Yes fine, I love the long nights and short days, cuddling up in a mooi mooi is a guilty pleasure. Soups and hearty dinawa dishes taste a lot more suitable and enjoyable. Scones or rusks with a piping hot cup of Laarger tea are perfect at any time of day. Even still, I pick summer over and over, with multiple showers a day and a good fan or A/C and you are set.
Summer Days usher in ‘mood’.....there are plenty songs which are the perfect sound track to a lovely summer’s day. One which comes to mind is Summer Daze by Nick Holder. Just hearing it now has me anticipating the change in season, exciting food, colourful bubbly drinks, great conversations and laughs. In the spirit of welcoming in the new season, let’s pop out the baking tins and spring into action by baking some tasty treats. One of my favourite deserts are a hot sticky pudding or chocolate ooze. Since it is still a bit chilly and there was just a daunting announcement that we should expect a last cold front, the best dessert to serve on a cold day, is this hot chocolate baked pudding.
It is a chocolate lovers’ dream and is delicious when served with vanilla farmhouse ice cream. It’s good for serving a crowd too and can be made in advance for all your spring picnics and shindigs. I am choosing to be ‘glass half full’ about the news of the incoming cold. Spring is still very much around the corner and I am not losing sight of it. If you also love sticky toffee - or malva pudding like me, you will love this hot chocolate baked pudding. It is cake-like in texture and drenched in a self-saucing sticky, cocoa-infused sauce, and is a guaranteed crowd favourite.
The self-saucing technique is quite an impressive one in that the dessert comes out looking a certain way but once you scoop some into your bowl, you expose a moist, saucy middle. I was super nervous making this desert I’ll tell you, due to the technique it calls for when pouring the liquid on the batter before baking. One of the recipes I came across explicitly said NOT to let the two-layers mix. They didn’t mix per se for me, but there was bits that I thought the liquid sunk. The end results were perfect, no complaints, I can’t wait to make this desert for my girlfriends at our next sleep over. I know they are going to love it! If it is your preference, feel free to make this desert naughty by using Wild Africa Cream instead of milk, or serving it with Wild homemade ice cream. Friday night is fun night at home, we watch movies, everyone sleeps late, once in a while we get take out or just make weekend dishes. It’s been a tough past two weeks with a heavy flu circulating in the house, and this past week the boys wrote their mid-year exams so the past Friday night was more special than others and called for celebration. I made desert for supper and surprised the boys with a warm ooey-gooey chocolate pudding with ice cream for supper. Visit our Chellzkitchen Facebook page and let us know what most you are looking forward to this Spring! Also our #Mopako101 competition for the family vaccay is still running, enter and stand a chance to get away with the family these school holidays!
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour 1 cup (220g) caster sugar 1/2 cup (50g) Nestle’ cocoa powder, plus extra to dust 60g unsalted butter, melted, cooled 1/2 cup (125ml) Delta Fresh Milk 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 egg Farmhouse Vanilla ice cream, to serve
For colour and to create a more dramatic dish on presentation, use berries such as strawberries, raspberries to add a pop of colour and excitement.
INSTRUCTIONS Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm capacity ovenproof baking dish with butter. Sift the flour, 1/2 cup (110g) sugar and 1/4 cup (25g) cocoa into a bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the centre. In a separate bowl, whisk melted butter, milk, vanilla extract and egg. Gradually pour into the well, then fold to combine. Spread mixture evenly into prepared dish. Combine remaining 1/2 cup (110g) sugar and 1/4 cup (25g) cocoa and sprinkle over the top of the pudding. Carefully pour 1 cup (250ml) boiling water over the top of the pudding slowly using the back of a spoon to prevent water from splashing. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is firm. Stand for 10 minutes to cool slightly. Dust the warm pudding with extra cocoa and or fruit (optional) and serve with Farmhouse Vanilla ice cream.
