Eggless Self-Saucing Rich Chocolate Pudding

Directions

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease a 9" square or round baking pan. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl.
2. 2
   If you prefer a pudding that you will serve with ice cream or want to cut down on the sweetness do feel free to reduce or skip the sugar for the topping or reduce it (but don't skip) in the batter. I reduced the sugar in the topping from 1/2 cup to 1 tablespoon when I planned to serve the pudding with ice cream. Using muscovado/dark or soft brown sugar is recommended as it enhances the taste.
3. 3
   Baking time reduced to 25-30 mins to help bake a softer and more runny pudding
4. 4
   Prepare the topping, in a bowl, make a lump-free mixture of the cocoa powder and dark brown sugar. Dissolve the coffee powderintothe boiling water and let it cool.
5. 5
   To melt the chocolate, butter and caster sugar (step#
6. 6
   Notes updated against the amount of sugar in the batter and topping
7. 7
   Place the chocolate, butter and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted. * see notes.
8. 8
   we use something called as the double boiler technique .
9. 9
   Remove from the heat.
10. 10
    Place the 3 ingredients in a deep bowl and then place the bowl over a small saucepan with a little water in it. Bring the water to a boil and reduce it to sim. The heat will help the chocolate melt. If you are using this technique to only melt chocolate, make sure that the base of the bowl in which the chocolate is kept does not come in contact with the simmering water below or there is every chance for the chocolate to seize (turn lumpy and hard and impossible to work with).
11. 11
    Add the sifted flour mixture in parts to the melted chocolate mixture and stir until incorporated. Stir in the milk and vanilla extract and pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
12. 12
    If you skip the 70 grams of caster sugar in the topping you may get a pudding that is less runny, keep a eye out and remove the pudding out of the oven as soon as the pudding/cake springs up to the touch.
13. 13
    Sprinkle the topping of the dark brown sugar & cocoa mixture evenly over the pudding mixture and then pour the coffee solution over it.
14. 14
    Add this quantity of sugar if you are going to serve the pudding with fresh cream/unsweetened whipped cream. Reduce or skip it if you wish to serve the pudding with ice cream
15. 15
    Bake for 40 minutes and then remove the pan.