Gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe, anyone? It’s the ULTIMATE chocolate dessert that nobody would know is Coeliac-friendly and wheat-free too. It’s also simple to make this dairy free with a few simple swaps.

Gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe – this one is super easy to make and one bake can easily serve up to 12 people. Perfect if you have lots of guests, or you can simply freeze it in portions for later.

Here’s reason #1038 that no gluten-free person should ever have to settle for fruit salad for dessert.

This one couldn’t be easier to make. Simply mix up the pudding mixture, whack it in a tin, bake it, make a sauce and pour it on top. Boom, you’ve got gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding!

It’s 100% beginner friendly and of course, it doesn’t taste gluten-free whatsoever.

Here’s a few reasons you need to make this if you weren’t convinced already:

Why make my gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe?

It’s gluten-free, but nobody would ever know… yep, muggles will happily eat this too, so no need to make yourself a separate dessert!
The pudding itself is super soft, light and fluffy, with tons of chocolate sauce that soaks into it. Pure heaven.
Unlike sponge pudding that you make in individual pudding tins – you make this in one big traybake. That makes it much easier/quicker to make and you don’t need about 6 pudding tins to make this!
This recipe is incredibly easy to make dairy-free with a few simple swaps. And you’d never notice the difference.
Bake this and it’ll serve up to 12 people – just add vanilla ice cream for the ultimate finishing touch.

So what does a gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding taste like?

The sponge is incredibly light and chocolatey, much fluffier than a sponge cake, making it perfect to absorb all that lovely chocolatey sauce.

That sauce is made for chocaholics and finishes off this humble dessert alongside some vanilla ice cream.

(anyone else love that hot pudding, cold ice cream contrast? Just me?!)

So what are you waiting for? Here’s everything you’ll need for this recipe – consider this your shopping list! Looking for the measurements? Keep scrolling until you see the recipe card for the measurements and method…

Gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe: Ingredients

Large eggs: I used large eggs in this recipe, so just for replication’s sake, I’d recommend you do the same! Eggs give the sponge pudding a fluffier, more pudding-like texture.
Light brown sugar: Unlike caster sugar which has a more neutral flavour, light brown sugar has a little natural molasses that add an almost caramelised flavour.
Butter: Make sure it’s softened and ready to go – you can also use Stork hard margarine for this if you’re dairy-free too.
Gluten-free self-raising flour: This has a little added baking powder in it for an extra rise and a touch of xanthan gum too for binding. I used FREEE (Dove’s Farm) gluten-free flour blend for this one.
Cocoa powder: The easy way to an instant, chocolatey flavour.
Bicarbonate of soda: As we want the pudding to be lovely and light (not with a tight crumb like a sponge cake), bicarb is stronger than baking powder and a little goes a long way in that respect.
Gluten-free baking powder: But even though the bicarb does pretty much the same thing here, you can’t beat a little more baking powder for luck!
Golden syrup: Golden syrup has a natural ‘buttery’ taste, which works so well to bring an extra dimension of flavour to this humble sponge pud.
Milk: This also helps the pudding stay lovely and fluffy once baked.
Double cream: Feel free to use all double cream in the sauce, or use half milk, half double cream – it’s up to you. Use a dairy-free alternative if necessary.
Milk or dark chocolate: Even if you’re not a huge fan of dark chocolate, remember that you’ll have the cream/milk to balance it out in the sauce. I went for dark!

So I thought I’d kick things off with a little frequently asked questions section – if you just want the recipe, then keep scrolling.

But I’ve thrown in some tips here that will be really helpful if this is your first time making this, or you want to adapt it. So here they are!

Gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe: Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make this recipe gluten-free? Is it suitable for Coeliacs?

It is gluten-free, though nobody would know just by tasting it – trust me!

Bear in mind that minimising cross-contamination is hugely important if you’re Coeliac or making this for someone who is. Here’s some tips from Coeliac UK on minimising the risk of cross contamination:

Also, make sure that all ingredients used don’t have any gluten-containing ingredients. Then make sure that they also don’t have a ‘may contain’ warning for gluten, wheat, rye, barley, oats (which aren’t gf), spelt and khorasan wheat (aka Kamut).

Here’s some more info from Coeliac UK on identifying safe gluten-free products.

Can I make your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe dairy free?

Of course you can – and this recipe is actually really simple to make dairy free with a few simple swaps.

For the pudding itself: simply substitute butter and milk for any kind of dairy-free margarine and dairy-free milk.
For the chocolate sauce: simply use dairy-free milk again, any kind of dairy-free cream instead of regular cream and dairy-free chocolate.
Serve up with dairy-free ice cream if you fancy!

Can I make your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe vegan?

Yep! If you follow the instructions above to make this recipe dairy free, then all you’ve got left to contend with is the eggs.

Here’s a few ideas you can use as egg replacements, so each of these = 1 egg.

3 tablespoons of aquafaba (whisked until frothy) – water from a can of chickpeas. Keep the chickpeas for a future dinner!
Egg replacement powder – I’d recommend using Orgran as it’s gluten-free.
1 tablespoon of chia/flax seeds mixed with 2 tablespoons of water and left for 10 minutes in the fridge.
3 tablespoons of applesauce.

I haven’t tested all of these egg alternatives so let me know how you get on in the comments below this post.

Is your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe nut-free?

Yep, this is a nut-free recipe as far as ingredients go, BUT make sure you check the ingredients label on ALL the products you use to bake this cake just to be safe.

Even if the products don’t contain nuts, they may have a ‘may contain nuts’ warning due to being produced in a factory that handles nuts.

You can never be too careful so always read the labels on everything first!

Can I make your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding in a food processor or standing mixer?

Of course you can. However, I don’t use a standing mixer or food processor to make the cake mixture personally – I use an electric whisk.

(here’s a link to the electric whisk I use)

I prefer an electric whisk because there isn’t particularly long periods of mixing required here, so a food processor or stand mixer feel a little overkill.

Can I make your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe by hand?

You can of course, bake this without any assistance from any appliance – just a good ol’ fashioned hand whisk will do.

Just make sure you give it a lot of welly, otherwise your mixture won’t be consistent and might not bake properly.

Do I need any special equipment to bake your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe?

The only thing you’ll need is a baking tin that’ll fit a traybake-style pudding. Here’s a link to the one I use – it’s 11 inches by 7 inches (28cm x 18cm).

Can I bake this using the all-in-one method?

In case you didn’t already know, the all-in-one method involves bunging all your sponge ingredients into a bowl at once and mixing them together. That’s instead of adding them gradually.

This is one of those recipes that isn’t far off using an all-in-one method with one caveat: please make sure that you add the milk gradually!

There’s more ingredients in the pudding part of this bake than there is with a regular sponge cake. And as you might know already, the more ingredients, the more important that consistent mixing becomes.

You certainly don’t want lumpy cake batter, or any unmixed parts – gradually adding in the milk whilst mixing is a really easy way to avoid this.

Does this recipe need xanthan gum?

Nope. You’ll see xanthan gum in a lot of my recipes as it’s an essential ingredient in gluten-free baking.

Without gluten to bind the cake together, you can be left with a very loose and crumbly cake texture which is far from ideal. So why isn’t there any in this recipe?

With this recipe, as we’re using gluten-free self-raising flour, you’ll find that it already has a little xanthan gum in it already. So there’s no need to add an extra for this one, I’ve found.

Do I need weighing scales to bake your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe?

In short… yes, yes and yes! And I wouldn’t advise attempting any of my recipes without them.

A lot of work went into fine tuning ratios and quantities and for me, baking is all about consistency and precision. I want you to make this recipe and for it to turn out EXACTLY like mine did.

I’d recommending using digital cooking scales like these so you know you’re getting an accurate measurement and replicating my recipe as accurately as poss.

Can I bake your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe with less sugar / without sugar?

I can definitely understand the need to reduce sugar in our foods, but this is one of the recipes where I wouldn’t advise it. With sugar and golden syrup, all you’d have left would be a dry pudding!

Of course, the sugar isn’t just for sweetness – it’s integral to the structure of the cake once baked and is super important. This bake won’t function without sugar!

How long can I keep your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding for?

I’ve kept my gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding for 3-5 days in an air-tight container with no problems. I also keep the sauce separately in an airtight container as well.

If you need to keep it any longer than that, I’d highly recommend freezing it (see advice below for doing that)

When the sponge starts getting a little dry, it’s probably starting to get past its best.

Can I freeze your gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding?

Of course! I’ve frozen it for up to 2-3 months no problem. Ideally, freeze the sauce and the pudding separately and slice it up first before freezing. Then, you can easily defrost a few slices at a time instead of the entire thing.

When you want to eat it, each slice should take around 3 hours to defrost at room temperature. Once the sauce has defrosted, simply heat it up in the microwave or on the hob until hot and gently bubbling.

You can also reheat the sponge pudding in the microwave for a minute or two as well.

Gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe: Method

Oh and here’s a printable version of my gluten-free hot chocolate sponge pudding recipe. Please remember to give it 5 stars if you tried it and enjoyed it as it helps people know it’s worth trying too! ⭐️