Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

UPDATE: Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Scharffen Berger!  I entered this recipe in the chocolate recipe swap - there's potentially winnings!  And this would be a great dish to pull out of the oven at a family gathering :)

Get-togethers with friends are really the best occasions to bake.
I gather with people I love, laugh, and enjoy our time together.  I see the looks on their faces as they sample my latest creation.  The dessert is shared and loved by all.  And I walk away with very few leftovers to tempt me in the days to come!
It's a total win-win situation.

Friday night, I gathered with the same group of folks who helped me consume those chocolate peanut butter cupcakes I made a few weeks back.  The friend hosting the gathering offered the use of his kitchen, ingredients, and convection oven - who was I to say no?  So I looked for a recipe that would be delicious, boy food, and relatively quick and easy to throw together.  And I came up with this!

I had bookmarked this recipe from Tracy over at Sugarcrafter probably close to a year ago and for some reason never made it.  But when I found it among my bookmarks I knew it would be perfect.  Rich, chocolatey, meant to be gooey, and only required to cool for 15 minutes before serving?
SOLD.

And I wasn't the only one sold on it.
It started like this:

 Progressed to this:

And then to this:

So it's safe to say the dessert was well received.

This has officially entered my repetoire of easy last-minute desserts.  It's a fabulous, simple, crowd-pleasing pantry recipe.
Unless you don't like chocolate.  In which case, I pity you.  And...sorry.  Just eat the ice cream?

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Source: adapted from Sugarcrafter , originally adapted from Hershey's 

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1-1/4 cups hot water

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F (convect at 325˚F).
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, half the sugar, and half the cocoa powder.  Stir in the milk, butter, and vanilla, whisking until totally smooth.  Pour into an ungreased 9-inch square baking pan.  Mix the remaining sugar and cocoa powder together with the brown sugar and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the mixture in the pan.  Pour the hot water over all.  Do not stir.  (That last bit was stated emphatically.  Stirring = bad.)
Bake for 35-40 minutes (or convect for 25-30 minutes) or until almost set.  Remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving directly from the pan - with a spoon - and topping with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!