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You are here: Home / Recipes / Baking (sweet) / Self-saucing chocolate cherry puddings

Self-saucing chocolate cherry puddings

by Jeanne Horak on March 28, 2012 22 Comments in Baking (sweet), Dessert, Monthly Mingle, Recipes

So – who can tell me what a Trojan horse is?  This is one of those questions that shows your age, I’m afraid.  If you are of a certain age (ahem!) you will tell me about how the Greeks besieged the city of Troy but despite their efforts, nothing seemed to be able to break the spirit of the Trojans or breach their defences.  So instead of continuing with fruitless siege, they built a large and beautiful wooden horse which they dragged to the city gates and then retreated to their ships and sailed away.  The Trojans watched from the ramparts in bemusement, and when it seemed that all the Greeks were gone, they cautiously opened the city gates and wheeled the horse inside.  Unfortunately for them, the horse concealed a detachment of Greek soldiers who snuck out in the dead of night, opened the city gates for the rest of the Greek forces who had sailed surreptitiously back and Troy was defeated.  Which goes to show that it is always advisable to look a gift horse in the mouth!!

If you are of a younger vintage, you will probably tell me that a Trojan horse is a kind of computer virus – specifically, a stand-alone malicious program disguised as something harmless (a video of dancing pigs, for example) and inviting the user to download it, but designed to give full control of infected PC to another PC – usually a hacker’s.  Trojan horses can make copies of themselves, steal information, or harm their host computer systems – but if they sound appealing enough, users will persist in downloading them.  As US computer security expert Bruce Schneider said:

“If Mr J Random Websurfer clicks on a button that promises dancing pigs on his computer monitor, and instead gets a hortatory message describing the potential dangers of the applet — he’s going to choose dancing pigs over computer security any day. If the computer prompts him with a warning screen like: “The applet DANCING PIGS could contain malicious code that might do permanent damage to your computer, steal your life’s savings, and impair your ability to have children,” he’ll click OK without even reading it. Thirty seconds later he won’t even remember that the warning screen even existed.“

So it seems we have really made much progress since the wooden horse, really!

 

Cherries

I like to think of these little puddings as culinary Trojan horses.  They don’t promise dancing pigs (well, eat enough of them and you may start looking like a little piggy!) but they certainly conceal their true nature.  When I recently made them, a guest wandered into the kitchen, sniffed the air and said “oooh, chocolate brownies?”.  I suggested he look in the oven to see what I was really making – and his response after careful examination was “umm, really big round brownies?”.  And yes, unadorned to the untrained eye, I guess these babies do  look like big brownies trying to excape their ramekins.  But to assume this would be to underestimate what lurks beneath.  You see, these not boring old brownies.  In fact they disguise not only a chocolatey alcoholic sauce in their depths, but also hidden pockets of cherry deliciousness.

Fresh cherries are probably one of my all-time favourite indulgences.  I remember my mom and I buying am outrageously expensive bag of them on holiday one year and managing to devour the entire bag in the car before we even got back to our rented holiday house and the dilema of sharing them with the rest of the family.  I also remember last summer walking through Portobello Road market with a friend, eating cherries as big as small apricots out of a brown paper bag, congratulating ourselves with each mouthful with as much pride as if we had actually grown the cherries ourselves, rather than just bought them.  So when I found out that the theme for this month’s Monthly Mingle, the event created by my sister-from-another-mother Meeta and hosted this month by the lovely Melecotte was Berries and Cherries, I knew I had to enter.  I have made a number of cherry desserts over the years (cherry millefeuille, chocolate and wild cherry clafoutis, and cherry pavlova shots) but I had never really done a riff on the basic Black Forest cake ingredients (chocolate, cherries, cream and kirsch).  If the weather were warmer I might have made my black forest trifle, but it was still chilly a couple of weekends ago, so this recipe from the lovely Raspberri Cupcakes blog seemed far more appropriate.  And despite their hidden secrets, these babies won’t take control of your hard drive or lay waste to your cities, just your willlpower 🙂

 

Looking for more baked puddings from other bloggers? Try:

  • Sarah’s sticky toffee date and banana puddings
  • Meeta’s chocolate espresso sponge pudding
  • Michelle’s baked rice pudding

 

 

 

ChocCherryPudFinal

SELF-SAUCING CHOCOLATE CHERRY PUDDINGS (serves 4-6)
(recipe from Raspberri Cupcakes)

Ingredients:

FOR THE BATTER:
125g plain flour
60g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
1 egg
1/2 cup cherries from a tin or jar, drained
1/3 cup milk
40g butter, melted
a few drops of vanilla essence (I used Nielsen Massey)

FOR THE SAUCE:
180g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
190ml boiling water
60ml Kirsch (cherry  brandy)

Extra cherries and whipped cream to serve

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C.  Grease four large ramekins (250ml capacity) with butter (or a 20cm square cake tin, or 6 medium ramekins).

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, butter, vanilla and egg. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix to combine before folding in the cherries. Divide the mixture evenly between the greased ramekins.

Mix the brown sugar and cocoa powder and sprinkle an equal amount over the top of the pudding mixture in each ramekin.  Mix the water and Kirsch together and pour equal amounts over each ramekin – make sure there is space to spare in your ramekins as there is quite a lot of liquid, plus the puddings rise while baking!

Place the ramekins carefully on a baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 mins, or until the puddings are firm to the touch and the sauce is bubbling around the edges. Cook time will be a little longer (40-45 mins) if you are using a single cake tin but do NOT overcook as all the delicious sauce will be absorbed by the pudding batter!  Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes, then serve warm topped with whipped cream and cherries.

Note:

Next time I might try to get more organised and macerate the cherries in the kirsch overnight before adding them to the batter.

 

P2P_badge-SomersetAnd finally, are you a writer or photographer who feels stuck in a creative rut?  Want to take your writing and photographs to the next level but need some extra inspiration?  Then sign up now for the last couple of places on Plate to Page, the hands-on weekend workshop that Meeta, Ilva and Jamie and I are running in the gorgeous Somerset countryside on 18-21 May! Here is what participants said about our previous workshop. If this sounds like something you want to be a part of, sign up here!

 

 

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  1. Helene Dsouza I Masala Herb says

    March 28, 2012 at 8:13 am

    Hi Jeanne!
    I love cherries too, in fact I wasnt able to taste a cherry in 4 years! imagine that! I am longing for your cherry pudding right now, they look very delicious.
    I wish I could participate in your plate page weekend workshop. jamie had told me about the event but unfortunatly Sommerset is a bit toooo far for me. I ll be surely checking out the pictures and posts of the event online later on!

    Reply
  2. Corina says

    March 28, 2012 at 8:50 am

    These look gorgeous. I haven’t had black forest gatteau since I was a little kid and always thought of it as such a treat so I love the way you’ve taken the flavours and updated them and made them in a pudding form!

    Reply
  3. johanna says

    March 28, 2012 at 9:11 am

    mmmmhhhh i LOVE your self-saucing puds! this one is right up my alley, unfortunately, cherries DO cost and arm and a leg here… so i might either have to go with tinned or find a nice substitute… like raspberries (which cost just half an arm and half a leg) 😉

    Reply
  4. johanna says

    March 28, 2012 at 9:12 am

    only THREE more sleeps! (TEN until I see YOU) xox

    Reply
  5. Kit says

    March 28, 2012 at 9:22 am

    Ok so I’m the older generation now, wooden horse outside Troy and all.. but I have never downloaded the dancing piggies! Did I ever say that I love reading your posts for the great stories as much as the recipes!
    This sounds a wonderful pudding – roll on cherry season!

    Reply
  6. Denise says

    March 28, 2012 at 9:49 am

    I know the original story, but the first things that came to mind was – yes! – the computer virus. I love the sound and look of a seal-saucing pudding, but it gets even more perfect when you add the words chocolate and cherry. Oh my! They look delicious and so comforting…

    Reply
  7. Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

    March 28, 2012 at 11:46 am

    I think I love the idea of self saucing anything but especially cherries! Not made anything like this for a while, they’d be great for weekend puds!

    Reply
  8. Choc Chip Uru says

    March 28, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    What beautiful little serves of dessert – essentially a black forest cake but gone gooey and fudgy 😀
    Yum!
    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru
    Latest: Double Jaffa Nutella Fudge Cookie + More

    Reply
  9. Julius JoyAndFood says

    March 28, 2012 at 10:19 pm

    Hi Thank you for sharing this, this is very interesting…I love it. Best regards from Iceland

    Reply
  10. Lynn says

    March 29, 2012 at 12:26 am

    I love your analogy here Jeanne. Got a nice afternoon chuckle out of it. Did you partake with dessert wine or port?!?

    Reply
  11. Robin O. says

    March 29, 2012 at 7:04 am

    I love these cherries and chocolate. It is such a wonder that we can have cherries in March!

    Reply
  12. Firefly says

    March 29, 2012 at 7:53 am

    I just heard Homer Simpson say, “Mmmmmm, njammie…”

    Reply
  13. Rosa says

    March 29, 2012 at 10:58 am

    OMG, those must be devilishly good! A gorgeous dessert.
    Cheers,
    Rosa

    Reply
  14. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

    March 29, 2012 at 11:28 am

    Oh no, I guess I know what category I fall in now and I don’t like it one bit! lol

    Reply
  15. Lisa @ Snappy Gourmet says

    March 30, 2012 at 2:12 am

    I love individual desserts in jars/ramekins. These are adorable!

    Reply
  16. Zirkie says

    March 31, 2012 at 10:09 am

    This are looking delicious, Jeanne!! Love the comparison to a Trojan Horse!! 🙂

    Reply
  17. Eggs on the Roof says

    April 1, 2012 at 7:16 pm

    I can’t help thinking there’s a joke in the idea of a ‘self-saucing’ pudding – along the lines of the comedian who used to say ‘Sauce!’ whenever his fall guy was cheeky – but I can’t quite think what it is. But, more to the point, I adore the look of these creations, Jeanne.

    Reply
  18. Chris says

    April 2, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    This looks divine! I am so excited you’re sharing this for this month’s Mingle! Now, if I could just hop on an plane to Somerset and hang out with all of you, I would be a happy girl! 🙂 Maybe one day!

    Reply
  19. munchtalk says

    April 3, 2012 at 3:43 am

    This sounds heavenly! Not many people I know like the cherry/chocolate combination, but I adore it!! 🙂 Can’t wait to try these. Pinned this!
    http://munchtalk.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  20. Martyn Cornell says

    April 3, 2012 at 8:01 pm

    Try swapping the milk in the recipe with the same quantity of a good Belgian kriek (cherry) beer. I suspect you’ll end up with an even lighter cake mix.

    Reply
  21. Ronel Martin says

    June 10, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    Substituted the cherries with frozen blueberries. Very yum. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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