Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Can't decide between chocolate pudding and chocolate cake?  No need to with this old fashioned two-desserts-in-one concoction. It's basically a brownie that, while in the oven, creates its own hot fudge pudding, perhaps a mid-century precursor to the chocolate lava cakes that were all the rage a few years ago.

It has a couple of steps, but is still very easy to make.  You'll need to take a trip to the store, however, unless you keep a can of evaporated milk on hand.

Below are the dry and wet ingredients.  You start out making the sauce, in bowl at right.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare the main batter and pour (or spoon -- this is a thick batter) into the baking pan.

Next, pour the liquid sauce over the batter.  You'll be sure at this point, that the recipe is not correct, but forge ahead.  Place in the oven and wait for the magic.

This cake-like dessert will emerge from the oven.   The sauce is at the bottom.

I followed the directions exactly, but I didn't sift the flour, or resift it.  Except for angel food cakes, sifting never seems worth the trouble. (In the old days, people sifted flour to remove debris and insects; these days, fortunately, that's no longer necessary.) I also served it room temperature, at work the next day, and it was delicious.