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Let’s talk about growth for a moment, shall we?
No, not the type of growth one might experience from devouring this chocolate cobbler recipe. I mean the type of growth you do as you’re learning something new.
For instance, photography. There is so much growth to be done when you first pick up a camera.
I thought I was a pretty good photographer by the time I got around to starting this blog. I thought that people would flock to me for my photos just as much as they would my recipes. You guys. I had so much to learn.
I shared this chocolate cobbler recipe way back in December of 2008. It was one of the first few recipes that I shared on this blog and I was pretty proud of everything about it.
Here is one of the images from that post. It’s a close-up, so please prepare yourself.
Just for fun, because it’s sometimes okay to make fun of yourself for the amusement of others, here is the “beauty shot” and I put that in quotations, because there is nothing beautiful about it.
I mean. This is a delicious dessert. It’s beyond easy to make. I’ll bet no one actually knows that though, because they are sucked into the black hole that is the darkness of these photos. The terrible color. The weird angles. All of it just speaks to you, right? And what it says is, “this girl needs to practice with her camera.”
So, here we are 8 years later and I’m pretty proud of the photos I’m sharing of this recipe today. Of course, 8 years from now I’ll probably look back, cringe, and reshoot everything again. Growth, man. It’s funny how it works.
Why I Love This Recipe:
No weird ingredients: This cobbler calls for nothing but the staple ingredients most people are stocked with. Unlike fruit cobblers, you don’t have to worry about your fruit getting too ripe or washing, peeling, and chopping anything. It’s all just simple things in your cabinet that you grab and go. The recipe does call for espresso powder, but if you don’t have it on hand, just skip it. No big. It does help deepen the chocolate flavor, so I do recommend you buy some. It’s great in my perfect chocolate chip cookies, homemade brownies, and just about any dessert that calls for a lot of chocolate. Get it here.
It’s easy: That’s something I say about a lot of my recipes, but that’s because I like easy recipes and so I share them a lot. This one is simple. The hardest part of the whole thing is heating up some water to slowly drizzle over the top of the mixture before you bake it.
It’s chocolate: Most people haven’t even heard of a chocolate cobbler. I mean, cobbler is for fruit, right? Not this time. This thing is loaded with gooey chocolate, much like a simpler version of a lava cake.
It’s versatile: Top it with ice cream, like I’m showing here. Or top it with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Sprinkle on some powdered sugar. Drizzle with a fruit syrup. Leave it alone and eat it straight out of the pan. There are many ways to dress this up if that’s the route you want to go!
Chocolate Cobbler
Ingredients
For the cobbler:
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the topping:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups hot water
- Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving
Instructions
- To make the cobbler, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the butter in an 8x8 baking dish and put inoven while it preheats until butter has melted.
- Mix together dry ingredients.
- Whisk milk and vanilla into dry ingredients until well combined.
- When butter has melted, carefully spoon the chocolate mixture over the melted butter evenly.
- To make the topping, mix together the dry ingredients with a whisk. Sprinkle over the top of the chocolate cobbler.
- Slowly and carefully pour the hot water over the top, being sure to cover the topping with water.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the top has firmed up, but the cobbler is still quite jiggly in the middle.
- Serve warm with either vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
scottie sue says
do you use all purpose flour or self rising flour?
Karly Campbell says
All purpose
scottie sue says
thank you. can’t wait to male it.
Bridget says
Can this be made with Almond flour and substitute sugar..and do u have to have the expresso powder.
Karly says
I do not think this would work with almond flour. A sugar substitute that bakes 1:1 like sugar should be fine. The espresso powder is optional.
G Brown says
Growing up, this was called brownie pudding. My mom grew up during the depression and my recipe calls for oil (butter could be substituted for more richness) and no eggs. The cake cooks up through the chocolate sugar water, making a very rich chocolate sauce to put over a brownie like piece of cake. The walnuts are awesome if you like nuts.
BROWNIE PUDDING
1 cup flour
ยพ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
ยผ teaspoon salt
ยฝ cup milk
2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
ยฝ cup nuts optional
Preheat oven to 375?
Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients. Mix well and pour into 8 x 8 pan. Sprinkle with 1 cup brown sugar and 4 tablespoons cocoa. Pour 2 cups very hot water and 1 teaspoon vanilla over all.
Bake for about 1 hour or until cake rises through sauce and is cooked through. (A toothpick comes out pretty clean, showing cake portion is cooked)
Note: Depending on your oven the cooking time will change up to 15 minutes.
Karly says
Thanks for sharing! Sounds delicious!
Luanne Stevens says
I have ground espresso will that work?
Karly says
I’ve only used instant espresso. It’s almost powdery it’s so finely ground.
Julie says
Hi, Karly! I just made this and man, I can’t wait to taste it! I tried my best to follow your steps and I really hope it tastes awesome! I’m so excited!
Karly says
Hope you enjoyed it, Julie!
Marianne says
Yes, I loved this recipe soooo much!!!!
Karly says
Yay! Love to hear that! ๐
Anna says
I am a 66 year old retired widow and my mother made this when we were growing up. This was our Sunday special. Thanks for the recipe, my oldest sister has it and I could not find a copy.
Karly says
So glad you found the recipe, Anna!
Marsha says
OMG…
Lucinda Roese says
You named this recipe right! This is a keeper for me
Karly says
Thanks, Lucinda!
Stormy Rain Stevens says
This reminds me of what my dad’s all-time favorite “cake” was. It was called Hot Water Cake and made basically the same. I can’t wait to try your recipe! I know my dad would have loved it. I’m going to get my granddaughter in the kitchen with me this evening to try this! She’s 7 and she is my mini-me, the poor thing. She loves all chocolate goodness! Thank you for sharing it!
Maggie Martin says
I have died and I actually made it to heaven, don’t tell them I’m here, they will throw me out. I love the original Beauty photo and everything else about this cobbler! My name is Maggie and I am a chocoholic!
Thanks Karly
Karly says
Haha! So glad you enjoyed! ๐
Dee says
I put 2 sticks of butter in since I forgot to measure out what I needed. I remembered while it was in oven baking. It came out like a raft floating on a sea of butter! I was gping to throw it out but I proceeded to making dinner, we ate and after an hourโs time I noticed this had settled in pan. It was delicious despite my goof. While I donโt recommend the extra 4 T I used, (I doubled recipe for 9×13 pan) know that itโs still great ย if you make the same error as me. ย My family and I loved it!
Jesse says
I made this and it was delicious but I made way too much. Can it be frozen?
Karly says
I haven’t tried freezing this one, so I’m not sure how well it will work.
Johanna says
This was sooooooo sweet. I like dessert that’s why I made this but just way too sweet. Will use maybe 1/3 of sugar next time.
Hannah Banana says
Has anyone tried this with gluten free flour?
Hannah Banana says
I’ve made this last night with Doves Gluten Free Plain Flour and it was amazing! Thank you for the recipe, now a family favourite.ย
Karly says
Glad to hear it worked out with the gluten free flour! ๐