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Prep Time: 30 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes |
Ready In: 60 Minutes Servings: 6 |
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You can prepare this desert up to two days ahead of time, and then just finish it off minutes before you want to serve it. It is an outstanding end to a dinner party but it is very rich, so you can make the portions fairly small. A little goes a long way! Ingredients:
1 pint double cream |
1 vanilla pod, split |
11 ounces plain dark chocolate |
4 medium eggs, yolks only |
2 ounces icing sugar, sifted |
3 tablespoons caster sugar |
Directions:
1. In a heavy pan, heat the cream with the vanilla pod until quite hot but don't let it boil. You can also use a teaspoon of vanilla, if you don't have a vanilla pod. In this case, you can skip step two.
2. Take the pan off the heat and leave the milk to infuse with the vanilla for 15 minutes. Remove the pod and scrape the seeds into the cream with the tip of a knife.
3. Break up the chocolate and stir into the cream until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
4. Put the egg yolks and icing sugar into a bowl and beat until well blended.
5. Stir this mixture into the chocolate cream and then pour into individual oven-proof dishes. I use quite small ramekins, so I get six servings, but if you use bigger bowls you may only get four.
6. Stand the puddings in a bain-marie (I use a large roasting pan filled with hot water) and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 C or 350 F for 30 minutes until firm.
7. Remove and cool in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
8. Just before you are ready to serve, sprinkle the caster sugar over the top of each pudding and put under a hot grill to caramelise.
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