Chocolate self-saucing pudding is the OG of self-saucing puds.
The addition of poached pears gives a simple dessert a posh makeover and a great option for when you have friends around.
1 cup flour
2½ tsp baking powder
¼ cup caster sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
pinch of salt
½ cup milk
50 g butter, melted
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
1½ cups boiling water
Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, cocoa and salt in a bowl.
In a separate bowl or jug, whisk together the milk, butter, egg and vanilla. Pour this into the flour mixture and combined to form a thick batter.
Spread into a greased baking 1.5 litre baking dish. Press the poached pears on top.
Mix brown sugar and cocoa powder together, and sprinkle over the batter.
Carefully pour the boiling water over the back of a dessert spoon all over the top of the pudding.
Bake at 175°C for 30 minutes, or until the top of the pudding springs back when poked lightly.
Remove from oven, stand for just a few minutes (no more!), then serve with cream or ice cream.
Poached Pears
Poach the pears the day before and allow to cool. Don’t throw away the poaching liquid you can reuse this to poach more.
You can also add aromatics to the poaching liquid, from a cinnamon quill to fresh ginger. I sometimes replace the half the water with elderflower cordial. If you do this reduce the sugar by half.
4 pears
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
Peel, halve and core the pears. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the pears to the syrup, cover with a cartouche, which is a fancy name for a lid made from baking paper. No need to go to too much trouble here, simply tear off a piece of baking paper, scrunch it into a ball then unfold enough to fit inside the pot. This will keep the pears from popping up above the water and keep some of the steam in.
Simmer the pears until tender. This will take between 10–20 minutes depending on your pears and how firm they were to begin with.
Allow the pears to cool in the syrup.
