• Chocolate bread pudding served with orange sorbet and chocolate tuille

    Serves: 8

    Ingredients

    • BREAD PUDDING
    • 380g self-raising flour
    • 60g cocoa powder
    • 175g treacle sugar
    • 150g good-quality dark
    • chocolate, chopped
    • 2 eggs
    • 130g butter, melted
    • 250ml maas
    • ORANGE CHOCOLATE LIQUID
    • 50ml orange juice
    • 50ml fresh cream
    • 100ml milk
    • zest of 2 oranges
    • 90g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
    • GANACHE
    • 130ml fresh cream
    • orange zest, to taste
    • 250g good-quality chocolate, chopped
    • ORANGE SORBET
    • 600g oranges
    • 130ml sugar
    • 5ml glucose
    • 250ml water
    • TUILLE
    • 15ml butter, melted
    • 50g castor sugar
    • 1 egg
    • 3ml vanilla extract
    • 80ml cake flour, sifted
    • pinch of salt
    • 50g ground almonds
    • 10ml cocoa powder
    • MINT SYRUP
    • 60ml water
    • 100g sugar
    • 60ml fresh mint, chopped

    Instructions

    1

    Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 10cm x 20cm loaf tin.

    2

    Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and chocolate.

    3

    Whisk together the eggs, butter and maas.

    4

    Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix, being careful not to overmix. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 25 minutes.

    5

    To make the orange chocolate, heat all the ingredients, except the chocolate, in pan over a medium heat. Add the chocolate and whisk until melted. Set aside.

    6

    To make the ganache, heat the cream and orange zest. Pour over the chocolate and whisk until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture starts to thicken. Set aside in the fridge. While the chocolate is setting, roll 8 even balls of ganache. These will form the centre of the bread pudding.

    7

    Reduce the oven to 160°C. Break the cooked chocolate loaf into coarse pieces. Pour over the orange chocolate liquid and allow to cool. This mixture is the basis for the bread pudding.

    8

    Line the base and sides of 8 individual moulds or ramekins with bread pudding. Place a ganache ball in the centre and cover with more bread pudding. Cook for about 45 minutes.

    9

    To make the sorbet, remove the pith from the oranges and slice.

    10

    Heat the sugar, glucose and water together and boil for about 1 minute to make the sugar syrup. Liquidise the oranges with the sugar syrup and strain through a sieve. Cool. Place the cooled sorbet mixture in the freezer and stir this mixture every 30 minutes to incorporate air and get a smooth consistency until it is frozen.

    11

    For the tuille, preheat the oven to 135°C.

    12

    Mix the butter with the castor sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour, salt and almonds. Spread the mixture out in a rectangle on a silicone pad or greaseproof paper and sprinkle with the cocoa powder. Bake for about 5 – 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and place over a rolling pin to cool. Store in an airtight container until needed.

    13

    To make the syrup, place the water and sugar in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the mint and reduce over a gentle heat until the syrup is cool enough to hold shape on a plate. Test a drop of syrup on a saucer before taking it off the heat.

    14

    To serve, unmould the bread pudding onto a plate. Roll a ball of orange sorbet and place it on top of the tuille. Between the sorbet and pudding, run a line of mint syrup and garnish with a sprig of mint.

    Notes

    Liquid glucose is available from pharmacies. If you make the tuille in advance and it goes soft, heat it in the oven for a few minutes until crispy. The entire dessert can be prepared in advance. Simply take the ramekins out of the fridge ahead of time and get them back to room temperature before baking.