I’ve always loved good old-fashioned steamed pudding. There are plenty of recipes out there, but this is the one I return to time and again.
I like to add chocolate cake crumbs to the pudding for extra flavour and texture. If you don’t want to bake a cake just for this, you can simply use shop-bought chocolate cake or even blitz a chocolate muffin instead.
Ingredients
- 80g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
- 2 medium eggs, beaten
- 30g cocoa powder
- 60g light muscovado sugar
- 100g dark chocolate, grated
- 80g chocolate cake crumbs
- 40g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
For the chocolate sauce
- 160ml single cream
- 60g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6. Grease 4 individual pudding basins or moulds, approx 8cm in diameter, with a little butter.
Using electric whisks, mix 80g melted unsalted butter with 2 beaten eggs, 30g cocoa powder, 60g light muscovado sugar and 100g grated dark chocolate in a bowl for 1-2 minutes, until well combined.
Fold in 80g chocolate cake crumbs, 40g self-raising flour and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda.
Spoon the mixture evenly into the 4 individual pudding moulds, give them a sharp tap to remove any air bubbles and smooth the tops with the back of a teaspoon. Cover tightly with foil or lids if you have them.
Place them in an ovenproof lidded pan filled with enough boiling water to come halfway up the moulds.
Cover the pan and cook in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the puddings have risen and fill the moulds – they should be springy to the touch. Alternatively you can cook these in a steamer. Remove from the oven and leave the puddings to rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat 160ml single cream over a low heat and stir in 60g broken dark chocolate until melted and combined. Take off the heat, cover and keep warm.
Carefully turn the puddings out on to serving plates. If they do not come out easily then carefully run a small knife around the edge of each one to loosen.
Pour over the chocolate sauce and serve.
