Credit Crunch Recipes (3): A Store Cupboard Treat!

It's such a grim time of year - still a little while to go until the festive treats of Christmas, bonfire night & Halloween are long gone, the weather is cold and everyone's worried about their finances. So we all need a few treats to cheer us up and bring a bit of warmth & sweetness to our mealtimes & this recipe really fits the bill. It's a rich chocolate pudding which doesn't involve buying expensive extra ingredients but tastes as if you've used the best chocolate available. It's one of those puddings which seems incredibly unlikely before you cook it, but separates out into a sponge & yummy sauce layer. This has the additional benefit of meaning you don't have to serve anything with it, although a bit of pouring cream or vanilla ice cream make it even more delicious if you want an even bigger treat.

Store Cupboard Chocolate Pud

Sponge Layer:
100g (4oz) self-raising flour
100g (4oz) softened butter or margarine
100g (4oz) dark brown (muscavado) sugar
2 level tablespoons cocoa powder
2 eggs

Sauce Layer:
3 heaped tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder
400ml/14 fluid oz water

Preheat your oven to Gas 4/180C & butter shallow baking dish with a 1 litre/2 pint capacity (it's important the dish is shallow or your pudding wont cook properly). Put a baking sheet on the top shelf of your oven to preheat.

Put all the sponge ingredients in a bowl and beat together until thoroughly mixed (a food mixer or electric hand whisk are the best tools to use here). Put the mixture in your baking dish and level it with a spoon.

Out the dry ingredients for the sauce layer in a bowl and mix together with your fingertips until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle this over the sponge mixture in the baking dish. Then boil the water and pour it very very gently all over the top of the mixture (don't pour it all in one place - you will create a big hole!).

Put the baking dish onto the preheated baking sheet & bake in the oven or about 35-40 mins.

Enjoy the yumminess.. If there is any left (ha!) this is quite yummy cold the next day - you get a delicious fudgy texture where the sauce has soaked into the sponge.