For someone who professes to love chocolate cake, I haven’t got very many recipes for them on here. There’s my dense and fudgy chocolate cake with coffee creme fraiche for something indulgent to serve after a dinner party. Or my chocolate, toasted coconut & passionfruit layer cake, ideal for when you’ve got the time and effort for a big project bake. Both of these are wonderful in their own right but every now and then, just a good slice of plain cake is all I need.
This week, I’m bringing you something fairly simple but well loved. It’s the sort of chocolate cake you were likely served with school dinners in the UK; a big square of cake with a slightly crisp (over baked?) top, fluffy crumb and a gentle, barely there, cocoa powder flavour. It was almost mandatory for the cake to be served swimming in a river of chocolate custard, which also didn’t taste much of chocolate. The custard was always stone cold by the time you got round to eating it, thickening into a gloop with a thin skin on top. I never minded though. All cake was welcomed and despite it not being my favourite school dessert, it was still a comfort.
The version I’ve got today leans into that cosy nostalgia but with decisively more chocolatey-ness and a jazzed up silky custard infused with all the best spices - cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, ginger, clove along with some milk chocolate for sweetness. It reminds me very much of the chocolate chai you get at Dishoom and is exactly what you want on the wet and grey days we’ve been having.
Enjoy!
Benjamina x
HOT CHOCOLATE SPONGE WITH CHOCOLATE CHAI CUSTARD
I tried a version of this recipe with my usual one bowl chocolate cake method of adding wet ingredients into the dry, bolstered with sour cream and hot coffee. Whilst delicious and fudgy, it wasn’t quite what I was after. I took it back to basics and went for a creaming method; something the dinner ladies would’ve have probably used too, albeit with margarine instead of butter. I do still stir in some hot water which helps to amplify the cocoa powder for more chocolate flavour.
You could skip the spices in the custard to stay close to what this pudding would’ve have been but I think it brings such a fun twist and makes everything even more comforting and indulgent. Serve it hot and add a splash of cold cream because you deserve it. (And for the hypnotic marble effect it creates on top).
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.