Spiced Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding

Warm, baked and ooey-gooey chocolate...another winter dessert winner!

I'm here to test out the theory that things are always better if you just add chocolate. In this case, the humble bread and butter pudding - a far better use for stale bread than making boring croutons I think. And it's another perfect dessert to add to your winter food arsenal!

I admit I've always been funny with 'soggy' foods. Cooked oats, Weetbix, mushy cereal and of course the thought of soggy bread in b+b pudding have always made me slightly uncomfortable. But slowly I'm starting to change my tune about this classic British dessert, which has been glammed up this time round with lashing of chocolate, spices and a tipple of alcohol.

Now preparing this dish and seeing the slices of bread all squidgey and soaked in the chocolate custard certainly didn't help my aversion but that went away once it was in the oven. The smell of baked chocolate is always heavenly and a mere bite of the crusty pudding exterior with the warm chocolate gooeyness of the insides was enough to make me forget about my soggy bread syndrome.

Fresh out of the oven

You must begin this dessert a day or two ahead as the bread needs to soak in its chocolate bath for at least 24 hours. Two days is even better to ensure each bread crumb is coated for maximum chocolatey goodness. Not enough indulgence? Spread the bread with nutella instead of butter. In fact I might just do that everytime from now on because there's no such thing as too much chocolate. Want to take it down a notch? Then feel free to omit the butter and Nutella and just let the chocolate custard do all the talking.

Now believe me when I say that this tastes better with the alcohol but obviously I understand if you have to leave it out because children will be involved in its demolition. Alternatively if rum isn't your thing, you could replace it with a port (like a raisiny muscat) or Pedro Ximenez sherry.

So back to that prime theory...everything made better with chocolate? Hell. Yes.

This pudding soaked for just under 24hrs and as you can see, not every breadcrumb was chocolatised (made up a word...snap!)


Ingredients

(serves 4)

about 12 slices of Spiced Fruit Loaf or Raisin Bread - you'll need just enough bread to cover your dish with two layers
butter/nutella (optional)
110gm caster sugar
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
425ml pouring cream
200gm dark chocolate - chopped
75gm butter - chopped
4 Tbl (60ml) of dark rum / Pedro Ximenez Sherry
3 eggs

Method

(Begin a day or two ahead)

Lightly grease a shallow baking dish (I used a rectangular 26 x 17cm casserole dish).

Cut the crusts off your bread slices and halve into 2 triangles. If you wish, spread the bread triangles with butter or nutella on one side.

In a bowl over a pot of low simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the hot water), add in the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cream, chocolate, butter and alcohol. Stir until chocolate and butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Take the bowl off the heat and give it a good stir to make sure it's all mixed together.

In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, then add the chocolate mixture and give it a good whisk to mix.

Spoon some chocolate custard in the baking dish to make a 1cm pool of chocolate. Layer half the bread triangles, overlapping each other to cover the base.

Spoon half of the remaining chocolate mixture over the bread as evenly as you can. Place the remaining bread to make a second layer then pour the last half of the chocolate mixture over the top trying to cover the bread as well as you can.

With a fork, press down on the bread to make sure that all of it is soaked into the chocolate. Cover the baking dish in clingwrap and rest at room temperature for about two hours, while it cools down. Then place in the fridge for at least 24 hours and (preferably) up to 48.

To serve

Preheat oven to 180°C. Remove the clingwrap and bake for 30-35 minutes. The top of the pudding should be toasty and crusty but still soft and a little gooey in the middle.

Dust over with icing sugar and serve it warm with a dollop of double cream or a cascade of good custard.

It didn't take long for The Captain to get into it!