Chocolate Pudding Cake Recipe from the 1960s

Question

I'm haunted by a childhood memory of making a chocolate cake in our cast iron pan (may or maynot have been recipe specific).  In my memory I thought this was a Hershey's syrup can recipe.  Hershey's has no recollection of this.  I've no idea of other brands which may have been in my NH area, but I recall a very moist "self-frosting" cake which, when inverted after a 10 minute rest would drip chocolate goo down the sides of a perfectly done easy-enough-for-a-10 yr old-to make cake.  I'm hoping SOMEONE in the hive might both validate my memory and maybe have a copy of the paper which wrapped that can and share a recipe.  The child in my thanks you in advance!

Lynn Clark · Accepted Answer

Hi Theresa - This is basically a chocolate pudding cake. The current recipe on the Hershey's website calls for cocoa powder, sugar, and water, not Hershey's syrup but at some point it probably did. Many food manufacturers in the 1960s, an era of cake mixes and time-saving recipes, would alter recipes to try to sell products that could be used in the recipe, so it's possible they had a version using Hershey's syrup in place of the cocoa powder, brown sugar and water. The only version I could find made with syrup was a version that is intended for food service and scaled beyond what a home cook would want. But I wonder if you could take the recipe that calls for making the sauce with cocoa powder, sugar, and water and replace that with chocolate syrup? That's probably how I would start if I were recreating this recipe. My guess is that the basics of that one on the Hershey's site now is the same as it was in the 60s. There was probably a brief time when it had Hershey's syrup in it instead. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Chocolate Pudding Cake Recipe from the 1960s

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