from our cocoa kitchen · SURFSTR
Self-saucing chocolate pudding
A spoon breaks through tender cocoa sponge into a pool of warm chocolate sauce. This oven-baked pudding uses SURFSTR cocoa powder, alkalised and Dutch-process with 20–22% cocoa butter. The separate cocoa-sugar topping and hot water become the sauce during baking. Serve it while warm, with a little sauce in every bowl.
- Active preparation
- 20 min
- Cooking / baking
- 35 min
- Resting / chilling
- 5 min
- Total time
- 60 min
6 portions, about 155 g each; finished weight estimated
Editorial recipe adaptation. Not yet kitchen-tested. Check ingredient labels for allergens.
02 / bring it together
let’s make it.
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Prepare the dish
Preheat to 170 °C conventional or 150 °C fan. Grease the dish with 5 g of the butter. Place it on a baking tray and weigh the ingredients.
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Sift the cocoa
Sift 150 g flour and 30 g cocoa powder into the large bowl. Break up every visible cocoa lump for an even sponge.
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Combine the dry ingredients
Whisk in 70 g caster sugar, 8 g baking powder and 1 g salt until the dry mixture is uniform. Use baking powder, not bicarbonate of soda.
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Whisk the liquids
Melt 50 g butter and cool below 35 °C. Whisk with 150 g milk, 50 g beaten egg and 5 g vanilla. The mixture must be just warm, not hot.
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Fold the batter
Pour the liquid into the dry mixture. Fold just until no dry flour remains. Stop at a thick, soft, spoonable batter; do not beat it until elastic.
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Spread evenly
Scrape the batter into the greased dish. Level it gently into the corners. Leave ample headroom for the liquid topping and the sponge to rise.
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Mix the topping
Mix 140 g soft light brown sugar with 25 g cocoa in the small bowl. Rub apart sugar lumps so the topping is evenly cocoa-coloured.
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Scatter the topping
Distribute the dry topping over the whole batter surface. Keep it as a separate layer; do not fold it into the sponge.
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Pour gently
Measure 315 g freshly boiled water into the heatproof jug. Slowly pour it over the back of a tablespoon across the topping. Do not stir. Keep clear of the steam.
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Bake and serve warm
Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the top is set, lightly cracked and springy. The sauce beneath remains fluid; do not wait for the whole dish to become dry. Rest for 5 minutes, then spoon sponge and sauce into bowls.
The recipe in pictures
commercial scaling
Multiply the home quantities by 25/6 or 50/6. Use 5 dishes for 25 portions or 9 dishes for 50 portions, dividing the mixture evenly. Keep the same shallow fill depth, with spare headroom. Work in manageable batches.
| ingredients | 6 portions | 25 portions | 50 portions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain wheat flour, not self-raising | 150 g | 625 g | 1,250 g |
| Double-acting baking powder | 8 g | 33.3 g | 66.7 g |
| Caster sugar | 70 g | 291.7 g | 583.3 g |
| SURFSTR cocoa powder, Dutch-process, 20–22% cocoa butter | 30 g | 125 g | 250 g |
| Fine salt | 1 g | 4.2 g | 8.3 g |
| Whole milk | 150 g | 625 g | 1,250 g |
| Unsalted butter: 50 g for batter + 5 g for greasing | 55 g | 229.2 g | 458.3 g |
| Egg, weighed without shell, lightly beaten | 50 g | 208.3 g | 416.7 g |
| Vanilla extract | 5 g | 20.8 g | 41.7 g |
| Soft light brown sugar, not coarse raw sugar | 140 g | 583.3 g | 1166.7 g |
| SURFSTR cocoa powder, Dutch-process, 20–22% cocoa butter | 25 g | 104.2 g | 208.3 g |
| Freshly boiled water | 315 g | 1312.5 g | 2,625 g |
| Yield / estimated finished weight | 6 portions, about 155 g each; finished weight estimated / about 930 g | 25 / 3.88 kg | 50 / 7.75 kg |
Ingredient weights scale arithmetically. Oven load, dish geometry, baking time and sauce retention do not scale linearly. Do not bake the full commercial quantity in one deep container. Weigh beaten egg; do not round to whole eggs.
03 / the numbers
nutrition, clearly.
Calculated estimates, not laboratory measurements. Any per-100-g values use the stated estimated finished weight.
| Nutrient | Per portion | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 1491 kJ / 357 kcal | 962 kJ / 230 kcal |
| Fat | 11.3 g | 7.3 g |
| of which saturates | 6.7 g | 4.3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 55.7 g | 35.9 g |
| of which sugars | 35.7 g | 23.1 g |
| Fibre | 3.3 g | 2.1 g |
| Protein | 6.4 g | 4.1 g |
| Salt | 0.60 g | 0.39 g |
Calculated estimates for 6 portions. Per 100 g assumes 930 g finished weight. Includes all sauce and greasing butter; optional serving extras are excluded.
tips, storage & variations
Protect the sauce
Overbaking or a long wait lets the sponge absorb the sauce. Start observing at the lower baking time. A dry skewer through the sauce layer is not the correct endpoint. Serve promptly.
Cocoa and leavening
Use the specified unsweetened high-fat Dutch-process cocoa. The baking powder supplies its own acid, so this formula does not rely on natural cocoa acidity. Extra cocoa changes water absorption; do not add it casually.
Store and reheat
Cool leftovers promptly and refrigerate, covered, at 4 °C or colder within 2 hours. Use within 3 days. Reheat individual portions until steaming hot throughout. Sauce will be thicker than when fresh; loosen a portion with a spoon of water if needed. Do not promise fresh-baked sauce volume on day two.
Serving and substitutions
Serve plain, as photographed. Cream or vanilla ice cream is optional and outside the nutrition estimate. Self-raising flour, drinking chocolate and sweetened cocoa mixes are not direct substitutes. Dairy-free or egg-free changes need a separate tested formula.
SURFSTR · DUTCH PROCESS
it starts with cocoa.
SURFSTR Dutch-process cocoa contains 20–22% cocoa butter. Use the cocoa specified in the recipe: natural cocoa is not always a direct substitute.
Meet the cocoa