Most recipes, if you dig, come with a story.
It was someone’s favourite. Something your mum made every Christmas. Something that appeared on a friend’s dinner table. Something you made over and over until it was perfect for you, exactly how you liked it. That’s this pudding. Tweaked and made so many times it’s precisely the pudding I want to eat.
I have a deep respect for pudding. The way it glistens. It’s ability to save a bad day (honestly, it’s a good day that can be saved by pudding). The way it typically cannot be neatly served up but requires happy digging, and spoonfuls, and sharing, and is great hot and fresh, topped with ice cream but somehow still excellent cold, stolen by the spoonful from the fridge.
When I first met my husband Adam 30 years ago, I made him this chocolate self-saucing pudding. I had already made it countless times, it wasn’t my performance dessert, it was a cosy second-date dessert for a casual dinner at home; look I can cook! You’re really handsome and interesting and funny and here’s a delicious pudding! I hope you fall in love with me! You get it. It totally worked, here we are and as my beloved Nan used to say when something went particularly well: whacko!
Adam said he loved the pudding and so obviously I made it again. And again. And sometime after we were married (that would be SIX years later and heaven knows how many puddings) he confessed that he really didn’t like chocolate self-saucing pudding. Any of them. Not to be misinterpreted, he totally loves me, and seriously appreciates being cooked for, he just prefers cheese and olives.
It took me almost as long to admit that I didn’t love gerberas, the first flower Adam bought me by the bunch when he misremembered my favourite flower, gardenias. I gushed over them, obviously, and so gerberas it was for many years. Ultimately I planted gardenias and Adam became a cheesemaker. All the tricks to a long and happy marriage, right?
And so here it is, my favourite pudding. Make it for your beloved. Maybe they’ll just pretend to love it because they adore you. In which case there will definitely be leftovers in the fridge. Whacko!
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
100 g butter
225 g (1 ½ cups) Self-raising Flour
230 g (1 cup) caster sugar
80 g (⅔ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
250 ml (1 cup) milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
230 g (1 cup, firmly packed) Brown Sugar
500ml (2 cups) boiling water
Microwave method
Place the butter in a microwave-safe pie dish and melt in the microwave. Stir in the sifted flour, sugar, half the cocoa powder and a pinch of salt, then the milk and vanilla, and beat until smooth. Combine the brown sugar and remaining cocoa powder and sift over the top of the batter. Pour the boiling water over the top and cook on high for 12 minutes, or until just cooked in the centre. Stand for a few minutes before serving because it will be piping hot. Delightful with ice cream.
Oven method
Preheat your oven to 170°C (340°F) and grease a pie dish.
In a saucepan, melt your butter. Over the butter, sift in the flour, sugar, half the cocoa powder and a pinch of salt, and stir well to combine, then stir in the milk and vanilla. Scrape into a greased pie dish. Combine the brown sugar and remaining cocoa powder and sift over the top of the batter. Pour the boiling water over the top. Bake for 20 minutes, or until just cooked in the centre.
Recipe adapted from Fiona’s book “From Scratch” published by Hardie Grant 2022, photography by Alan Benson