Chocolate-hazelnut self-saucing pudding

Chocolate pudding recipe

Routine cooking has its place in the kitchen, but sometimes you need a little bit of magic. In those moments, reach for this chocolate pudding recipe. Rustle it up after dinner to satisfy everyone’s sweetness cravings in one comforting hit. Just wait until you sink your spoon through the spongy top into the oozy, saucy pudding beneath.

Why is it called a self-saucing chocolate pudding? Some kinds of chocolate pudding have the same texture all the way through, such as the soft cakey texture of a steamed pudding. These puddings are usually served with a separate sauce to pour over, such as custard or pouring cream. The beauty of a self-saucing pudding is that the pudding magically separates during cooking into two layers – the top layer turns out like a cake or sponge, while the base layer becomes a thick, syrupy sauce. This all-in-one dessert means less to prep and less clean-up afterwards.

Because the sauce sits underneath the pudding, self-saucing pudding is different from the soft centred chocolate pudding recipe known as chocolate fondant, which is an individual chocolate sponge cake with a molten chocolate centre. The traditional chocolate fondant is a French restaurant dessert that’s quite challenging to make. Thankfully, this easy chocolate pudding recipe is a breeze to throw together with basic ingredients you may already have in your fridge and pantry.

You can probably make this chocolate pudding recipe right now

Check your pantry. Do you have self-raising flour, brown sugar and caster sugar? Cocoa powder? How about hazelnut spread? If you also have hazelnut meal, great, but otherwise almond meal can be used instead if you have it, and it’s easy to whizz up your own in the food processor if you have whole hazelnuts too. Now head to the fridge and get out the butter and milk, no eggs. That’s it. If you were expecting this chocolate pudding recipe to be made with real chocolate, surprise – it doesn’t need to be. Save that block of dark chocolate for your next batch of brownies.

To get ready to make this chocolate pudding recipe, turn your oven on to 180°C and get out a shallow baking dish – the capacity should be 10 cups or 2.5 litres. Put it on a baking tray to catch any drips and grease it to stop the pudding from sticking. It’s a good idea to put the kettle on now, too.

Measure and melt your butter, then mix up the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. The melted butter goes in next with the milk. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to combine them, then spoon the chocolatey mixture into the baking dish. To boost the chocolate hazelnut flavour, top with spoonfuls of the spread and swirl it with a knife to marble it through the pudding.

The trick to making a self-saucing chocolate pudding recipe

Here's where the magic happens – making a sauce that will start off on top of the pudding and finish underneath. The way you do it is to mix brown sugar and cocoa powder – do this in a heatproof jug rather than a bowl, so it’s easy to pour over the pudding. Then add boiling water and more hazelnut spread and stir to make a sauce. At this point you only have a very thin liquid, but it will thicken up in the oven and more as it cools.

Now it’s time to pour the sauce over the pudding in the dish, but do it carefully. The best technique is to hold a large metal spoon upside-down over the dish and slowly pour the liquid over the back of the spoon. This stops the sauce making holes in the pudding mixture and keeps them in even layers.

What could go wrong with this chocolate pudding recipe

The pudding’s all prepped, the sauce is on top – all you have to do is pop the tray in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. To test if it’s ready, insert a skewer into the centre – if it comes out clean, the pudding layer is cooked through. As soon as this happens, take the pudding out of the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes. If you leave it in the oven for longer, it will continue to cook and you’ll end up with a more solid pudding with less of that oozy choc-hazelnut sauce. If you serve it straight away without waiting for it to cool, the sauce will be too runny – it needs the standing time to thicken up more as it cools.

How to serve this chocolate pudding recipe

To create the look of a dark chocolate pudding recipe, dust more cocoa powder over the pudding before you serve it. Everyone knows you don’t need to bring any sauce to the table when you serve this pudding, but there is one more thing you won’t want to forget if you have it handy in the freezer, and that’s a scoop or three of cold vanilla ice cream. It’s the perfect contrast to the warm, gooey chocolate pudding.

Now get cooking

Now you know how easy it is to make this chocolate pudding recipe, you’ll want to keep it up your sleeve for whenever you need a comforting dessert. Want to try other self-saucing pudding recipes? Start with our sticky banana and malt self-saucing pudding recipe and pumpkin and caramel self-saucing pudding recipe. Looking for a chocolate fondant recipe? Our easy chocolate fondant recipe for you. How about a chocolate bread and butter pudding recipe? Our croissant pudding is layered with white choc and strawberries. Or, for a healthy chocolate chia pudding recipe, check out our vegan chocolate and mixed berry mousse. Find more must-try treats in our dessert recipes collection.