I am quite surprised that I have stuck to my Monday Munchies, in sickness and in health, and today I am officially half way through the year. Which is both exciting and scary.
Today I have cooked Nigella's Chocolate Raspberry Pudding Cake. Back when I could eat chocolate and drink coffee this was one of my favourite desserts. What could be better than chocolate and raspberries?? This is also easy-peasy lemon-squeezy: melt and mix and pour into the tin, but it is very impressive. This recipe is from the Delicious Let's Entertain book which I won, with a recipe, from the ABC.
- 250g good dark chocolate, broken into chunks
- 3/4 cup espresso coffee plus 3/4 cup water OR 370ml hot water and 2 tspn instant coffee
- 250g butter, cubed
- 95g light brown sugar
- 95g caster sugar
- optional-2 tbspn Raspberry liqueur
- 185g self raising flour, sifted
- 3 tbspn cocoa, sifted
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 250g raspberries
Preheat the oven to 180*C then grease and line a 22-23cm springform pan and then cover the outside with a layer or two of foil.
Put the chocolate, coffee/water, butter, sugars [and liqueur if using it] into a medium saucepan and melt slowly over a low eat. Stir frequently, if not all the time, till it is melted and glossy.
Stir in the flour and cocoa and then the eggs. Beat well by hand till it is smooth and glossy again. It will be quite runny, but Nigella says that as the chocolate in the pudding cake cools, it will set.
Pour 2 cm of the chocolate mixture into the pan and then pour in the raspberries and then cover with the remaining chocolate mixture. Push any raspberries that pop up back under the batter.
Place in the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes. I like to put it into another pan and add 2 cm of boiling water around the outside, bain-marie style, to help it cook more slowly and gently. That's optional.
After 40-45 minutes you can tell it is cooked when the top is firm all the way to the centre, and dry and slightly cracked. You can't test with a skewer!! It will be very fudgy in the centre.
Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then turn out and dust with cocoa or icing sugar. Serve with yoghurt(!!) or whipped cream. Good hot, warm and cold.
