Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

What's the most stained and crinkled page of all the pages of our cookbooks? Stephanie Alexander's Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding. We used to make it allll the time, because this rich gooey pudding is perfect on a cold winter day. It's so easy to make, you can bung the ingredients together and stick it in the oven while you eat dinner and its ready and waiting for dessert.

Stephanie Alexander's Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding (from The Cook's Companion)

125g plain flour
scant pinch of salt
60g castor sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp Dutch cocoa
(1/2 cup chopped walnuts)
1/2 cup milk
40g butter, melted
1 egg
few drops of pure vanilla

For the topping:
180g brown sugar
2 tbsp Dutch cocoa
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 180 degree C and butter a 750ml pie dish (I just used a 20cm square tin, it always works for me). Sift flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl (then stir in the nuts). Combine milk, melted butter, egg and vanilla and mix into dry ingredients. Pour into dish.

To make the topping, mix brown sugar and cocoa and sprinkle over pudding batter. Pour boiling water carefully all the ingredients.

Pouring on the hot water

Bake for 40-45 minutes until puffed in the centre and pudding feels firm when pressed lightly with your fingertips.

Hot and melty, straight out of the oven

Spoon out cake and its sauce while its hot! This is best served with some good vanilla icecream...just be careful because it's impossible to stop at one helping!