Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

To create our delicious chocolate sauce, we pour hot water over the cake batter before it goes in the oven. This might seem counterintuitive, but the water sinks during the baking, turning into a silky chocolate sauce which sits underneath the fluffy cake. Divine!

Ingredients

-1 people+

Metric

Method

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 160°C fan / 350°F and grease a 26cm x 20cm (10” x 8”) deep cake tin or dish with butter.

   
2. 2

   Combine the ground flaxseed with 2 tablespoons of water in a small bowl and leave to one side. This is your flax egg.

   
3. 3

   Add the flour, baking powder, sugar and cocoa powder to a large mixing bowl. Mix well with a whisk to remove and clumps of flour or cocoa powder, then add the melted butter, milk, vanilla extract and the flax egg from earlier. Stir gently with a spatula or wooden spoon until the batter is smooth, then gently fold in the chopped chocolate.

   
4. 4

   Pour the cake batter into the tin and smooth the top of the batter. Next combine the remaining sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl, then sprinkle it over the top of the cake batter.

   
5. 5

   Finally, pour 300ml (1.25 cups) of hot water from a kettle onto the back of a spoon and evenly over the top of the pudding. Using the back of a spoon helps to distribute the water more evenly so you don’t end up with puddles of water.

   
6. 6

   Carefully add the tin to the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Note: don’t push the toothpick all the way to the bottom because it will reach the runny chocolate sauce! Leave to sit for 3-5 minutes, then dust with cocoa powder, before scooping and serving with ice cream.