Old Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler – Easy Hot Fudge Cake
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See how to make old fashioned chocolate cobbler. This easy cake recipe makes the perfect chocolate dessert. It’s a simple hot fudge cake recipe!
Old Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler is a rich and decadent chocolate cake recipe that makes its own sauce when baking. Some people call it hot fudge cake for the chocolate sauce that forms under the chocolate cake.
Old Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler
Chocolate Cobbler, now that’s a cobbler I can get behind.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I really like fruit cobblers such as Apple Cobbler, Blackberry Cobber, Blueberry Cobbler, and Peach Cobbler, but an Old Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler truly has my heart.
That’s because I love chocolate above all things, not only dessert but any food in general. Chocolate is my jam.
And, this old fashioned chocolate cobbler takes the cake.
Easy Hot Fudge Cake
Chocolate Cobbler, also known as hot fudge cake, is a ooey, gooey dessert that will melt your heart.
The top of the dessert has a cake like texture, but underneath the cake hot fudge sauce is created during the baking process, hence the name hot fudge cake.
This hot fudge cake is easy to make; you actually mix up the entire batter in the 8 x 8 inch baking dish instead of dirtying another bowl.
Chocolate Cake With Its Own Sauce
This recipe for chocolate cake with its own sauce is actually from West Virginia.
I found the recipe in a West Virginia Cook Book that I found while on vacation. In the book, it referred to it simply as an Easy Chocolate Cake, but I soon realized it’s what some people call a chocolate cobbler.
Instead of a gooey fruit mixture at the bottom, this has a rich hot fudge sauce that forms during baking, while the cobbler topping resembles a moist chocolate cake.
Ingredient List for Chocolate Cobbler
Flour
White Sugar
Salt
Baking Powder
Cocoa Powder
Vegetable Oil
Milk
Brown Sugar
Mini Chocolate Chips
Hot Water
Vanilla Extract
How to Make a Hot Fudge Cake
Step By Step Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In an 8 x 8 inch baking dish, add and mix together flour, white sugar, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder.
- Combine milk and vegetable oil, and stir into dry mixture until a wet batter forms. The the batter sit in the baking dish for 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle the top with brown sugar and mini chocolate chips.
- Combine hot water and vanilla extract, and slowly pour evenly over the brown sugar mixture. DO NOT MIX. Let the water sit on top of the cake batter for another 2 minutes to settle.
- Bake for 32 to 35 minutes or until the top appears dry.
- Serve warm or room temperature; do not serve immediately. The hot fudge sauce needs time to thicken as it cools down. It tastes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Storage Instructions
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
For the full ingredient amounts and recipe steps for easy hot fudge cake, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Recipe FAQs
- The entire cake is mixed up in the baking dish; there’s no need to dirty a bowl.
- When you pour the hot water and vanilla extract mixture over the cake, do not mix it together. Gently and slowly pour it over the batter. This helps form the hot fudge sauce later on.
- Be sure to let the cake sit for 2 minutes as the instructions say both times!
- Substitute regular chocolate chips, mini chips, milk chocolate chips, etc. for the mini chocolate chips, if desired.
- Do not serve this cake right out of the oven. It needs time to cool enough so the hot fudge sauce thickens at the bottom of the pan.
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Rich and Decadent Chocolate Desserts
Famous Chocolate Wafer Icebox Cake
Loaded German Chocolate Brownies
Deluxe Chocolate Marshmallow Bars
Coconut Chocolate Chip Dream Bars

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cobbler – Easy Hot Fudge Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 1/4 cups hot water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In an 8 x 8 inch baking dish, mix together flour, white sugar, salt, baking powder and unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Combine milk and vegetable oil; stir it into the dry ingredients to form a batter. Let is sit for 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle the top of the cake batter evenly with brown sugar and mini chocolate chips.
- Combine hot water and vanilla extract; pour slowly and gently over the brown sugar topping. DO NOT MIX. Let it settle for 2 minutes.
- Bake for 32 to 35 minutes or until the top looks dry.
- Let cool to warm or room temperature before serving to allow the hot fudge sauce to thicken.
Notes
- The entire cake is mixed up in the baking dish; there’s no need to dirty a bowl.
- When you pour the hot water and vanilla extract mixture over the cake, do not mix it together. Gently and slowly pour it over the batter. This helps form the hot fudge sauce later on.
- Be sure to let the cake sit for 2 minutes as the instructions say both times!
- Substitute regular chocolate chips, mini chips, milk chocolate chips, etc. for the mini chocolate chips, if desired.
- Do not serve this cake right out of the oven. It needs time to cool enough so the hot fudge sauce thickens at the bottom of the pan.
- Love hot fudge sauce? Try Grandma’s Homemade Recipe.
- Please note that the carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on the products you use. The auto-calculation is an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
This chocolate cobbler hot fudge cake looks so moist. I love that the preparation time is only 10 minutes. I will be using this recipe for my next get together. Who doesn’t love chocolate cake? Thanks for sharing this recipe. Shalom.
Best chocolate cobbler I have had in a while. Definitely worth that 2 minute wait time. Don’t miss it!
Thanks for sharing. We love it too.