Description
The sponge itself does make a little bit of its own sauce, so if you really don't want to make some separately, just serve it with chocolate ice cream.
Ingredients
For the pudding
2 x 415g/14oz cans pear halves in juice, drained
125g/4oz plain flour
25g/1oz cocoa powder
125g/4oz caster sugar
150g/5oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 free-range eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the sauce
1 x 170g/6oz can evaporated milk
½ tsp instant espresso powder
150ml/5fl oz golden syrup
100g/3½oz dark chocolate, minimum 70 per cent cocoa solids, broken into pieces
Method
1. For the pudding, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and grease a 22cm/8½in square ovenproof dish with butter.
2. Arrange the pear halves over the base of the dish.
3. Place all the remaining pudding ingredients into a food processor and blend to make a smooth batter with a soft dropping consistency.
4. Spread the batter over the pears in the dish, then transfer to the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Remove the pudding from the oven and let it stand for 5-10 minutes, then cut into slices.
6. For the sauce, place all the sauce ingredients into a small pan and heat gently, stirring frequently, until smooth and well combined.
7. To serve, place the pudding into bowls and pour over the chocolate sauce.
