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Photograph of Slow Cooker Steamed Chocolate Pudding with Hot Chocolate Sauce

Slow Cooker Steamed Chocolate Pudding with Hot Chocolate Sauce

This Slow Cooker Steamed Chocolate Pudding with Hot Chocolate Sauce is quick to make, easy to cook, fluffy and light as a feather. The luscious chocolate sauce is rich, thick and bursting with dark and milk chocolate as well as cream and golden syrup. Serve as is, or with your choice from ice cream, cream or even custard.

Serves 6 - 8

Course Dessert, hot dessert
Cuisine British
Keyword chocolate pudding, chocolate sauce, steamed pudding
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Author Susan

Ingredients

For the steamed chocolate sponge pudding:

  • 130g unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 130g caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ teaspoon fine salt
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon milk
  • 100g plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
  • 30g unsweetened cocoa, sieved
  • 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon instant coffee

For the chocolate sauce:

  • 200g double/heavy cream
  • 100g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
  • 100g milk chocolate
  • 60g golden syrup
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla paste
  • sea salt, to taste. I use around one sixteenth teaspoon

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2. If using a slow cooker - before you start making the dessert, fill a slow cooker ⅓ full with boiling water and set on high to heat up. 

  3. It is important to make sure the butter is at room temperature and soft enough to beat easily with the other ingredients. If not at room temperature, beat well before adding the remaining ingredients. See here for information on softening butter.

  4. Weigh in the sugar, and add the eggs, fine salt and milk

  5. Place a sieve on top of the bowl, zero the scales, and weigh in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and coffee. Sieve.

  6. Use an electric whisk to beat until combined.

  7. Grease a 2 pint/1.2 litre pudding basin and the lid thoroughly with butter.

  8. Transfer the sponge mix to the greased bowl and level the surface of the cake batter.

  9. Seal with a lid and steam cook for 2½ hours on high. When you add the pudding bowl make sure the water is nowhere near the lid. Steam with the lid on.

  10. Whilst the sponge steams, make the chocolate sauce: you can either make this just before you serve the dessert, or make it ahead of time and re-heat when ready.

  11. Break up the chocolate and add to a pan with the cream, golden syrup, vanilla paste and salt, if using.

  12. Warm over a low heat, stirring from time to time, until the chocolate has melted and you have a luscious, thick sauce.

  13. To serve: carefully remove the pudding from the steamer and leave to sit for 5 minutes before un-moulding.

  14. Loosen the edges with a palette knife. Place a plate (with a lip to catch the chocolate sauce) over top of the pudding and turn both over together at the same time to invert the pudding. Use oven gloves as the bowl will be very hot.

  15. Pour over the hot chocolate sauce

  16. Serve as is, or with cream, ice cream and/or custard.

Recipe Notes

Equipment:

  • kitchen scales and measuring spoons
  • mixing bowl and electric whisk
  • sieve
  • 2 pint/1.2 litre pudding basin and lid thoroughly greased with butter
  • small saucepan

Watch the water in the Slow Cooker:

You need to ensure the water in the slow cooker doesn’t run dry. It is unlikely to do so, but check it from time to time. 

Different ways to steam:

I normally cook my steamed puddings in my slow cooker. However, they can also be cooked in a Steam oven or in a saucepan. See below.

  • in a slow cooker – before you start making the dessert, fill a slow cooker ⅓ full with boiling water and set on high to heat up. When you add the pudding bowl make sure the water is nowhere near the lid. Steam on high with the lid on. I love cooking this way (as opposed to using a saucepan on the hob) because it rarely, if ever, runs out of water and does not fill the kitchen with steam.
  • in a saucepan – sit the pudding bowl in a saucepan and add boiling water to come half way up to the sides of the bowl. Bring to a simmer, put the lid on and regularly check that the water does not run dry. When it is low, top up with more boiling water. Typically the bowl is sat on an inverted saucer in the base of the saucepan. However it can rattle a lot and be noisy. As long as there is sufficient water, I find you do not need this.
  • in a steam oven – cook according to oven instructions.