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

Dried Fig Red Wine Jam Recipe

Dried Fig Red Wine Jam

This recipe uses dried figs instead of fresh figs. Dried figs are cheaper and easier to find. The fact that it is cheaper does not make the jam any less delicious, on the contrary the flavor could be more intense. This is my guess, I haven't compared jam made from fresh and dried figs.

This jam will go well with certain cheese, on toast, in baking, as a sauce to accompany certain meats or on its own. Anyway you have it, it will be delicious. It is sweet but not overly sweet, and the crunch from the seeds is a real bonus. 

The original recipe suggests port wine but I substituted with red wine since thats what I had. You don't have to use red wine, you can substitute with water.

Dried Fig Red Wine Jam

Adopted from Emeril Lagasse’s recipe.

Ingredients

1½ cups red wine

½ cup water

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional) 

170 grams/6 ounces (or about 1 cup packed) dried figs, stems removed and cut into ½ inch pieces 

Directions

1. Add wine, water, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat
2. Cook until reduced slightly, about 8 minutes
3. Add figs and return to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until figs are tender and liquid has reduced to a syrupy consistency
4. Remove from the heat, puree the mixture (optional) and allow the jam to cool 
5. The jam will keep for up to 2 months, refrigerated in a nonreactive container. Time will tell whether it lasts that long.

Hervé This's/Heston Blumenthal's White Chocolate Mousse Recipe

White Chocolate Mousse

"I invented it — but it was so easy, I'm embarrassed!"

Hervé This, Wired magazine, 2007.

Hervé, a French chemist, is considered the father of modern gastronomy and apparently he is the source of inspiration for Heston Blumental. Hervé invented a mousse recipe, calling it chocolate chantilly. His recipe contained just two ingredients, chocolate and water. Recipes don't get too much simpler than this. You only need to buy (or borrow or steal) chocolate.

Mousse made this way has a much stronger chocolate flavour since there is no cream used. Water has a neutral taste and does not dilute the chocolate flavour. 

You probably think that you should not mix chocolate and water. Water makes chocolates seize, becoming grainy or lumpy. That’s correct but if water and chocolate are heated together, it becomes a simple and delicious chocolate sauce. If this sauce is whisked over ice it becomes mousse. 

I slightly modified the original recipe, replacing dark chocolate with white chocolate. The result was excellent. Even though the chocolate has been diluted with water the mousse was still pretty sweet. 

I made this recipe couple of times but the result was not 100%. I learnt my lesson. For white chocolate you need to use less water compared with dark chocolate. I kept whisking over ice expecting the mixture to turn into mousse. It turned thick but not into mousse. I put the mixture in the freezer but it didn’t firm up. However leaving the mixture in the refrigerator did the trick. It firmed up after a little while. So if your mousse seems runny, don’t be alarmed, add more chocolate or it should firm up after spending time in the refrigerator. The original recipe suggests dark chocolate. I suppose dark chocolate will produce a better result, it will turn into mousse during whisking and you won't need to refrigerate.

The recipe is almost fool proof, you cannot spoil the ingredients. If for some reason the mixture turns grainy, reheat it. If the mixture is too runny, reheat it with more chocolate. If the mixture is too firm, reheat it with more water. If anything goes wrong, just reheat and start over again. If it does not work out, you will end up with delicious chocolate sauce.

Recipe modified from here. You can watch Heston Blumenthal preparing this mousse here.

Ingredients

½ cup water

225 grams white chocolate

Ice cubes

Directions

1. Add water and chocolate to a saucepan over low-medium heat and whisk continuously until the chocolate has melted
2. Place the saucepan over a bowl filled with ice cubes and whisk
3. Keep whisking. The mixture will thicken, having a texture similar to thick cream, then it will get thicker. If the mixture does not firm up, place in refrigerator. 

White Chocolate Mousse