Chocolate and Cointreau self-saucing puddings

With an added tipple of Cointreau for that little extra kick, this chocolate pudding recipe is any chocoholic’s dream. With an indulgent, luxuriously gooey chocolate sauce, these puddings are guaranteed to finish any dinner party on a high note.

Serves: 4
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
For the puddings:
100g of unsalted butter, softened plus extra for greasing
150g of caster sugar
2 free-range eggs
2 oranges, zested and juiced
175g of plain flour
2 tsp of baking powder
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
For the sauce:
6 tbsp of cocoa powder
100g of soft brown sugar
400ml of water, boiling
30ml of Cointreau
To plate:
1 tub of vanilla ice cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas mark 4 and grease 4 ramekins well with butter.
2. In a bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar, before adding the eggs, orange juice and zest.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.
4. Next, fold the flour mix into the butter mixture, and equally distribute the mixture amongst the 4 ramekins.
5. To make the sauce, mix together the cocoa powder and brown sugar and sprinkle over each ramekin.
6. Over each ramekin pour 100ml of boiling water, before baking in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Then, remove from the oven and pour the Cointreau equally over each ramekin, before baking for another 5 minutes.
7. For an extra indulgence, serve each pudding with a big dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

Recipe courtesy of Great British Chefs. Visit their site for more indulgent baking recipes