The ultimate molten chocolate pudding

The Ultimate Molten Chocolate Pudding

Molten chocolate pudding is in my opinion the absolute King of puddings.  Chocolate Lava Cake, Chocolate Fondant or self saucing pudding.  It doesn’t matter what you call them, the combination of chocolate sponge that yields to rich oozing melted chocolate in the middle is pudding gold.  I have yet to meet anyone, even devout chocolate haters (apparently they do exist) that don’t wolf these down.

The Recipe

The recipe I use is from the Marcus Wareing book “How to Cook”   I highly recommend it by the way, as every recipe is a winner.

The volumes specified in the book are too small for my standard small pudding bowls, which seem wider than the ones Marcus uses.  This makes my puddings look wide and flat, and definitely missing the wow factor.  So I’ve scaled up the recipe for our more generous portions.

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 5 additional egg yolks
• 300g caster sugar
• 225g good quality dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa solids)
• 225g softened butter
• 115g sifted flour

You will also need little metal pots or pudding bowls, grease proof paper and additional melted butter for lining them.Unfortunately the faff part of making these I find is prepping the pots to cook them with. The good news is they can be prepared in advance, and kept in the fridge for a few days.

Lining the Pots

I’m not going to lie this is a bit of a pain. Please could someone invent an easier way of lining tiny pots.  However I only make these puds for high days and holidays, so they become more of a treat.

To line the pots:  Cut a little disc the size of the bottom for each pot, and two strips about the same depth of the pots.Melt a little butter to stick them on.I’m a bit sad, as I find repetitive tasks like this quite satisfying.
The actual recipe for the molten chocolate puddings could not be easier.  Its a combination of only 5 ingredients – largely thrown in a bowl and whisked together.

Method:

Once your pots are lined, the first thing to do is separate the eggs. Don’t throw the egg whites away.  You can keep them in the fridge for a few days (and allegedly you can freeze them, though I’ve never tried)….or use them to make my ultimate fool proof meringues. 

Melt the Chocolate

Next melt the chocolate and butter gently  (I like to melt using the microwave on low. But use whatever method suits you best).  Ibreak the chocolate into small pieces, and melt on a low heat for bursts of 30-60 seconds. I remove from the microwave and stir frequently. When the chocolate is about 70% melted, I add the butter.  The residual heat from the melted chocolate melts the butter and remaining chocolate pieces without over heating it. Return to the microwave if you need to until the butter and chocolate are completely melted.  If you don’t have a microwave, use a bain marie.  Set aside the chocolate butter mix to cool slightly. While the chocolate is cooling, whisk the whole eggs in a bowl until light and fluffy.  Add the additional egg yolks, sugar and whisk further. Add the cooled chocolate and butter to the mix.Finally add the sifted flour and combine gently.

Filling the pots

To fill the pots with equal quantities without making a huge mess, decant the mixture into a jug for pouring.  Then fill the pots on a set of scales.  For these I filled 90g, as that was perfect for the size of my pots.  Once all are filled, leave in the fridge until ready to serve.  They should be refrigerated for at least 3-4 hours.

To Serve

When you are ready to serve, Heat your oven to 180C and place the tray in the oven.

After 12 minutes take them out, and leave them to stand for at least 5 minutes.  This gives them a chance to firm up without danger of over cooking the inside.

Don’t be tempted to miss out this resting step.  The cakes are quite fragile at this stage – whenever I’ve rushed them (ie Ive been too drunk) they have punctured over the plate.  Still as delicious, but they don’t look as fabulous, and guests don’t get the nice surprise of the fudge inside oozing out when they put their spoon in.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream and a few berries.