Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

Lincoln promised me he'd remember every thing extra that I chucked in the recipe, so I could remake it.  I should really test his memory, as this is testing mine!

I started off with the standards...

1 cup of self raising flour
3 tablespoons of cocoa
1/2 cup caster sugar
80g butter, melted & cooled
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, beaten

(and then I investigated the fridge, and found the chocolate melts I'd bought for some reason but hadn't used)

1 bag Cadbury milk chocolate melts (I think dark would have worked well, too)

(realised there was no vanilla, and hell, I like vanilla)

1 tablespoon vanilla
pinch of salt for the hell of it.

For the sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
4-6 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 cups of boiling water.

Preheat oven to 180c.  Grease a 2L+ (I used a 2L container, and it JUST stayed in the container.  It was close though.  Use a bigger one if you have one) baking dish.

Sift flour, salt, caster sugar & cocoa in to a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl/jug, whisk butter, milk, vanilla and egg.  Slowly add this to the flour mixture, although I forgot and just dumped it all in, and it worked out well.  Mix well.

Add in the chocolate melts, stir to combine, then pour in to baking dish.

Sprinkle brown sugar & cocoa on top of pudding mix (I think I used 4 heaped tablespoons of cocoa).  Using the back of a soup spoon or other large spoon, slowly pour the boiling water on to the spoon to fall in to the pudding dish.  Why do you do this?  It apparently stops the boiling water from disturbing the sugar - but when you think about it, the sugar's going to melt anyway.  I generally get bored of doing it that way about 1/2 way through. Also, I have a tendency to burn my fingers when I do it that way.  Perhaps I should pour slower.

Bake in oven for 30-40 mins.  Lincoln had his with just king island cream, I had it with mixed berries and cream.

What I want to try next time:  chopping up a block of Lindt dark chocolate and chucking that in, instead.  Leaving chunks of chocolate to see if you get chocolate pockets.  Would also be interesting to try with some Haighs peppermint or orange pastilles.  If you don't do another flavouring, I also think a shot of espresso would work well in it, too.