Valentine's Day (or any day) Hot Fudge Pudding

I am a cheater. This is not my photo (which should be obvious by the superb quality). I have not made this recently and had no photo, so I stole this one off the internet. I wanted you to see the deliciousness. Recipes are always better with a photo! To hopefully redeem myself a little bit, here is a link to sundaynitedinner.com where I found the photo.

I found this recipe in Good Housekeeping several years back. A teenage girl had submitted it and revealed that this recipe is what convinced her mother to marry her father. So, I like to think of it as a great Valentine's Day recipe. If you follow the instructions the batter will separate during baking, resulting in a layer of cake on the top and a layer of pudding on the bottom. Hubba-hubba!

VALENTINE'S DAY (OR ANY DAY) HOT FUDGE PUDDING

1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, divided
1/2 cup whole milk (I've used 2% with no trouble)
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and 1/4 cup cocoa. Whisk in milk, butter, and vanilla just until smooth. Spread in an 8x8 greased glass baking dish.

In small bowl, mix brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle evenly over batter. Carefully pour boiling water over mixture in baking dish; DO NOT STIR.

Bake 30 minutes (batter will separate). Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Mmmmmm....