Chocoholic's Christmas pudding

Chocoholic's Christmas pudding

Wow. A definite crowd pleaser - chocolate mousse hidden by a layer of chocolate sponge, covered with the best chocolate topping we've ever tasted

Difficulty and servings

For the keen cook

Serves 8

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 10 mins

Plus chilling

Method

  1. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Butter a 22 x 31cm or similar Swiss roll tin, then line with buttered baking paper. Tip in 1 tbsp cocoa, turn the tin until it's evenly coated, then tap out any excess.
  2. For the sponge, beat the eggs and sugar with electric beaters for 7 mins, or until thick enough to hold a trail. Fold in flour and cocoa, then swirl in butter and fold through. Tip into the tin, bake for 10 mins until just firm, then cool under a clean tea towel.
  3. For the mousse, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until thick and pale. Melt the chocolate and loosely whip the cream until it just holds its shape. Quickly beat half the cream and all of the chocolate into the egg mix, then gently fold in the rest of the cream. Whisk the egg whites until softly peaked, then fold in.
  4. Grease a 1.4 litre/2½ pint basin with a little oil. Line with cling film, letting it overhang. To build the pudding, cut a circle of sponge to fit the bottom of the basin and put it in. Cut seven sloping rectangles about 10cm long from the sponge and fit them tightly together around the bowl. Sprinkle with most of the coffee and Tia Maria mix. Fill the bowl halfway with the mousse then, using what's left of the sponge, top the mousse with a snug-fitting circle of cake. Sprinkle with remaining coffee mix. Spoon in the rest of the mousse, then cover with the overhanging cling film. Chill for at least 4 hrs until firm (ideally overnight), then turn onto a plate.
  5. For the topping, heat all the ingredients gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally, until thick and glossy. Spread all over the turned-out pudding, then top with the chocolate-coated cocoa beans and chocolate curls.
Try

Before serving

Leave the pudding out of the fridge for about 20 minutes before serving to let the mousse relax to a chocolatey velvet.

Per serving

766 kcalories, protein 11.0g, carbohydrate 52.0g, fat 60.0 g, saturated fat 31.0g, fibre 3.0g, sugar 34.0g, salt 0.64 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, January 2008.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo Mary

    19 December 2007

    Mary rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This turned out fantastic, not for the faint hearted though as it took quite a while, especially step 2. Why not group all the ingredients in one list saves adding it all together and maybe getting quantities wrong!

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  • Binder photo countessduckula

    02 January 2008

    countessduckula rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    tasty, but.............. some ingredients - tia maria & coffee - were listed as for topping when in fact they are used earlier to sprinkle over sponge, some may put these into topping where they should not be? I would change the instructions/directions or reordered them. It would have been better if the cream was beaten and the eggs whites beaten, before melting the chocolate. If doing as listed, the chocolate begins to set, making any folding in near impossible, with some unofficial beating required! Would also recommend that you cut the circles of sponge for base & half way up before you cut pieces to line the sides, lest you have none left! i would make this again, for a special treat, but with reordered directions. (Yes I know reading the recipe first is sensible, but I do like things made easy!)

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  • Binder photo Culverhouse

    02 January 2008

    Culverhouse commented on this recipe

    a brilliantly impressive desert loved by everyone, and turned out as it looks in the picture. have to cut the sponge carefully to ensure that you have enough.

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  • Binder photo Becky

    17 January 2008

    Becky commented on this recipe

    This was a real winner - it looked fantastic, and you can't go wrong with 3 bars of dark chocolate and pots of cream! However - I too was confused about when and where to add the espresso and tia maria. I ended up putting it in the sponge mix (I' obviously had a glass of wine too many). I went wrong with the mousse and couldn't get my egg whites to fluff up, but just left it out - and although not mousse like in the centre it was still delicious. So my conclusion is that if you use most of the ingredients and get it a bit wrong it's still going to taste and look delicious.

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  • Binder photo HayleyGrice

    22 April 2008

    HayleyGrice rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    You REALLY REALLY need to read this recipe from start to finish at least a day before you plan to eat this cake!! I didn't and missed the bit about chilling for four hours before covering with chocolate. I'd planned to chill AFTER coating with chocolate, and therefore ended up icing during my dinner party. Despite the number of steps it turned out fairly well. My sponge was a bit thick so created a slightly chewy texture, but fortunately the topping part made a lot, so I was able to thickly layer this to counteract the sponge. Would also recommend getting the right sized bowl or one a bit smaller as I used a larger size and had to work hard to get the ingredients to fill the space. Would like to try again.

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  • Binder photo Cookin'mama

    20 October 2009

    Cookin'mama commented on this recipe

    Hi, I would like to make this but don't like coffee or drink alcohol, any suggestions of what else could be used to replace these? Thanks.

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  • Binder photo esme1576

    21 November 2009

    esme1576 commented on this recipe

    I would imagine that you could replace the Tia maria etc with a good quality fruit cordial such as raspberry or cherry and this will moisten the sponge. But if fruit and choclate is not your preference then you could just use a little vanilla esscence in the topping and leave itout from the sponge.... Try it and See!

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  • Binder photo toni2009

    19 December 2009

    toni2009 commented on this recipe

    do you think this would be ok for xmas dinner if i iced it on xmas eve/early xmas morning??

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  • Binder photo Cat

    30 January 2010

    Cat rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo Elizabeth

    26 March 2010

    Elizabeth rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Mystic

    23 November 2010

    Mystic rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Well I have just completed this and it looks and tastes great. The recipe does need reading over a few times as said in previous comments not the best one ever written but the end result is so worth it. I changed the Tia maria for Cointreau was a nice substitution. For best results make and ice the day before needed.

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  • Binder photo frolo743

    21 December 2010

    frolo743 commented on this recipe

    wowzers. This looks amazing. Will make it tomorrow for christmas day. Looking forward to it!

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  • Binder photo Glossy

    22 December 2010

    Glossy commented on this recipe

    This is one I'll definitely be trying (especially as just bought a swiss roll tin for another recipe) but isn't there some debate or other about eating raw eggs? I've only browsed briefly through recipe so maybe I've mis-read.

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  • Binder photo cupcake

    13 January 2011

    cupcake rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Decided to make this for an alternative dessert on Christmas day after trying out the recipe a few weeks beforehand. It takes most of the day before to make but it is definately worth it!

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  • Binder photo centauri

    15 January 2011

    centauri rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Very easy to make, the outer cake is dry which is great for giving structure but isn't that pleasant to eat. The mousse in lovely, and I was suprised how well the outside coating went.

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  • Binder photo wellmichelle

    22 January 2011

    wellmichelle rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is pretty straightforward to make, just be prepared to use a lot of bowls, but its well worth the effort. It looks stunning and its really delicious!

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  • Binder photo Kila

    04 January 2012

    Kila rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I made this for christmas, it was fiddly to make but well worth it, everyone loved it, and i'm not even a big chocolate eater!

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  • Binder photo Gaynor Henaghan

    01 December 2012

    Gaynor Henaghan rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    I enjoyed making it as I love baking, but the end result wasn't what I had hoped. The sponge was a little dry, but tasted fine, but the mousse was very bitter, as was the outer cream. It's probably a matter of taste but the entire family are chocolate lovers, and this was a great disappointment. We simply couldn't eat it as it wasn't at all pleasant. I was planning to make it for Christmas desert but I'm glad I practised first as I would have been gutted. As I say, it's probably just a matter of taste, but it's not for us.

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  • Binder photo Moosie Moo

    28 December 2012

    Moosie Moo commented on this recipe

    I made this as an alternative to traditional Christmas pudding & this certainly is one of the very best chocolate desserts I've ever had but I do feel, like others who have posted comments, that the instructions are not as detailed as they could be. When making the sponge I used a tin slightly larger than the one suggested. My sponge batter was quite thick but I did think it would spread to the edges of the tin; it didn't move at all so I ended up with a misshapen sponge. My fault for not spreading it out in the tin & I did still manage to get the shapes for the pudding with a little bit left over. The mousse was fine but the topping had to sit for about 3 hours before it was thick enough to coat the pudding. Luckily I've made this sort of covering before so expected it to take a while to set but if I hadn't I would have been in a panic with it running off the pudding rather than sticking to it. It is a stunning pudding that everyone enjoyed but making it is a labour of love.

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  • Binder photo Moosie Moo

    28 December 2012

    Moosie Moo rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Four stars for the recipe but five for the actual dessert

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Difficulty and servings

For the keen cook

Serves 8

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 10 mins

Plus chilling

Luscious velvety chocolate

Ingredients

FOR THE SPONGE

  • 4 eggs
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 50g cocoa , plus extra for dusting the tin, sifted
  • 85g butter , melted, plus extra for greasing
  • 50ml espresso or strong coffee
  • 2 tbsp Tia Maria , mix in with the coffee

FOR THE MOUSSE

  • 3 eggs , separated
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 175g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
  • 200ml double cream

FOR THE TOPPING

  • 142ml double cream
  • 100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
  • 50g butter
  • 1 tbsp golden syrup
  • 1 tbsp Tia Maria
  • 1 tbsp espresso

TO SERVE

  • chocolate-covered cocoa beans
  • dark and white chocolate curls
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Per serving

766 kcalories, protein 11.0g, carbohydrate 52.0g, fat 60.0 g, saturated fat 31.0g, fibre 3.0g, sugar 34.0g, salt 0.64 g

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