How to make a Simple Cake and Pudding Pots

Cake and pudding was something my mom frequently did for us as kids on the farm. Basically it involves using cake, especially something you have that may be just a little bit stale, and pouring hot pudding over it. We always considered it a great treat!

Use up any cake

And that’s exactly what I needed to do this week with some pound cake. It wasn’t quite stale, but not on the top of it’s game anymore either. The perfect cake to re-invent into something else.

I usually make my own pudding from scratch, but a box mix is fine. I prefer using hot cooked pudding, not instant. This time around, I made chocolate pudding. Vanilla or butterscotch works just as well!

cut up cake to fill as many ramekins as you need
Stir pudding until it thickens

Use up left over birthday cake, sheet cake, even coffee cake and turn it into a new dessert with warm pudding. Any flavor pudding works. There’s an infinite number of combination to try! If you are desperate to try this, buy a pound cake at the market if you can’t make one!

It’s pretty simple:

  1. Cut up cake into 1″ pieces and put into ramekins
  2. Make cooked pudding, recipe below
  3. While the pudding is hot, pour over the cake.
  4. Eat warm, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for later – warm in the microwave to eat warm, or straight from the fridge for chilled.

I made chocolate pudding this time around. I add chocolate chips since I always have them in the pantry. If I have some dark chocolate I add an ounce or two of that to deepen the chocolate flavor. A little bit of espresso powder really does bring out the chocolate flavor. If you don’t have any, it’s fine to leave it out. You might want to consider keeping a small jar in the pantry though.

If you don’t need all the pudding over cake, just pour into empty ramekins and enjoy as a treat all on it’s own.

Pound cake and Chocolate pudding pots
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Cake and Chocolate Pudding Pots

A way to use up stale cake, covered with warm pudding

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword loaf cake, pudding, reinventing cake
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2-3 cups cake leftover or stale cake is best
  • 1 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup cane sugar
  • 3/4 cup choclate chips
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 oz dark chocolate if desired
  • 1 tsp instant espresso powder
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  1. Cut cake into 1" pieces and place inito ramikins. Set aside.

  2. Whisk together the milk through espresso powder in a heavy sauce pan. Heat over low to medium heat until warm.

  3. Mix the cornstarch with the 1/4 cup milk until the cornstarch has dissolved to make a slurry.

  4. Add the slurry into the warm milk mix, and stir constantly until it starts to thicken.

  5. Once thick, remove from heat, and add vanilla.

  6. Pour warm pudding over the cake. Serve warm.

Recipe Notes

Allow children to whisk the first ingredients together and supervise stirring hot pudding.

If saving for later, have kids pull and cut up plastic wrap to cover the pudding and cake – it will prevent a skim from forming.

This is a fun dessert that kids can help with, and leave them with a great childhood memory.

What dessert or dish is from your childhood that just makes you smile?