I usually vary the topic of my posts from month to month, but this month I need to focus again on a dessert. It is December after all and “visions of sugarplums” are dancing in my head. So despite the number of cookies still around the house, my daughter Sophia and I made a special chocolate dessert for Christmas dinner. Why not?
The dessert featured in this post is a Johnson family holiday favorite – Steamed Chocolate Pudding. When I first joined the Johnson clan, my mother-in-law Solie served Steamed Chocolate Pudding for dessert with a creamy hard sauce. It was not a chocolate pudding in the American sense of soft and custardy, but it was a delicious soft chocolate cake that she steamed in a melon-shaped mold rather than baked. Served warm with a hard sauce, it was rightly heralded by family members as a culinary triumph, and adored at most holiday meals and special occasions.
Until I tasted this dessert, the only steamed puddings I knew about were in English novels, the classic and aristocratically consumed Christmas or plum pudding (made by manor kitchen staffs) of dried fruits held together by egg and suet, sometimes moistened by treacle (molasses) and flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and other spices. The novelists painstakingly described the multiple steps for producing this elaborate pudding; how it was doused in alcohol and aged for months, or even a year. And aside from the English, I knew no one who prepared steamed puddings until I tasted Solie Johnson’s.
My husband Weldon was weaned on his mother’s various chocolate treats and this dessert always ranked as his favorite. Consequently, Weldon is a committed chocolate lover who never talks about craving chocolate, but when chocolate arrives at home it vanishes quickly. Weldon initially pretends he is not interested in the chocolate, but then he will sneak it secretly until only wrappers are left as evidence of its existence. Weldon agrees with humorist Dave Barry who said “Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.”
So early in our marriage to satisfy Weldon’s chocolate fondness, I learned to make chocolate desserts and Steamed Chocolate Pudding, and Solie’s recipe became part of my sweets repertoire. Solie never told me the source of the recipe and, as Weldon recalled this dessert from earliest childhood, I just assumed Solie acquired it over the years either from her mother or perhaps cooking friends. But in Solie’s dog-eared copy of the 1931 edition of The Settlement Cookbook, a widely distributed cookbook which went through many editions, I found an entire chapter on steamed puddings. Steamed puddings were still part of the American culinary tradition in pre-World War II kitchens. The 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking still had 11 steamed pudding recipes, which were cut to two recipes by the 1997 edition of Joy. I suppose the recipes were considered too complicated for the contemporary cook and unsuitable for modern tastes.
For years I made Steamed Chocolate Pudding using Solie’s recipe, which was very, very good. Quite by accident, however, I stumbled on an English recipe for Steamed Chocolate Pudding which suggested adding fruit to the chocolate pudding mixture to add moisture and substance. Considering extensive English experience with such puddings, I decided to test it.
So I played around with Solie’s recipe numerous times, increasing butter and substituting dark brown for some of the granulated sugar. I also added Droste cocoa powder for a further chocolate dimension and cranberries, apple, candied orange peel and orange zest for softness and aroma. The result is a luscious cake which satisfies even the most ardent chocolate lover. The fruit, for the most part, vanishes in the pudding, leaving a pleasant tartness and fragrance. Topping the pudding with the chocolate ganache further ramps up the chocolateness. A spoon of flavored whipping cream adds creaminess to each serving.
A word about molds: I have an old German metal mold which I bought at a cookware shop. But no special mold is needed for this pudding. The Brits use round-bottomed heat-resistant ceramic or glass bowls for most steamed puddings. Bowls should be prepared like metal molds, but since they do not have a lid, the parchment or waxed paper should be tied onto the bowl with string.
Slava Johnson’s Steamed Chocolate Pudding
Pudding:
5 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups sifted flour|
¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
4 ounces bitter chocolate, shaved into small bits with a serrated knife (I used Ghirardelli 60% Bitter Chocolate)
1 tablespoon Droste cocoa powder
1 tablespoon flour
¾ to 1 cup whole fresh cranberries, chopped
1 granny smith apple finely chopped
|zest of one orange
2 tablespoons candied orange peel chopped in food processor with 3 tablespoons sugar
Chocolate Ganache:
4 ounces semisweet or bitter chocolate, coarsely chopped
|½ cup heavy cream
Flavored Whipping Cream:
1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 cup whipping cream|
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon brandy
Prepare a 6 cup mold: Butter thoroughly. Especially important if the mold is heavily fluted. Use pastry brush to get into corners. Add several tablespoons of cocoa powder and shake so all buttered surfaces of the mold. Tap mold upside down over sink to shake out excess cocoa. (Using cocoa, instead of flour, in preparing mold eliminates streaks of white on the cake).
Pudding: Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Alternatively add dry ingredients with milk to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture until well-blended.
Melt chocolate in double boiler (bowl with the chocolate cannot touch the hot water in the pot below). Remove bowl with chocolate from double boiler and cool for 4 minutes. Fold melted chocolate and Droste cocoa powder into the batter mixture until fully incorporated.
Place cranberries, apple, orange zest and candied orange into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Fold into batter.
Pour batter into mold (should be approximately ⅔ full. Cover with buttered parchment or waxed paper and metal lid or tie parchment or waxed paper with string if using bowl as mold. Place on rack in steamer. (I use a spaghetti pot with a rack insert). Add enough water to reach the bottom of mold. Cover steamer pot tightly and steam for two or more hours, periodically adding hot water during steaming.
After two hours in steamer, test pudding with toothpick. Pudding is done when toothpick comes out clean.
If serving within a few hours, keep over warm water until ready to serve. Pudding must be warm to unmold properly.
Unmolding: Run knife around top edge of pudding. Place serving plate or small cardboard cake round over top. Hold firmly as you invert mold. Shake to release.
The chocolate ganache can be poured over the pudding whether served warm or room temperature. However, when poured over the warm pudding, the ganache will be runny, like a fudge sauce. The ganache will eventually set into a glaze if pudding is cooled to room temperature or refrigerated. Garnish as desired.
Chocolate Ganache:
Place chocolate in a medium bowl. In a saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Let cool until thick yet pourable, 2 to 3 minutes.
Flavored Whipping Cream:
Beat whipping cream until stiff, adding flavorings toward the end of the beating. Serve a spoonful of whipping cream over pudding.
Serves 10
Photo credits: Slava Johnson
One year ago this month: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/dark-ale-braised-beef-short-ribs-carbonnade-a-la-flamande/; http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/exploring-the-foodways-of-dubai-part-1/; http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/exploring-the-foodways-of-dubai-part-2-2/