Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Sticky Fudgy Fig Chocolate Pudding Recipe


Sticky Fig Chocolate Pudding

As the name suggests this pudding (or cake) is sticky and fudgy. Figs and chocolate is a great combination.

Sticky puddings are generally served with toffee or butterscotch sauce, which is a rich and delicious concoction of sugar, butter and few other ingredients. I decided to choose a lighter option, crème anglaise, to keep my teeth and heart intact! I have included the recipe for toffee sauce as well in case you want to keep things traditional. Be warned: if you have sticky pudding with toffee sauce you may feel your teeth rot with every spoonful!


Ingredients
½ cup butter (or oil)
1 cup sugar (increase to 1½ cups if you prefer normal sweetness)
¼ cup golden syrup
20 dried figs, finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda

For Crème Anglaise
1 cup milk
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
½ vanilla bean
  
For Toffee Sauce
½ cup butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1.      Heat the oven to 180°C/360°F. Grease a 7 by 11-inch baking dish.
2.      In a medium saucepan, bring the figs and 2 cups water to a boil and simmer over medium heat until almost all the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Puree the mixture (optional)
3.      Beat the butter with the brown sugar and vanilla extract until the mixture is creamy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time and continue beating until the mixture is light, about 3 minutes.
4.      Add the fig mixture, flour, cocoa and baking soda and mix well
5.      Bake until the fig cake is done. It should be springy and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes.
6.      To make crème anglaise: Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. In a saucepan heat milk and seeds from the vanilla pod. Once heated gradually add milk to the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sauce thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 5 minutes. Strain sauce. 
7.      To make toffee sauce: In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, add the brown sugar and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add the heavy cream, bring to a boil, stirring once in a while over moderate heat until it starts to thicken, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Keep warm.

Sticky Fig Chocolate Pudding


7 comments:

  1. Using fig is such a good idea! I have always use dates!

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  2. Normally I'm not hungry at 10 am and I don't have breakfast usually, but today I would happily take a piece of this beautiful rich cake. I don't think I have ever baked with fig... Oh, yes I made dried fig biscuits several times, but it was such a long time ago...

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    Replies
    1. I am glad this cake kind of motivates you to start thinking of breakfast. It has eggs, fruit, cocoa, milk (and other things) - which are OK to have for breakfast:)

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  3. Ok, I have to ask you this. You bake an awful lot, who eats all this goodness? :-)I usually eat a piece or two, and bring the rest to work for my co-workers to enjoy.
    Did you stock up on dried figs? First, the jam, now the mouth-watering cake :-)

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    Replies
    1. I almost always bake smaller portions so there are little or no leftovers. In this case for example I divided the ingredients by eight - used 1/4 of an egg! Same with cookies and other recipes.
      Sometimes if I bake more than 1 portion I freeze leftovers. Lot of baked goods freeze really well
      Yes there is a fair bit of figs but they have long shelf life which is good.

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  4. Wow that looks fabulous! I love all things pudding.

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