What could be better than a warm and gooey self-saucing chocolate pudding over the festive period? I know I had you at self-saucing pudding, but there is in fact one thing better: a chocolate orange self-saucing pudding.
The combination of chocolate and orange is a flavour that evokes festive memories for me, and it is one of my family’s favourites. Every year as children, my siblings and I received a delicious sphere of milk chocolate orange in our stockings on Christmas morning. The snap and click of each silky chocolate segment was so satisfying that we had devoured them before we had even sat down to breakfast.
Winning combination
Chocolate and orange are a winning combination in any shape or form. This week, I am putting these flavours together to create a simple all-in-one pudding that can easily be pulled together if you need a dish in a hurry to feed a group. This dish is a good one to have in the back pocket should you need a simple but comforting dessert when you know you’ll have a few mouths to feed. A simple mix of basic store cupboard ingredients turns an easy cake mix into an impressive, gooey, melting dessert that is easy to put together and easier still to dish up.
The self-saucing part really is wondrous. While this particular technique isn’t new, I almost gasp every time I make it. The secret? Once the pudding mix is in your baking dish, a mixture of boiling water, cocoa powder and brown sugar is poured on top. In the oven, this cocoa syrup seeps to the bottom of the dish, creating a luscious chocolate sauce, while the sponge bakes on top.
Once baked, the dish comes out of the oven looking like a simple chocolate sponge pudding, but once you dig in with a spoon, a layer of rich, shiny chocolate sauce has magically pooled to the bottom of the dish.
The addition of orange zest, orange juice and Cointreau or Grand Marnier orange liqueur really take this dish up a notch, taking it from a simple, gooey (but very delicious) chocolate pudding to a wonderful chocolate orange festive delight.
Throw it in the oven and 40 minutes later you’ve got a perfect pud to feed a crowd. Get everyone to help themselves and serve it warm with cold cream or your favourite ice-cream.
