Cocoa Coffee Pudding

The Daring Baker April 2010 challenge

Source

Inspired by the Traditional English pudding

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 20 g margarine (145 cal)

- 20 g brown sugar (75 cal)

- 40 g all purpose flour (145 cal)

- 1/4 tsp baking powder

- 1 egg (70 cal)

- 1 tsp cocoa powder (10 cal)

- 1 tsp instant coffee 

- 2 tbsp water

- 1 tsp brandy (10 g)

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (5 cal)

Total 460 cal, 2 servings, 230 cal/serving

Instructions

1. Beat the margarine with the sugar, add the egg and continue beating. Add the flour and the baking powder and mix well. 

2. Heat the water slightly, dissolve the instant coffee and the cocoa powder, add the water and the vanilla extract and mix with the remaining ingredients.

3. Grease a small (1.5 cups) pyrex dish. Pour the batter in and steam over low medium heat for about 40-45 minutes.

Afterthoughts

- I have to admit that I don’t like my current combination of coffee and cocoa, at least not in the existing proportions. However, the texture is so surprisingly soft and spongy that it makes up for the flavor. I am going to make a chocolate sauce to make up for the coffee :-).

- This is my first Daring Baker Challange, and when I saw the recipe, I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed - I was expecting fancy mouth watering cakes, and here I see a really simple dish, which in addition requires a lot of extra equipment that I don’t have (like a pudding dish and a steamer). So I was procrastinating for a long long time. But then on what I thought was the last day of the Challange (which was actually 3 days past the deadline) I finally made it. I decided to do without all the additional dishes, especially since I had no idea what to expect. So I used a very small (1.5 cups) Pyrex dish, and placed it over an inverted pie pan inside a large pot with water. And it turned out quite nice! It does not at all look fancy, but it tastes somewhat like those super soft Chinese or Japanese buns. I don’t know whether that’s the Traditional English pudding, but I liked it - must be great with a rich sauce. I’m buying a steamer next time I go to the Chinatown :-). Thanks, Esther, without your challenge I would have no idea that one can steam a pudding!