Chocolate self-saucing puddings are simple, quick, and delicious desserts made by combining chocolate cake batter and chocolate sauce. When baked, the chocolate sauce seeps to the bottom, making the pudding separate into a moist, fluffy sponge layer on top and a glistening chocolate sauce layer underneath.
Comforting and rich with a gorgeously velvety sauce that oozes out when you dig in, chocolate self-saucing puddings are magic in a bowl. A moist and fluffy chocolate cake sits atop a silky smooth, shiny chocolate sauce, transforming into this phenomenon on its own when baked!
Preparing this chocolate lover’s dream takes no more than an hour and simple ingredients that you probably already have lying around in the pantry.
Just as much of a hit at my dinner parties as it is on a cosy winter evening when I’m curled up with a good book, chocolate self-saucing puddings are an excellent addition to the family recipe book.
Here’s how you can whip up this pudding at home.
Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding Recipe
Equipment
- Baking Dish
- Dessert spoon
- Balloon whisk
- Eelectric beater
- Spatula
Ingredients
For The Batter
- 25 grams Unsweetened cocoa powder
- 130 grams Plain/all-purpose flour, sifted
- 100 grams Brown sugar, compact/packed weight
- 1 large Egg
- 2 teaspoons Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 57 grams Melted unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing your dish
- A pinch of salt
- 125 ml Milk
For The Sauce
- 100 grams Brown sugar, packed weight
- 250 ML Boiling water
- 25 grams Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Creme Anglaise or vanilla ice cream when you’re ready to serve.
Method
The Cake
- Start by preheating your oven to 160℃. Grease an 8-inch baking dish with butter.
- Combine the cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Use a whisk to combine well.
- Beat together the sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract, and egg in a separate bowl.
- Now, add half your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients, mixing well and using half the milk to smoothen the mixture. Repeat until all your wet and dry ingredients are mixed well. Dry, mix, milk, repeat!
- Pour the whole thing into your greased baking dish.
The Sauce
- Mix the sugar and cocoa powder and sprinkle this evenly over your cake batter.
- Hold an upturned dessert spoon in one hand and slowly pour boiling water over it (be careful that it doesn’t splash on you)—the spoon helps you dribble the water evenly over the cake and also prevents the water from creating holes in the batter. Instead, it just sits as a separate layer before soaking through.
Baking The Pudding
- Put the pudding into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Once cooked, let the pudding sit for about 5-7 minutes, and then, serve it with ice cream or custard.
- When mixing your wet and dry ingredients, do so gently. Overmixing will take all the air out of the mixture, resulting in a dense sponge instead of a light, fluffy one.
- When mixing just your wet ingredients, beat the sugar and butter first, turning it into a smooth paste, before adding the vanilla and egg. The ingredients may not combine well if you add everything all at once.
Letting the pudding sit will help it cool down a bit and also give the sauce some time to thicken. - To check whether your pudding is done, insert a toothpick into the top couple of centimetres (going deeper will hit the sauce). On pulling it out, the toothpick should be dry, or with no more than a couple of crumbs stuck to it. Another sign that your pudding is done is a dry top.
- I use melted butter because it not only keeps the cake moist but also dissolves the sugar and ensures a better mix, instead of having to cream the sugar and butter first.
FAQ
Can You Store Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding?
Though it’s best eaten fresh and hot, chocolate self-saucing pudding can be covered in plastic wrap and stored in the fridge for three or four days. Reheat in the microwave or oven before eating.
Summing Up
You can hardly go wrong with chocolate, especially when it’s in the form of a self-saucing pudding! Try out this insanely simple but ridiculously delicious dessert at home, whether you need a simple-yet-fancy finish to an elegant dinner or you’re just craving comfort in a bowl.
