Steamed chocolate pudding with warm Mars bar sauce I made this pudding recently and half of it was eaten by the family before it made it to the table. The pudding is so very moist and the Mars bar sauce is just out of this world; it is a chocolatey take on a steamed golden syrup pudding. Serves 6 (V) 225g soft light brown sugar 225g butter, softened 5 eggs Seeds of 1 vanilla pod or a couple of drops of vanilla extract 150g plain flour 12g or 1 almost tbsp baking powder 50g cocoa powder 60g ground almonds Pinch of salt Vegetable oil, for oiling (or use an oil spray)
Mars bar sauce 5 x standard size Mars bars 75g melted butter
Equipment 1.5-litre capacity pudding basin
Make sure the pudding basin fits comfortably inside a large pan with plenty of room for a lid. Put the sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat well. Add two eggs, the vanilla, half of the flour and the baking powder and beat well until it is combined. Add the remaining eggs, the rest of the flour and all of the cocoa and beat very well until combined. Add the ground almonds and salt and stir well. Set aside. Put all the ingredients for the Mars bar sauce into a small pan and melt over a low heat, stirring from time to time so it does not burn. Once it has melted, pour a quarter of it into the bottom of the pudding basin and set it aside. Dollop the chocolate pudding mixture on top of the sauce. Brush or spray a large piece of foil with vegetable oil and place it over the top of the pudding basin, making sure there is room for the pudding to rise during cooking. Secure the foil just under the rim of the bowl, about 3cm from the top, with a piece of string. The pudding basin needs to be lifted in and out of the big pan, and I usually get another piece of string and make a handle with it, so I can manoeuvre it around easily. Now lower the pudding basin into the large pan and put the kettle on to boil. Pour the hot water into the