Chocolate Fudge Pudding (CFP)

(from Emma Levy)




I like to call Chocolate Fudge Pudding (or CFP as it's known in the Levy family) my "signature dish".  How does a dish become one's signature dish?  Because it was the only dessert I could make, and I made it repeatedly.  This hot chocolate pudding became a favourite in my family, and is now a favourite of our kids.  It's easy to make, though from memory I did go through a phase where I left a vital ingredient out each time, but that speaks to my attention problems rather than the recipe which is very straightforward.

The reason CFP deserves a spot in the Pass It On blog is that it's the last thing I ever baked for my mum.  That night was also the first time she met my husband-to-be, so it was a special night all around.  It was entirely fitting that it was the last thing I baked for her, as mum loved it and always told me that at a restaurant you should work out what you want for dessert first, and then decide on a main course that will leave you with enough room.  It was also fitting that it was the first thing Richard ever tasted of my baking, as he soon worked out there was a small repetoire so at least we were starting with the best.

My brother also needs a mention here (he's alive and well but doesn't read cooking blogs, even when his sister co-facilitates them) as he thinks the cookbook is hilarious because it's really obvious that there's only one recipe I make, as all the pages are crisp and white until you get to the CFP page, which is splattered in chocolate.

And credit where credit's due, the recipe is from Mary Pat Fergus' "Junior Cook Dinner Book", first published in 1972.  The juniors will love to make it and eat it, and the seniors will love it just as much.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
50g butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup hot coffee 

Directions
1.    Turn oven on to 180C.
2.    Sift flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and the 1 tsp cocoa into mixing bowl.
3.    Melt butter.  Stir in the milk and the vanilla.
4.    Stir into the mixing bowl until it's all well-mixed.
5.    Spoon it all evenly into a greased casserole dish.
6.    Sieve brown sugar and 1 tsp cocoa evenly over.
7.    Pour the hot coffee over it all - DON'T STIR IT.
8.    Bake for 50 mins.

Serve with cream or ice-cream (the diet starts tomorrow).

(I find this makes quite a small amount and tend to double it if there's a big group, or just make 1 1/2 times the amount for a normal sized one.  For a romantic dinner for two - the above is perfect!)