Brioche, Blueberry and Dark Chocolate Pudding

 

My beautiful, cylindrical, (expensive!) Parisian brioche was 2 days old by the time I used it for this recipe. This turned out to be the perfect level of staleness, slightly but not bone dry and made of a pudding, often heavy and stodgy, a beautifully light thing. Because the Brioche is already so butter rich, there is no need to butter the individual slices and that's even better. Raspberries would provide even better contrast, both in terms of colour and because of their sharp tang against the sweetness of chocolate and custard. Or you could replace the dark chocolate with white for another classical marriage. 

The pudding will rise in the heat and deflate, almost as soon as you take it out of the oven. This is fine.

With this version, serve with a blueberry ice cream for moody blue company.

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Preset oven to 180C

 

Equipment

1 loaf tin 24 cm x 13 cm x 7 cm

 

Butter for greasing tin

1 Brioche about 250g, sliced into centimetre thick slices, slightly stale

250 ml double cream

150 ml whole milk

2 large organic eggs

120 grams caster sugar, divided

1 tbs Maple syrup, optional

70 grams dark chocolate, broken up

200g fresh blueberries

 

In a medium bowl, combine the double cream, whole milk, Maple syrup if using and three quarters of the sugar.

Add the chopped up chocolate and the blueberries to this.

Butter the bottom and sides of the loaf tin and begin to fit the slices over the bottom, filling gaps with smaller pieces.

Pour enough custard to cover, making sure the chocolate and blueberries are evenly distributed.

Continue to build up the layers - brioche, custard, brioche, till all are used up.

Press down gently and let soak for a good 20 minutes before sprinkling with the remaining sugar and placing in the oven for 35 – 40 minutes, till the custard is set and the pudding is golden on top with crispy, golden bits sticking out.