What's better than Bread and Butter Pudding? Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding Cake with Strawberries!! Yes, it looks like a layer cake, but it's really a chocolatey bread pudding!
150g(5.3 oz) dark, 72% cocoa chocolatechopped into small pieces
Also:
600g(1.3 lbs) strawberriesstalks removed, thinly sliced (slice top-to-bottom, rather than slicing across the strawberries)
6tbspNutellaslightly warmed in a microwave or pan to loosen
1small chunk dark chocolategrated
Instructions
Turn one of the bread boules on it's side, slice the top off, then cut two thick slices (approx 3/4" or 2cm in thickness). Repeat with the other bread boule, so you have 4 thick slices of bread. Using a boule, means they should be round slices, but if they're a little wonky, just try to tease the slices into a round shape.
2 day-old white bread boules
Now take two baking tins that will fit the bread boule slices snugly. I used two oven-proof saucepans, each 15.5cm (6.1") in diameter. Line the sides and base of the pan with baking parchment.
Butter both sides of each of the slices of bread with the unsalted butter. Press one piece of the bread into the bottom of each pan. Put to one side whilst you make the custard.
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Heat the milk, cream, and vanilla extract in a saucepan until almost boiling (don't let it boil though).
200 ml (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) full-fat milk, 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) double/heavy cream, 1 tsp vanilla extract
Meanwhile, add the eggs, egg yolk, brown sugar, and cornflour together in a large jug. When the milk is almost at boiling point, turn off the heat and add a splash of the hot milk to the eggs whilst stirring with a whisk. Continue to add a splash at a time, whilst stirring until you've used a third of the milk mixture (Note 2), then pour the rest of the milk into the jug and stir.
3 whole eggs, 1 egg yolk, 100 g (1/2 cup) light brown muscavado sugar, 2 tbsp cornflour
Give your pan a quick wash to remove milk residue, then pour the mixture from the jug back into the pan and heat on a medium heat, whilst stirring, until the mixture thickens to a thick-cream consistency. Turn off the heat.
Add the butter and chocolate to the pan, and stir until melted. If you're making extra custard, take out half now to save for serving.
Pour a quarter of the custard mixture over the bread slice in the pan. Repeat with the other pan. Add the other slice of bread into each pan, and push down so it fits snugly on top. Pour over the remaining custard, so it completely covers the bread.
Leave to soak into the bread for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/350F (fan).
Once the bread has soaked, place both pan in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the custard has set.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out onto plates and remove the baking parchment. They'll still be a little custardy on the bottom, but that's fine. Turn the cakes back over again, so they're the same way up as when they were cooked.
Place one of the cake layers on a serving plate and drizzle or pipe on half of the Nutella. Arrange half the sliced strawberries on top, working from the outside in.
600 g (1.3 lbs) strawberries, 6 tbsp Nutella
Place the remaining layer on top and drizzle with the remaining Nutella, letting it drip down the sides of the cake too. Arrange the rest of the strawberries on top and sprinkle on the grated chocolate before serving. Eat warm or cold.
This is called tempering. Adding a little of the hot milk at a time stops the eggs from scrambling - meaning you'd have thin, lumpy custard
STORAGE - cover and store the pudding the fridge for up to a day
REHEAT - you can reheat individual slices in the microwave or covered with foil in the oven until piping hot throughout. The strawberries will be heated too, but I think this tastes rather nice.
Nutritional Information is per serving. This doesn't include extra custard. Also, since we only use approx 2/3 of the bread, the nutritional info is accounting for about 540g of bread altogether.