This was one of our family's favorite desserts when I was growing up (pre-microwave ovens). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8" or 9" square pan. Pour batter into prepared pan, spread cocoa/brown sugar mixture over batter, and boiling water over all. Bake for 45 mins. Makes 9 servings. We would increase the "sauce" ingredients (brown sugar/cocoa/boiling water) by another half or more, to make more sauce. We would serve it with vanilla ice cream and the additional sauce on top. It was always better the second day, so if you can, bake it the day before, refrigerate it overnight, and reheat it covered with foil.

I did not care for this recipe. in the end it was pudding, nowhere near the consistency of a cake. I followed the recipe to a T. I am an expert cook and baker, so I would know. I had a bad feeling about things when the recipe asked to pour the boiling water over everythings and not mix it. But I went ahead with it. What an icky sweet mess in the end. It tasted pretty good, but even for a pudding, it had a lot of tiny lumps. I do not recommend even trying to fix this recipe. It is a waste of good ingredients.

Not bad, but I prefer the same recipe cooked in a slow cooker or oven, which makes it less rubbery.

Well, all I can say is that cakes are not meant to be cooked in the microwave. It tasted kind of like a bad pudding cake that improves slightly with vanilla ice cream. I could taste and smell the flour quite well. Sorry - too good to be true. Good cakes take longer than 9 minutes to cook and certainly need the oven touch.

Easy to make. Very rich and delicious. I used Splenda instead of the white sugar and it was still excellent!