This delicious brownie pudding is made up of two layers, a thin brownie like top layer and a gooey, chocolate sauce beneath. Decadent, delicious, fit for company, whole grain, sweetened with honey, simple to make and….. even better, frugal! I have adapted this recipe from a Better Homes and Garden recipe that originally came out in 1945. It seems like a lot of recipes from that era are very frugal and this recipe is so exception.
We actually grew up eating the original recipe (which used brown sugar and white flour) quite often as it was a family favorite. My older sister and I seemed to have developed a great love for it, because it’s still one of our favorites!
This is one of the recipes I used in my cooking class this last Friday. I served it with a adapted version of Roasted Banana Ice Dream, which is a heavenly combination (to keep things a bit simpler I cut out the stevia from the recipe for the ice cream and used 1/3 cup of honey. I am fairly sensitive to the taste of stevia, so I like the all honey version even better).
Because this cake makes it’s own sauce, it’s fabulous with ice cream. But it’s still wonderful on it’s own. Enjoy!
Brownie Pudding Cake
You can also add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts in step two.
1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 cup of coconut tonic or other non-dairy milk (you could also use watered down buttermilk)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (omit if using buttermilk)
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt1 1/2 cups of boiling water
1/3 cup of cocoa powder
dash of salt
scant 1/2 cup of honey1-The night before combine the first 6 ingredients and whisk to combine well (no lumps). If your honey is thick, melt with the coconut oil. Leave out on the counter top overnight, for 12-24 hours, at room temperature.
2-When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the water on to boil. Then mix the baking powder, soda, vanilla extract and salt in with what you put together the night before.
3-In another bowl, combine the boiling water, cocoa powder, dash of salt and honey. Mix until combined.
4-Run some hot water over your 8x8x2 square pan (to prepare it for the boiling water mixture), and pour the boiling water mixture into it. Gently pour the other mixture on top of this.
5-Baking for 40 minutes, then remove from oven. Let rest at least ten minutes and up to 45 minutes before serving. The longer it sits the thicker the sauce will become. My husband actually likes this best cold. But most enjoy it warm with some ice cream on top.
Serve with ice cream, if desired.
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Is there a particular brand of whole wheat pastry flour that you recommend?
Also, I’m a bit unclear on step 4. Are you running extra water over your pan in the first part? Does the water stay in the pan or is this just to warm it up? I’m sorry that I’m being dense. 🙂
Jessie,
I usually buy organic wheat berries to grind in my home grinder. I would just try to buy it from a place with a good turn around, to make sure that the flour isn’t rancid. 🙂
Step four, yes, I can see how that could be confusing. I added a bit to it. You are preparing the pan for the hot water mixture by warming up the pan, but no, the water doesn’t stay in it! Thanks for the good question. 🙂
Kimi,
What kind of grain mill do you have? I have the nutrimill and haven’t used it a ton to make a pastry flour, but I’m wondering how on earth you get your flour that fine at home?
Lea,
I have been using a Jupiter grain mill, but haven’t been very happy with it. However, you can easily get pastry flour by grinding soft wheat berries (instead of hard wheat berries-which you use for bread). Hope that helps!
that does, thanks 🙂
FYI Honey isn’t vegan.
Audrey,
I had a feeling I was overlooking something obvious, you pointed it out to me! Thanks! I’ve removed the vegan reference.
Oh yummy. This looks scrumptious. Thanks for sharing!
~KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
Mmm… I’m making this for dessert after church this weekend… we’ll eat it with our homemade goatmilk ice cream… Yay! 🙂
Oh my gosh, that picture is calling my name! How fabulous with all the more healthful ingredients.
Awesome!!!
I just put up the recipe for Ragi (finger millet) pudding,which is traditionally made with coconut milk.So the ragi pudding is not just dairy free,but also gluten free 🙂
You can give it a try-you’ll find ragi in most Indian stores.
Sweta,
Sounds good. I will check it out. 🙂
Hey Kimi!
I’m a bit of a lurker, but today, I realized I have a question for you. I’m a young single gal, with an extremely limited budget (seriously, $100/a month would more than double my monthly food budget–and my roommate and I share quite a bit of the food that I buy). What advice could you offer someone in my situation? I normally cook for one (and am hesitant to spring my…shall we say devloping??…cooking skills on anyone else in the guise of blessing them), and have the aforementioned limited budget, but I’d like to do better for myself than frozen dinners and canned soup.
KH: Hey Jen, that’s hard. Let me think about it and get back to you! Maybe we can do a post asking for other peoples ideas too. I want to help all I can. 🙂
Hi, Jen and Kimi–jumping in here. There were several experiments in the last few years for eating on 30 bucks a month (a dollar a day). Sadly, many of them were pretty yucky and limited and based on foods that are not great choices.
You might check out the less is enough blog at http://lessisenough.wordpress.com/ –the writer there works to make good economical food choices and does a lot of bulk shopping at Whole Foods. If you have a local health food store, they might offer good bulk choices, as well. You can always make your own frozen dinners (soups, rice, beans, all are economical and also freeze well). Homemade bread dough and pasta dough also freeze well, allowing you to make things, portion them out and freeze them, cooking later.
Hi! I looked all over your site for a “contact me” link and couldn’t find one, so I’m commenting with a question unrelated to the post, sorry :-).
I’d love to link to your blog because it is SO informative (it has literally been a goldmine for me in discovering how to live a “nourishing traditions” life). What would be really cool though is a 125×125 “ad type” link. Do you have anything like that available for people who like your blog to put on their blogs?
Thanks
Kat
KH: Hi Kat. You are so sweet and right! I should have something like that. I will try to make one over the weekend. Great idea!
Oh wow look at that! My mouth is watering just looking at the photo! What a fabulous looking recipe (an unique)! I recently created a gluten-free vegan brownie using coconut flour and blanched almond flour. Totally decadent and made without cane sugar too! I didn’t post it because it will be in my next book.
-Ali 🙂
KH: Sounds good!
Oh, one more thing – I know a lot of vegans who eat honey, so for some a recipe made with honey is not vegan, but for others it may be. Our dietary preferences are really all so unique aren’t they!
KH: Thanks for the clarification. I was pretty sure that some did, but not positive. 🙂
Kimi,
It looks pretty tempting but I will have to try substituting the whole wheat flour with rice or millet flour. I have a feeling that almond flour would be a better choice though.
Ali,
What is your new book’s title? When will it be released?
Kimi, I was wondering if you could substitute agave syrup for the honey in this recipe?
KH: Yes, you can!
This looks and sounds wonderful! Thanks so much Kimi – I am constantly amazed at the recipes you develop and share here.
Oh man…. this ticks all my boxes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Jeez — Can’t wait until you come out with a cookbook!! I’ll be one of the first to buy it! — lg
KH: I’ll take that as a promise *wink*
Wouldn’t the honey and coconut inhibit fermentation? Maybe that’s what you want though. It might taste kind of sour fermented. Whole wheat flour has all kinds of interesting organisms though, so does buttermilk. I think when I do this, I’ll just mix my flour with buttermilk and see what happens. It might be interesting!
KH: Melissa, that is an EXCELLENT question. Sue Gregg does soak her baked goods like this recipe (her new versions of her cookbooks do the soaking method), where the honey and oil are added in during the soaking period, but I have had reservations about it for the very reasons you mentioned. I have done it the other way and it does work, you definitely just have to work harder at stirring in the rest of the ingredients the next day.
I have never really heard of soaking ingredients like in this recipe. Do you think soaking nut flours would make them easier to digest? Your brownie looks yummy. Anything chocolate is yummy in my opinion:)
KH: Nuts are a little different than grains. I posted here about how to prepare nuts whole. I agree! Chocolate is always yummy!
We, also, grew up with this being a favorite recipe! And I have been making it for my family for years.
Thank you for a healthier version! I will be trying this in the near future. 🙂
KH: How fun!
Hey Everyone,
I had so many comments to respond too, I decided to comment under each individual comment instead of doing a mass reply to all of them in one comment. So if you had a question, check out you comment and see my reply beneath. Thanks!
Hi,
I was wondering if coconut milk works for the coconut tonic. Thanks! I was looking for a dessert for my mom’s birthday this weekend. I think I found it.
KH: Brenda, coconut milk by itself will be a lot thicker so you may need to add more to get the same consistency. The coconut tonic I use is I can of coconut milk to 2 1/2 cups of water. This gets it to the consistency of milk and I keep it in my fridge for all baked goods.
Will you be more specific – what type of organic wheat berries do you use in recipes that call for whole wheat pastry flour? From what I recall reading, I think the soft spring wheats are more suitable for this use??
Thanks.
KH: Yes, definitely soft wheat berries to grind for pastry flour. 🙂
Hey Kimi!
Thanks for the response. 🙂 Just so you can breathe, I’m not ACTUALLY living on frozen dinners (at least, not TOO often…). I sure do eat a lot of pasta with marinara, PB&J, grilled cheese, and simple beef or bean burritos, though! I’m mainly having creativity issues. I’m really tempted to try soaked oatmeal because I don’t normally like cooked cereals and am wondering if the soaking will make enough of a difference for me. I try to buy produce, but honestly, we just can’t go through it fast enough. A head of lettuce will still be sitting in the fridge 2 or 3 weeks after it’s been purchased. Oh! I realize that this is the most rambling response ever, but I saw your recipe for Greek Cucumber Yogurt Sauce and can’t wait to try it. My mentor made it for a friend and me one day and I was astonished by how much I enjoyed it. I think she put some sour cream in hers too. So good with pita!
KH: I look forward to replying to your question in a Q & A post and seeing what others have to add! Look for it sometime next week.
This looks soooo amazing! I cannot wait to try it! Maybe for Lucy’s birthday. 🙂 Trying to find a healthyier option that will still satisfy the kiddo need for dessert on a birthday. (Lucy won’t notice, but Emily and Joe sure will . . .)
This looks amazing. I can’t wait to try this recipe out. My family and I can’t resist chocolate. Thank you for the healthier version of this recipe.
Oh – My – Goodness. Positively unreal! Bookmarking this recipe now 🙂
My dad always used to make brownie pudding cake when I was a kid, it’s one of my favourite desserts. I am so excited to have a soaked, whole grain, refined sugar free version to try!!
Wow this photo is mouth watering!!
I am passing this recipe on to my mom!
My BH&G cookbook falls open to that recipe. I’ve mourned its loss.
Look forward to trying this!!
This looks sooo good! Just found your website! Lucky me! 🙂
when you say that I can use watered down buttermilk, is it the same as with the cocconut milk? Just till gets milk consistency??
Hi Kimi,
I didn’t know exactly where to ask this. I assume the questions about soaking cornmeal are closed. I soaked cornmeal about five weeks ago for the first time and had lots of lime water left. Do you know how long the lime water keeps and how I should store it? I have it in the cupboard now.
I, too, would definitely buy your cookbook! I only have two cookbooks – Better Homes and Garden and Nourishing Traditions. Yours would be a welcomed addition. I use your recipes especially since I have two small children and find your recipes more kid friendly. Nourishing Traditions’ recipes are a little more “adult.”
I used not-watered down Swedish fermented milk overnight. Just the flour and the milk. Turned out well, but certainly was not easy to mix. Also, don’t skimp on the sugar in this recipe…looks like there is just enough. Honey is just a pain to pour that I left some out and I think it would have been better with more.
Tried the soaked oatmeal. Love it. Posted on the recipe too. Thanks so much!
visited your site for the first time…
ITS BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL, YOUR GREAT PHOTOS JUST COME AND REACH OUT TO THOSE WHO READ THE BLOG , BEST OF LUCK AND KEEP UP YOUR GOOD WORK, YOU HAVE A REGULAR READER FROM TODAY ONWARDS.
YIKES!!!! I just printed fifteen pages, and only two were useful. I love the recipe and want to make it today, but the comments aren’t necessary. Please, please, please…. is it possible to separate the recipe from the comments????? And all the paper I just wasted.. please help.
I always copy and paste into a Word document when I print a recipe.
I love this. I used regular c&P flour, that’s what I had, and instead of the honey I used 1/2 cup of
maple syrup in the first part and 2 tablespoons of brn sugar in the second part to cut the sweet down. It came out wonderful twice.
A note to michelle– cut and paste the recipe and then print from that. It’s handy to learn this as alot
of sites work this way.
Kimi! We loved this cake. I substituted kefir for the coconut milk tonic and it was very delicious. And I loved how quick and easy it was to make. I’m going to make it again this week for my sister’s birthday. Thanks for a wonerful recipe.
Made the recipe this weekend for a get together with friends…they loved it! Afterward I shared with them how “healthy” it was! Thank you so so much it was truly delish and I absolutely love your blog.
I just tried this recipe and it is really good. I had to make some substitutions, though. I used almond milk and white spelt flour, and baking soda/cream of tartar for the baking powder. I also didn’t soak anything, just mixed it all right away. My question is that it has a bit of an “alcoholic” flavor to it. I am wondering what that could be? Do you have any idea?
This recipe was wonderful! I doubled the recipe because I have a large family. I had my doubts at first because it just didn’t look right when I added the cake part to the liquid, but it turned out great!
Could you use watered-down milk kefir in place of the coconut tonic?
Definitely! I sometimes add about 1/4 cup more when substituting kefir for coconut milk tonic as it’s thicker.
I made a gluten free version of this cake. It was gooey inside and cakey on the outside and oh so good. Yours looks delicious – a chocolate lover’s delight.
This has become the most requested dessert. It is so versatile and every time I try a new pudding, it gets better… chocolate, blackberry, apricot, and peaches (best so far). I’ll try blueberry next:) Always gluten free and with kefir. Thanks for the great recipe!
Yummy! We made this for my daughter’s b.day. At first kids didn’t think it looked interesting but when they saw it ‘flipped over’ with sauce they sure all came running 🙂
Ohhh, yum! I finally made this yesterday, and it is heavenly!
You are awesome, Kimi!! 🙂