5 to 7 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula every couple of minutes. The mixture should be thick and pale yellow.
  • Slice the 1 vanilla bean in half with a paring knife, then use the flat edge of the knife to scrape out the seeds (vanilla caviar). Mix in the vanilla seeds and ¾ teaspoon coffee extract until combined.
  • Sift ¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder, ½ cup all-purpose flour, and ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt into the egg mixture and then mix just until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
  • With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the melted butter into the bowl, ensuring you scrape any remaining butter out of the pan and into the bowl.
  • Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula and fold the batter for 15 to 30 seconds to combine thoroughly.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth out the top with the rubber spatula.
  • Place the baking dish with the batter in the water bath and bake for 45 to 60 minutes. A cake tester, when inserted into the pudding 2 inches from the edge, should be mostly clean when done; the center will be very jiggly and saucy.
  • Let the cake rest for 5 to 10 minutes before scooping out and serving in a bowl with ice cream. You can also serve with fresh berries or a drizzle of heavy cream instead of ice cream.

Notes

  • This recipe was made exactly as Ina Garten's Food Network version states and was improved upon through three test rounds.
  • This recipe was tested in three different style pans. This pie dish yielded the best results, and any 9-inch deep, round casserole dish should work well and produce similar results. I also used this 9x9-inch metal pan, and it worked well. The last dish was a 9x11 casserole dish, and I felt that it was too big for the cake. I did not have a 9x12x2 oval baking dish like Ina calls for, but I'm sure that size works great.
  • 45 minutes was the perfect timing for me; a full hour in our first test resulted in a non-gooey cake. The 45-minute test cakes were gooey but not raw-looking. So definitely check around the 40/45 minute mark and don't necessarily go with the full hour Ina Garten's recipe calls for.
  • I tested both Dutch-process cocoa and unsweetened cocoa, and the unsweetened tasted much better overall - I recommend going with Ghirardelli or a higher quality cocoa, not Hershey's or store brand.
  • This recipe NEEDS salt. We made it without for the control round, and it was relatively flavorless without. 
  • This was tested with both salted and unsalted butter. If using salted, I would reduce the additional salt by only 1/8 teaspoon. Remember, this recipe needs the salt!
  • We also preferred using coffee extract over the liquor - the flavor was better, and it's more affordable and easier to access, and has more uses in other recipes.
  • We tested with vanilla bean paste and fresh vanilla caviar, and the caviar straight from the beans gave the cake a much better flavor. I like getting my beans from Costco.
  • We tested with both 4 x-large eggs and 5 large eggs; both worked beautifully.
  • We tested both with a stand and a hand mixer, and both worked well. The stand mixer lets you spend 5 minutes or so measuring and prepping other ingredients, since it's mostly hands-off.

Nutrition

Calories: 423kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 127mg | Sodium: 226mg | Potassium: 150mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 45g | Vitamin A: 736IU | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 2mg
Find it online: www.sugarandsoul.co/ina-gartens-brownie-pudding/