Chocolate orange pud
With rich dark chocolate and tangy orange, this decadent and delicious recipe brings a new twist to the traditional Christmas pudding. Recipe and image courtesy of Dairy Diary, dairydiary.co.uk
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 2 hrs 30 mins
Total: 2 hrs 50 mins
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 150g Soft pitted dates (finely chopped)
- 2 Oranges (finely grated zest and juice)
- 160g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 100g Dark brown sugar
- 2 Medium eggs (beaten)
- 150g Mixed dried fruit
- 100g Self-raising flour
- 25g Cocoa powder
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- 150g Dark chocolate
- 100ml Double cream
- Orange slices (to serve)
Method
Step 1
Grease and line the base of a 1 litre pudding basin. Put dates in a saucepan with half the orange zest. Pour in half the orange juice with 100ml water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes until soft, pulpy, and the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, beat until smooth and leave to cool completely.
Step 2
Whisk 110g butter with the sugar, cooled date mixture and eggs until creamy. Stir in the dried fruit then sift in flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda and fold together.
Step 3
Spoon into the basin and smooth the top. Lay a round of baking parchment directly on top of the mixture, then cover with foil with a pleat in the centre. Secure with string.
Step 4
Stand the basin on a trivet in a large saucepan. Pour water into the pan to come one-quarter of the way up the sides of the basin. Bring to the boil, cover and steam for about 2 hours 30 minutes until firm, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Step 5
For the sauce, break chocolate into a saucepan and add the remaining butter, orange zest and juice. Heat very gently until melted. Remove from heat and stir in cream. Serve with the pudding and fresh orange segments.
