Chocolate Berry Self-Saucing Pudding

August 8th, 2024

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Berry and chocolate are a wonderful flavour match and the theme for this week’s recipe. I think of chocolate as a winter food, dense and dark, while berries bring a whisper of the warmer months. Picked fresh on hot summer days and frozen for moments like this. 

However, I have to be quick to get to the frozen berries as my children have become quite eager cooks (I have no idea where that came from?!) and go through ingredients faster than I am used to. I have come to stashing away some foods, such as homegrown frozen berries, in mislabeled bags and containers to get a look in. 

Any frozen berries can be used for the self-saucing pudding that follows. I had blackberries and raspberries so that is what I used, but any of the bramble-type berries would work well. Interestingly, I recently discovered these aren’t true berries like strawberries and blueberries but are called ‘aggregate’ fruit. Which doesn’t quite have the same ring as ‘berries’ so since we have been comfortable thus far misnaming them I think I will continue to do so.  

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More Winter Dessert Recipes on Homegrown Kitchen

• Peach & Berry Cobbler – Preserved (or canned) fruit in this cobbler brings the summer flavours to the table on these cooler nights.
• Flourless Chocolate & Prune Cake – The key is the addition of sugar to the egg whites to make a meringue.
• Pear & Hazelnut Frangipane Tart + Salted Caramel Sauce – A simple crust-less tart to have up your sleeve to pull out any time of the year using any seasonal fruit.
• Blackberry, Walnut & Meringue Pudding – Three layers of deliciousness, a tender walnut cake, a rich blackberry compote, and a light meringue.

Chocolate Berry Self-Saucing Pudding

We are not big on pudding, well at least the adults in the house aren’t, preferring to eat our sweet foods earlier in the day. However, a theme has snuck into our weekly routine where the children ask to make dessert a few times a week. My only proviso is that it is not too sweet and includes some fresh, frozen or preserved fruit. This feels like a winter routine as summer evenings are spent outside, while the long winter nights keep us cosy inside. I am happy to embrace it with memories of my own childhood visiting Nana's for dinner where there was always pudding. Although I don’t recall her making chocolate self-saucing pudding, there was more of a focus on caramel, stone fruit, apples and lemons in her kitchen. This is the result of ‘pudding’ night with the addition of some frozen homegrown berries. The chocolate and berries combine into a wonderful sweet and tart sauce that is just divine. 

Servings 4

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup (50g) sugar
• 1 free-range egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100 g melted butter
• ½ cup (125ml) milk
• 1 cup (150g) flour (can use gluten-free)
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 cup frozen berries - blackberries, raspberries or boysenberries

Chocolate sauce

• ⅓ cup (50g) packed brown sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 ½ cups (375ml) boiling water

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C). Grease a 25cm round or square oven dish. Scatter half of the frozen berries into the base of the dish.
• Prepare the Chocolate Sauce ingredients. Place the sugar, cocoa and cornflour into a 2-cup capacity jug. Have 1 1/2 cups of boiled water ready to go.
• Make the pudding batter. In a mixing bowl whisk together the sugar, egg and vanilla together. Add the melted butter and milk, and mix to combine.
• In another large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa and baking powder to combine and remove lumps. Make a well and add the wet mixture. Use a spatula to fold together, add the remaining berries, and mix until just combined. The batter will be quite thick, that is fine. Scoop into the prepared dish to cover the berries in the base.
• Add the boiled water to the jug of sauce ingredients. Mix well and slowly pour this over the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the pudding is set and the sauce is pooling around the sides and base. Serve hot with cream or ice cream.