I’m not much of a chocolate guy. After a big restaurant meal, I'll usually pass over chocolate desserts in favor of something light and fruity. If after reading that, you're thinking I must be from another planet, rest assured, I'm human and I do get an occasional chocolate craving. Perhaps it’s my palette's way of protesting all the chocolate that I pass up, but when the urge hits, it's pushy and unrelenting like a sleazy guy in a bar.
This chocolate pudding is one of the fastest ways to douse those fiery cravings (though you could get there even faster with my molten chocolate omelette) and comes together in about fifteen minutes. For those of you who are thinking that that's fifteen minutes too long, let me describe for you the reward for your pittance of patience. The moment the thick chocolate pudding hits your tongue, it liquefies into a silky pool of rich chocolate bliss. Dark, sweet, and luscious with a hint of contrasting bitterness, this chocolate pudding is like a mainline of uncut cacao that'll sedate even the fiercest of chocolate cravings. Unfortunately, like most good things in life, your bowl of puddin' won't last for long, so be warned: that this chocolate pudding is habit forming.
Connoisseurs may argue that a pot de crème is a superior way of delivering chocolate into your system, but I’d like to see someone pull off a 15 minute pot de creme. Also, while this decadent chocolate pudding is far from healthy, it's made mostly with milk, and is set with yolks and cornstarch instead of just yolks, so it's a little less unhealthy, right? At least that’s what I tell myself as I lift spoon after spoon of this addiction inducing pudding to my mouth.
I made this using Valrhona Caraïbe (66%) chocolate and Scharffen Berger cocoa, but any high quality chocolate and cocoa will do. By using chocolate buttons, you'll save yourself some precious time because you don't need to chop them up first. Once made, this chocolate pudding will keep for up to a week in the fridge, and it makes great trifles with fresh raspberries or bananas. To dress it up a bit, try drizzling an equally quick raspberry coulis on top.
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 5 extra large egg yolks
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 30 grams cornstarch (~¼ cup)
- 15 grams unsweetened cocoa powder (~2 tablespoons)
- 140 grams dark chocolate (65+% cacao)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon cultured unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it's steaming and there are small bubbles coming up around the edges, but do not let it boil.
- While the milk is heating, put the yolks, sugar and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk at medium high speed until the eggs are a shiny pale yellow color (about 2 minutes).
- Add the cornstarch and cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer running at low speed, slowly pour in the hot milk along the edge of the bowl being careful to avoid the whisk. A pouring shield will help.
- Wash the saucepan out and then strain the pudding mixture back into the pot through a fine mesh sieve.
- Put the pot back on the stove over medium heat and cook the chocolate pudding, stirring constantly with the spatula. Be sure to scrape up the bottom of the pan as the mixture thickens so it doesn't burn.
- Your pudding is done when it's very thick and has reached 170 degrees F. Don't worry if some lumps form, provided you strained the mixture in step 5, the lumps should go away in the next step.
- Turn off the heat and then add the chocolate a little bit at a time. Stir vigorously with the spatula to incorporate the melting chocolate and to break up any lumps.
- Once all the chocolate has been added and your pudding is smooth, stir in the butter, cream and vanilla until uniformly incorporated.
- The pudding can be served warm, or you can cover with plastic wrap pressed up against the pudding to chill.
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
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Zee says
How do you think Splenda would work?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Zee, there's no structural reason why it would not work. Personally I'm not a fan of Splenda among sugar substitutes, but since you're asking, I'm assuming you're already using it so that shouldn't be a problem.
CARRIE says
Cheers Mate!! Going to give this one a go ASAP!!
Stasia says
I just made this pudding for a pie and it was worth the extra effort! It is so rich, creamy, and divine. I used the leftover heavy cream and whipped it up with some powdered sugar and coconut extract. On an oreo crust I did a layer of half the pudding, a layer of the rest of the pudding folded with half the whipped cream, and a final layer of the rest of the whipped cream. It is delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Stasia, that sounds delicious! Glad to hear the pudding helped:-) I bet it looked great too!
Npriscilla Chan says
Hi Marc! I'm glad that I'm not the only one who always picks the fruity desserts at restaurants! =D I made it today for my friends who love chocolate and it tastes great! However the pudding sets very fast and by the time I pour it in individual glasses, it's not lustrous as yours. I had to use a spoon to smoothen the top surface to make it more even but still isn't that presentable. Any suggestion?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Priscilla, it does tend to form a skin when cooled. To avoid this, you can try placing a piece of plastic wrap directly against the surface of the pudding. This should prevent the skin from forming. You could also just pour it into your serving dishes while the pudding is still warm, and then refrigerate them until you're ready to serve.
ian peter says
looks delightful and pleasant
Osvaldo says
This recipe calls for yolks; the introductory text and the recipe do not seem to quite
match.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi osvaldo, yolks are the yellow part of the egg. You just need to separate out the clear part and use it for something else. Hope that helps.
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Vi H. says
The pictures are gorgeous and the pudding looks absolutely divine!! Sometimes when I have a chocolate craving, I just munch straight from a premium chocolate bar which takes less than a minute.
Osvaldo says
I was referring to the contrast you draw between pot de creme and the pudding regarding the use of yolks versus whole eggs in the intro text.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Osvaldo, the contrast is between using just yolks vs eggs + cornstarch to thicken. Am I missing something?
Emma says
Ugh! I love everything about this recipe. Using the egg white as well as the yolk definitely saves the hassle of storing it in your fridge and trying to find a way to use it later.
Larry Clark says
Osvaldo is right. The intro to your recipe brags about using whole eggs as opposed to the yolks only of pot de creme, but your ingredient list calls for only YOLKS and not whole eggs.
Marc Matsumoto says
I think I see where the confusion is now. Since yolks are a part of the egg, and I never said "whole" I assumed people would understand that "egg + cornstarch" was equivalent to saying "yolk + cornstarch" since it was being compared to yolks. I guess I assumed wrong. The point which seems to have gotten lost is that there are fewer egg yolks in this than would be required to make another type of custard using yolks alone since the cornstarch helps to thicken it.
Teululah Belle says
How do I convert the 140 grams of chocolate to the American measurement standard?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Teululah, you can just type XXX grams to ounces in google and it will do the conversion for you.
Mary Lee Borislow says
I had egg yolks left from making angel food cake so decided to make this. It is a bit of busy work with all the stirring. Make sure to measure it all out and line it up before starting. Turned out great, really thick and creamy. Will definitely keep this recipe!!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mary, glad to hear you enjoyed it!
aztcqn says
This is decadent!!!! A little less unhealthy if using raw cream and butter. 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
Hahaha, sometimes we need decadent, that's why I probably only make this once a year 😉
Jin says
The best chocolate pudding ever! i like to add freeze dried raspberries or jaffa cakes (the orange makes the chocolate taste stand out so well!)
I wonder if by leaving out the cocoa powder and chocolate this can become a vanilla pudding recipe as well?