The Great British Pudding Challenge - Chocolate pudding with orange ice cream

When Rosie over at Rosie Bakes a 'Peace' of Cake posted about the apparent demise of the traditional British pudding, I simply knew I had to join her in her efforts to keep the joys of the humble British pud alive. She urged food bloggers to join her this month in baking a traditional chocolate sponge and posted a rather good recipe for us all to follow. This all seemed fine and I was excited about the challenge but then I remembered that I live on my own. Who was going to eat this enormous steamed pudding that serves 6 people?! Sure, I entertain a fair amount but by the time I got around to making the pudding it was too late to make plans to invite people over.

I decided to play with the recipe a little and make individual puddings. Making one would have been too tricky. After all you can hardly divide 2 eggs by 6, can you?! So I halved the recipe and made three different puddings. To one I added chopped milk chocolate, to one Green and Black's Maya Gold which has a hint of orange and to the final one, I added a Lindt d'Or chocolate truffle right in the centre. What on earth possessed me? Well, I once enjoyed a pudding that hid one of these chocolates, gently melting in the centre.


In terms of steaming the puds, I placed them in a roasting tray half filled with boiling water and cooked them in the oven at 170C for around 35 minutes. The results? The Lindt d'Or one was disastrous but delicious. The chocolate melted to form a gorgeous sauce in the middle of the pudding, but unfortunately the top of the pudding remained firmly in the pudding mould. It didn't look pretty!

The one flecked with Maya Gold was my favourite, although again it didn't turn out too beautifully. I served it with a very creamy orange ice cream which I made in five minutes flat. Equal amounts of single and double cream (1 tumbler glass of each), freshly squeezed orange juice (3 large oranges), a little grated orange rind (of one orange) and caster sugar to your taste (around 2 oz). Whisk together and pour into an ice-cream maker. Gorgeously fresh and delicious but very creamy - you only need a small amount and wouldn't want a whole bowlful.

The final pudding with the milk chocolate was adorned with chocolate sauce made with melted dark chocolate, single cream, golden syrup and a smidge of butter. Again, it didn't turn out too well, but it tasted divine.

For those concerned about my ever-expanding waistline (I know I am), fear not. I did not eat all three puddings (although it was tempting). I had a taster of each. The Maya Gold version was my favourite with a little chocolate sauce poured over the top for good measure!

To participate in the next 'edition' of The Great British Pudding Challenge, hop over to Maria's blog for a delicious-sounding recipe for a Festive Steamed Pudding with cranberries and white chocolate.

Great British Pudding Challenge and a Chilli con Carne

No. It is not a picture of a great British pudding. You are absolutely right. It is a picture of a jacket potato smothered in chilli con carne and topped off with guacamole and sour cream. Yum. But before I talk about the joys of this delicious chilli, I would like to send you away. I want you to go and take a look at Rosie's blog, 'Rosie bakes a 'Peace' of Cake'. Upon hearing about the demise of the traditional British pudding, Rosie has decided that food bloggers must unite to preserve our wonderful puds. She has launched the Great British Pudding challenge. I fully intend to take part and urge you to do the same - do take a look. Go on. Just click here.

Those who have managed to stop drooling over Rosie's delicious cakes and have returned may like to hear about the chilli I made the other night. Another great winter warmer that freezes really well - I made a big batch and then froze it into smaller portions. I work in the wine industry and, as you can imagine, we are coming up to our busiest time of year - I is good to be prepared with food I can just heat up when I get home exhausted each night!

There is nothing original about this recipe - I found it on the BBC Good Food website. I thought I'd play around with it somewhat, but then I decided that there was really no need. It was perfectly good as it was. The only change I made was to add oregano rather than marjoram (I didn't have any). In fact, being super lazy, I am not even going re-write the recipe - just give a few notes. Click here for the recipe.

Basically, you sweat onion, garlic and red pepper in a mixture of spices (paprika, chilli and cumin). The smell is wonderful. It is a fairly spicy recipe so adjust accordingly. You then brown the meat. I would recommend doing this in another pan, in small batches, otherwise it stews rather than fries - you want a bit of caramelisation on the meat for added flavour. The mixture is then simmered away with tomatoes and stock.

I always add a square or two of dark chocolate to chilli - it adds a lovely smoothness to the sauce. It may sound odd, but you can't actually taste the chocolate. I do the same with venison casseroles - again, it doesn't taste chocolately, but gives a great texture to the sauce.

I am not wild about rice, so I like to serve chilli with jacket potatoes, topped with sour cream and guacamole. Alternatively, it is great stuffed into tortillas, sprinkled with cheese and popped under the grill for a few minutes.