Fergus Henderson’s hot chocolate pudding
Here is a pudding that needs no introduction.
To serve 8
unsalted butter 250g, diced, plus extra for greasing
caster sugar 125g, plus extra for dusting
plain chocolate, with at least 70 per cent cocoa solids 250g, cut into small chunks
eggs 6 large
egg yolks 5 large
plain flour 75g
Grease 8 individual ramekins or dariole moulds (or one large ovenproof dish) with butter and dust with caster sugar.
Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl. Leave until melted. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer on full speed, whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar together for about 6 minutes, until they have at least tripled in volume.
Sift the flour into a bowl and slowly pour on the melted chocolate and butter mixture, whisking constantly until a thin paste has formed. Fold this into the whisked egg mixture very carefully but quickly, as the chocolate will start to set. Pour into the prepared dishes and bake in an oven preheated to 180C/gas mark 4, until risen and firm on the outside but soft in the centre. The large one will take about 30 minutes to cook, the individual ones about 13 minutes. Serve with creme fraiche or ice cream and, if in season, some cherries.
From The Complete Nose to Tail by Fergus Henderson (Bloomsbury, RRP £30). Click here to buy it from Guardian Bookshop for £24
Paul A Young’s sea salted caramel
Makes 35-40, depending on size of chocolate mould
unsalted butter 100g
unrefined light muscovado sugar 100g
Maldon sea salt 10g
double cream 100ml
milk chocolate 40g
In a medium saucepan melt the butter and sugar and stir over a medium heat until the mixture simmers, then set a timer for 5 minutes. The mixture will emulsify together and become glossy.
Remove from the heat and add the cream carefully as it can splutter, whisking until fully incorporated. Now add the chocolate, whisking well until fully melted.
Leave to cool. Your filling is now ready to pour into moulds or into a jar to use as a spread.
Recipe extract from How to Make Chocolates by Paul A Young (Lakeland, RRP £4.99).
Bruno Loubet’s chocolate and orange souffle
If your ingredients are at room temperature when you start, and the moulds are buttered properly, you will impress your guests.
Serves 4
butter to grease
caster sugar 90g, plus extra to coat the ramekins
egg yolks 8
unsweetened cocoa powder 50g, plus extra to dust
whisky 2 tbsp
orange zest ½ tsp, finely grated
egg whites 10
salt a pinch
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
With your finger, evenly butter the inside of four individual soufflé dishes, each 10cm in diameter and 5cm high. Put some sugar in one of the dishes and move it around to coat the whole surface. Tip all the excess sugar into another dish and coat it in the same way, then repeat with the other dishes. Set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 50g of the sugar until very smooth and white. Add the cocoa powder, whisky and orange zest and mix well.
In a large, clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with a tiny pinch of salt to soft peaks. Add the remaining 40g sugar and continue whisking until the mixture becomes firm but not too stiff.
Add a quarter of the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture. Mix with a whisk, then fold in the remaining egg whites (the best way is to use a pastry scraper).
Fill the prepared souffle dishes with the mixture, right to the top, then above the rim by about 1cm. Be careful not to get any of the mixture on the edges of the dishes or the souffles will stick to the dishes and will not rise evenly.
Place the dishes in a roasting tin and pour in about 1cm of hot water. Place the tin on top of the stove and bring the water to the boil, then transfer to the oven.
Bake for about 12 minutes, reducing the oven setting to 190C/gas mark 5 as soon as the soufflés start to rise.
When the souffles are puffed up, remove them from their bain-marie of hot water, quickly dry the dishes and place on serving plates.
Dust some cocoa powder over the souffles and serve immediately.
From Mange Tout: Bistro Cooking with a Modern Twist by Bruno Loubet (Ebury, RRP £25). Click here to buy it from Guardian Bookshop for £20
Nigella Lawson’s chocolate Guinness cake
Makes about 12 slices
For the cake
Guinness 250 ml
unsalted butter 250g
cocoa 75g
caster sugar 400g
sour cream 1 x 142ml pot
eggs 2
real vanilla extract 1 tbsp
plain flour 275g
bicarbonate of soda 2 ½ tsp
For the topping
Philadelphia cream cheese 300g
icing sugar 150g
double or whipping cream 125ml
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4, and butter and line a 23cm springform tin.
Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter’s melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
When the cake’s cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.
Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.
From Feast: Food that Celebrates Life by Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus, RRP £20). Click here to buy it from Guardian Bookshop for £16
Kitty Travers’s perfect chocolate ice cream
Makes about a litre or 10 scoops
organic whole milk 450ml
best possible cocoa powder 30g
double cream 180ml
golden granulated sugar 130g
free range egg yolks 4 medium
sea salt a pinch
favourite chocolate, smashed up
Pour a little milk into the cocoa powder, stir to make a paste then whisk in the rest of the milk.
Add the milk to a pan, bring to boil stirring constantly, then simmer gently for exactly 6 minutes. This is important – you need to cook out the cocoa so it doesn’t taste chalky. Keep stirring as the cocoa can easily burn. Add cream.
In a non-stick frying pan or heavy bottomed pan, caramelise the sugar until burnished and just beginning to smoke. Stop the caramelisation at this desired point by pouring in a little of the chocolate milk.
Whisk or stir over a low heat until caramel is dissolved in the milk.
Combine caramel and chocolate milk in one pan.
Temper egg yolks by adding a little of the warm chocolate milk to them, then add to the pan. Heat gently and stir with a silicone spatula (great for getting into corners) until this mix reaches 82C, or coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow to boil or the mix will be scrambled and lumpy!
Cool chocolate custard by sitting the pan in a sink of iced water. Stir in the sea salt. Once the mix reaches room temperature, refrigerate overnight – this will vastly improve the texture of the ice cream.
The following day blitz the custard with a stick blender for 30 seconds to liquefy, then pour into an ice cream maker while the blade is turning. Churn until thick and frozen, about 20 minutes.
If you don’t have a machine, freeze the mixture in a really big bowl. Every 90 minutes, take it out and whisk (or Magimix) vigorously. Do this 3 times, until it is smooth and aerated.
Scrape into a tightly lidded container sprinkling in the chocolate bits as you go, and freeze until ready to serve.
Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving.
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This article was amended on 5 March. The Paul A Young recipe had been supplied incorrectly. The correct recipe now appears
