For me recipes, especially desserts, have to be quick and easy … and it doesn’t get much easier than this mocha self-saucing pudding. This is a grown-up pudding with a hearty shot of coffee in it to balances the sweetness – use boiling water instead if you prefer a sweeter version. Dutch-process (or Dutched) cocoa has a smoother, less acidic taste and richer colour than other cocoa; as the name suggests, the process was developed in The Netherlands. It’s widely available and sometimes also labelled alkalised or European-style. I love Country Valley cream with this pudding as it’s naturally quite thick but still pourable. The high fat and sugar content in chocolate makes it notoriously difficult to match with most wine styles – except for fortifieds. So for me the classic match for this mocha self-saucing pudding is a PX Sherry, such as Sanchez Romate Cardenal Cisneros Pedro Ximénez.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- ⅓ cup castor sugar
- ⅓ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- ½ cup milk
- 1 egg
- 60g butter, melted, plus extra for buttering
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 x 80ml shots hot strong espresso coffee
- Icing sugar, for dusting
- Cream, for serving
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Sift flour, castor sugar and half the cocoa into a bowl.
- Whisk egg and milk together, pour into flour mixture with melted butter and beat to form a smooth batter.
- Pour into 4 buttered 300ml ovenproof containers.
- Combine brown sugar and remaining cocoa, rubbing it together to break up any lumps and mix well.
- Scatter brown sugar mixture evenly over the batter.
- Gently pour a shot of espresso over the top of the brown sugar mixture.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is firm to the touch.
- Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream.
