Food & Swine

Chocolate Float Cake

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Hands down, this is my favorite no-fuss dessert.  This recipe has been passed down to me from my Mom on a little 3″x5″ index card.  The top portion of this dessert is cake-like brownie, cut into it and reveal a delectable layer of pudding.  You’ll never believe how easy this is to put together. It is so fun to assemble with children.  Watch their eyes in disbelief when you reveal the final product from the oven (the 2 layers magically flip positions in the oven, trust me!).  It has the perfect amount of chocolate flavor (I prefer desserts that are not overly chocolate-y), is very inexpensive to make (around $1?) and only contains ingredients I always have on hand.  If you’ve never tried a recipe from this blog, this is the one to put your money on.
If you want a more traditional, richer “Brownie Pudding, click here for my “Easy Sunday Brownie Pudding“.

And if you don’t try it… well I’ll sick this 2 year old on ya.  Will someone tell him that “Football Face” isn’t as ‘scary’ when the football player is wearing an apron and whisking cake ingredients?
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Let’s get busy!  You know… this would be perfect for your Labor Day picnic!
Here are the ingredients:
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Get a handy helper to assist in adding the ‘dry-team’ to the mixing bowl. (soda is not in this mixture yet, we add soda to the wet mixture because the acidity of the buttermilk/sour milk will help it do a better job of leavening-raising the cake)
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Whisk those ingredients, well.
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Combine the wet ingredients + soda: buttermilk or sour milk, butter and baking soda.
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Mix the cake layer together.
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Spread in 9×9 pan, then gently top with sauce (mix sugars, cocoa and water in a separate bowl like you see below).
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Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  You’ll pull the dessert out of the oven and let it cool for a bit.  Looks like a dry cake right?
(PAN SIZE: See this 9×13 pan in the photo below… don’t use this size.  I was using my three 9×9’s for rising bread rolls at the time I made this dessert.  You can use an 8×8″ pan as well, no problem!)  Thanks for reminding me of this Ann (a loyal reader)!
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But all of THIS is happening underneath.  Now, grab a big bowl and spoon and treat yourself to the favorite dessert of my childhood.
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Mom's Chocolate Float Cake

by: Cristen via Ceil      www.foodandswine.com
Author: Cristen

Ingredients

Assemble the cake layer first:

  • 1 C all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 C sugar
  • 1 1/2 TBSP cocoa
  • 1/2 C buttermilk or sour milk sour milk: regular milk with 1 tsp vinegar added
  • 2 TBSP melted butter
  • 1 tsp soda

Assemble the 'float' or pudding layer last:

  • 1/2 C white sugar
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 2 TBSP cocoa
  • 1 C hot water

Instructions

Assemble the cake layer first:

  • Whisk dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Add wet ingredients and soda, mix well.  Spread in a greased 9x9 pan.

Assemble the 'float' or pudding layer last:

  • Whisk together, carefully pour over cake batter prior to baking.  (This step will feel odd, it will resemble pouring coffee onto cake batter.  Do it, trust me.)  *This brings about an interesting point... make this dessert "Mocha" by subbing hot coffee for hot water!
  • Bake the dessert at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes until cake tester probed through top 1/2 of dish comes out clean.
  • Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream,  caramel or whatever you dream up!  This dessert is also tasty at room temperature.
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3 Comments

  • Reply ann August 29, 2014 at 8:43 pm

    That looks bigger than 9×9? What size pan or did you double it?

    • Reply Cristen August 29, 2014 at 8:44 pm

      Use the 9×9 for best results… All of my 3 9×9’s were being used for dinner rolls! I’ll add that to the post. :) great catch!

  • Reply ceil slings August 29, 2014 at 8:44 pm

    I hope you enjoy this dessert. It was a Sunday supper favorite!

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