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Steamed Chocolate Pudding
2 cups flour 4 1/2 teaspoons baking-powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup corn sirup 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup hot mashed potatoes 1 egg 2 1/2 squares chocolate 3 tablespoons butter Mix and sift the flour, baking-powder and salt. Mix the sirup with the water and add to the flour mixture. Stir in the mashed potatoes and the beaten egg. Add the chocolate, which has been melted over hot water, and the melted fat. Mix well, pour into greased individual molds and steam two hours. Serve with any desired sauce.
A steamed pudding built on corn syrup and mashed potato rather than sugar and much butter -- an economical formula that still works, provided the molds are filled and timed sensibly.
- Chocolate squaresA square is one ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate, so 2 1/2 squares is 2 1/2 oz. Do not substitute semisweet or chips; the recipe's only sweetening is the corn syrup, and sweet chocolate throws the balance and the texture off.
- Corn sirupAlmost certainly a light corn syrup, though the recipe does not specify; measure it as a liquid cup. It keeps the pudding moist and slightly chewy. Golden syrup works and gives a rounder flavour; honey would dominate the chocolate.
- Mashed potatoThe recipe says only 'hot mashed potatoes'; it functions here as a starch to keep the crumb tender and damp, so plain freshly cooked and riced potato is the safest reading. Heavily dressed or seasoned leftover mash risks a heavier, more savoury pudding.
- Melted fat, cooledMelted fat -- the recipe adds the melted chocolate and melted butter after the beaten egg is stirred in; letting them fall to just warm first is prudent so they do not cook the egg. Chocolate and butter can be melted together in one bowl over hot water to save a step.
- Timing for the mold sizeTiming -- the recipe calls for two hours in individual molds, which is long by modern practice for small molds. Small molds of about 3/4 cup will usually test done well before that, so check with a skewer rather than assuming the full two hours is needed.
- Setting up the steamerFill greased molds two-thirds full, cover each with a pleated square of foil or greased paper tied down, and stand them on a rack in a covered pot with simmering water reaching halfway up. Keep the water at a bare simmer and top it up with boiling water as it drops.
- LeaveningFour and a half teaspoons of baking powder in two cups of flour is high by modern standards, but steamed puddings get no oven spring and the batter is heavy with syrup and potato. Use it as written and mix only until combined.
- Yield and sauceEnough for eight small molds or one 6-cup basin, serving six to eight. A thin vanilla custard, hard sauce or plain cream all suit it; the pudding itself is only moderately sweet.