Whisky & Orange Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding from The Comfort Bake by Sally Wise

When you move into a new home it can take a little while before home feels like home. Sometimes you need a good hug from a friendly face and something warm and decadent to treat your self. Lucky for me I have recently had both. The something warm and decadent came first.

A couple of weeks ago I was sent Sally Wise's new cookbook 'The Comfort Bake'. This is the kind of book where you go oooo, ahhh, yummm, oh I want that, I'm hungry. And then if you're like me you rustle around your pantry and work out you have everything you need for a gooey self saucing chocolate pudding and all you're missing is ice cream. Which, luckily, the new home is right around the corner from the servo.

This gooey self saucing chocolate pudding I made has an offical name, Whisky & Orange Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding. Have you skipped down to the recipe and are you rustling around your pantry yet? 

It's a recipe that you just have to trust Sally and follow her simple instructions without too much thought. It will work. I find most self-saucing recipes really test my trained background because everything about me says that pouring 300ml of boiling liquid over a cake batter means it will turn into soup, but it doesn't. The cake batter cooks and rises through the hot liquid which turns into a spoon licking chocolate sauce you can't get enough of. You don't end up with undercooked cake batter which you aren't sure if it's meant to be sauce or cake  or a bit of both (I am not a 'lick the beaters' kind of baker). You very much get a rich warm pudding and a chocolate sauce that goes perfectly with some vanilla ice cream or double cream. It's a perfect recipe for the cooler nights where you find yourself on the couch, curled up watching season 2 of Bridgerton. May I even say, it's been positively 'cold' up here in FNQ... perfect!

Every recipe in The Comfort Bake screams home, warmth, love and full bellies. From the Very Ginger Gingernuts biscuits which I cannot wait to bake, to the Plum Crumble Cake which Sally says can easily be serves as a dessert with custard or the Savoury Pull-apart Loaf which is high up on my 'to-bake' list. They are recipes which will make you happy.

‘Images and text from The Comfort Bake by Sally Wise, photography by Samuel Shelley. Murdoch Books RRP $39.99.’

Whisky & Orange Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

Recipe from The Comfort Bake by Sally Wise

Serves 4–6

While a chocolate self-saucing pudding is always a favourite, this recipe takes the concept to a whole new, supremely delicious, level.

For the sponge
150 g (5½ oz) self-raising flour
pinch of sea salt
100 g (3½ oz) white (granulated) sugar
25 g (1 oz) cocoa
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
60 g (2¼ oz) salted butter, melted
125 ml (4 fl oz) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the sauce
100 g (3½ oz) soft brown sugar
20 g (¾ oz) cocoa
300 ml (10½ fl oz) boiling water
60 ml (2 fl oz) whisky
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) orange juice

To make the sponge

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F). Grease an 18–20 cm (7–8 inch) round baking dish, 10 cm (4 inches) deep.

Whisk together all the sponge ingredients until smooth.

Spoon this batter evenly into the dish.

To make the sauce

Sprinkle the combined brown sugar and cocoa over the sponge mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix together the boiling water, whisky and orange juice and pour carefully over the sponge mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes until the sponge has risen and is firm to the touch.