Chocolate self-saucing pudding (or gooding)

At our house growing up it came from a packet mix and was referred to as gooding - because it's just so good (Thanks Mum!)

I didn't ever actually realise how easy it was to make from scratch. Chocolatey sponge with a miracle sauce that just appears underneath.

This is what I made as dessert to go with Frederick the Free Range Chook in case I had difficulty eating it, I knew that there was yummy dessert coming!

But this is no ordinary gooding. I borrowed the recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2 and altered it a little because of the contents of my pantry (as always!)

The lovely thing about Donna's recipe is the addition of hazelnut meal. It alters the whole texture from a light sponge to a dense, moist pudding- plus with a kick of hazelnut flavour. Her recipe called for malted milk powder which I substituted with great success to Milo! I know it seems totally naff to get the brand name daggy products involved but ever since Nigella cooked her Ham in Coca-Cola I've felt a bit more freedom in that area :)

Anyway, the Milo was a delight and added a richness and depth to the sauce that I couldn't have produced any other way - highly recommended!

This pudding is massive! If you are feeding 8 then it would suit but for just the 2 of us I would cut the recipe in half to eat over a few nights.

135g softened butter
1 & 1/4 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
1 &1/2 cups plain flour
2 & 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup hazelnut meal
1/4 cup Milo
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 170C

Cream butter and sugar until pale. Beat in eggs. Sift in the dry ingredients and add the hazelnut meal and milk and beat until smooth.
Smooth into a greased dish.

For the sauce mix 2/3 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup Milo, 1.5 Tablespoons cocoa and 1.5 cups of boiling water and then pour it over the pudding mix.

Pop in the oven for 45-50mins until risen and a skewer comes out clean.

Rich and lovely, I could (and sadly did) eat the sauce straight out of the dish with a spoon.

Have a lovely day
x