Mocha Self Saucing Pudding

What a wonderful way to warm up the home and body by snuggling up to a mug of pudding! Combining two of my loves, chocolate and coffee, this was sure to be a winner for me.

Serves 6 | Ready in 45 minutes (plus standing time)
Ingredients 
1²/₃ cups self-raising flour, sifted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee powder
³/₄ cup brown sugar

125g butter, melted

1 cup milk

Connoiseur Honey and Macadamia Nut Ice-cream, to serve

Sauce 

¹/₄ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder, sifted

1¹/₂ teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder

1 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 180⁰C/160⁰C fan-forced. Combine flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder, sugar, butter and milk in a bowl. Stir until smooth. Spread into six 1¹/₂ cup-capacity ovenproof dishes.

2. Make Sauce. Place sugar, cocoa powder, coffee powder and boiling water in a heatproof jug. Stir to combine. Divide sauce evenly over batter in each dish.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until top of puddings are just set. Stand for 5 minutes. Serve with ice-cream.

Notes and Variations

When I made this, I found the self-sauce to be a little too watery for my liking. To give it a more creamy sauce, re-make the sauce again and add 100mL of thickened cream. Cut around the pudding edge to enable you to access to the bottom of the pudding and then pour your second serve of self-sauce. 

Also, while the recipe suggests vanilla ice-cream, you could use alternatives such as whipped cream or flavoured ice-cream.  I personally love this with Connoisseur's Honey and Macadamia Nut ice-cream.

** Original recipe from Issue 127 (July 2011) of 'Super Food Ideas' magazine **