Chocolate and Orange Steamed Sponge
Another delicious recipe from Executive Chef Gelf Alderson, this pudding is an indulgent winter warmer. Serve with lashings of hot custard, double cream or a dollop of tangy organic yoghurt. A drizzle of boozy chocolate sauce would also be a welcome addition.
Ingredients
2 oranges (zest of 1, both segmented and the remains juiced)
2 tbsp golden syrup
250g softened butter
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
200g self-raising flour
50g cocoa powder
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground star anise
A little extra flour and butter for lining the pudding basin
Method
Grease and flour a medium sized pudding basin.
Zest 1 orange and put this in a little bowl.
Segment both the oranges. Once you have finished segmenting the oranges, collect up any juices into the bowl containing the zest and squeeze the carcasses of the oranges to get all the juice out of them that you can.
Arrange the orange segments in the bottom of the basin, drizzle over the golden syrup.
Place the butter and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat for around 5 minutes, until light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time and beat until combined.
Sieve your dry ingredients into the mixing bowl (self-raising flour, coco powder, ground star anise, cinnamon) then add the orange zest and orange juice and carefully fold everything together until combined.
Pour the cake mixture into the basin and gently flatten the top.
Put a large saucepan with 3-4 inches of water onto the stove and bring to the boil. Take the pan off the heat to carefully lower the pudding bowl into the water, ensuring the water won’t come over the edge of the basin as it bubbles and you don’t burn your fingers (a string handle can help with lowering it in). Tightly wrap tin foil round the top of the sauce pan, place a lid on top and place the pan back on the heat to continue to bubble gentle, trapping the steam inside.
Cook for 1hr 10mins, checking occasionally to make sure the pan isn’t boiling dry.
Once cooked, loosen the pudding around the edges and then turn out onto a plate and serve with the creamy accompaniment of your choice!