Chocolate Orange Brioche Pudding

Hooray! It’s time for pudding again. But, alas, my lovely wifelet has encouraged me to a diet without pudding. Oh woe is me. So I can fulfill only the pleasure of making the pudding. Redeye, on the other hand, has to bear none of these restrictions and, along with his family of piglets, demolished the above named pud in quick time. A pud, I might add, that was so huge, it would have fed a large portion of Canada. Mind you, through the grunts of satisfaction, I believe the critique was in the positve.

Also, whilst this may look a touch involved, it is infact fairly simple. Take your time, do each bit in the order that it is written and keep the recipe to hand. The hardest bit is the custard but all you need to remember, is to pour slowly and keep stirring.

here’s what you’ll need…

• 1 Large orange zest
• 50g sultanas
• Grand Marnier/Brandy/Whisky (just one…)
• 200g Brioche
• 150ml milk
• 150ml double cream
• 50g Maya Gold orange spiced chocolate (or just good quality dark chocolate)
• 1 medium egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 50g sugar

Take the zest from the orange using the really small “setting” on the grater. You can get a special tool for the job, which is great but only if you do a lot of zesting. Put half of the zest in a bowl with the sultanas or raisins if you prefer. Pour in a large measure and a splash more of booze. Grand Marnier is great because it has orange essence in it, but Brandy is good and so is Whisky. If you have none of these or refrain from alcohol you could warm them in a pan with water. The idea is to get them nice and plump. If you’re going the boozy way, you can do this bit the day before but a couple of hours is enough.

Next, Brioche. Brioche is a french bread made with butter. It’s quite sweet, so good for a pud, and because there is butter in it, it saves us having to spread it on. The loaf I got was 400g and I used half of it cut into slices a little less than a thumbs width. Then cut those slices in half. Smear the bottom of an ovenproof dish with a finger scoop of butter (or a little oil) and cover the bottom with half the bricoche.This is so it will not stick. Then put half the sultana/booze mix on top, the rest of the Brioche in another layer and finally the rest of the sultanas.

I used a 20cm cake tin which fit the pud perfectly. But it doesn’t have to be a round dish, it can be any dish, as long as it’s ovenproof and about the same size. If you’re not sure, do a dry run with the bread to see how well it fits. So long as half the bread covers the bottom, you’re on to a winner, is even better if is with fresh bread, which you can do if you get a machine from this best bread machine review of 2018.

As the liquid begins to boil, turn down the heat and add the chocolate, a few chunks at a time, whilst whisking. When it has all been mixed in, slowly add the chocolte milk to the pale and frothy egg mix, whisking all the time. If you can get someone to help here, it would be a bonus. One pour slowly, one whisk fast. If not, just take your time. When you’ve combined the lot pour it over the Brioche, fill all the litlle gaps and don’t forget the top. Now just leave it on the side for t least 15 minutes, preferably longer. You want the bread to soak up all the liquid.