Saturday, March 20, 2010

Chocolate Pudding Cakes and Give-Away



I love magazines. I love the excitement of seeing them in the mailbox, ripping open the plastic to view the new cover photo, and of course, the smell.  My favorite one to smell is the "InStyle" magazine.  I've always wondered why a company hasn't come out with a perfume that smells like "InStyle" - the combination of all of the perfume samples combined with the ink is so wonderful.  I subscribe to several food magazines each month and pore over them looking for new recipes and ideas to use in the kitchen.  I was going through my stack of magazines the other day and came across a few of my favorite issues I've collected.  I like to pick up these favorite issues, thumb through them once in a while, and dream of all of the recipes and crafts I'm going to do. 

One of my favorites is a Martha Stewart Living magazine from June 2008. The cover has a honey-glazed beehive cake with marzipan bees. I've looked at that recipe so many times and have made a mental note to buy the beehive cake pan, but I've never actually done so - not quite sure why. I've even seen the cake pan at Williams Sonoma but passed it up thinking "I'll do it later." There's another magazine from 2008 that includes instructions for homemade luminaries, a bandana-patterned fruit tart, and you gotta love the hand-stitched drink covers so the pesky mosquitoes don't get into your drink. One of these days I'm going to have that perfect outdoor party with handmade everything.

I also have a Donna Hay magazine (issue39) that I longingly gaze through every-so-often. The cover says "Take it Slow". I think that's why I like the issue so much. There's a recipe for homemade s‘mores - homemade all the way down to the graham crackers - that everyone gathers to eat on the beach in the winter. Sometimes I wonder why I don't make all these recipes, but then I realize that I enjoy looking and simply fanaticizing about what it would be like to cook up Clam Chowder over the fire on the beach followed by those gooey homemade s'mores. For one thing, there's no clean-up if I simply leaf through the pictures and imagine all the tranquil fun.


I also have recipes in piles from 10+ years ago I'm still planning to try someday.  One of them is a lemon sussex pudding featuring an entire lemon baked inside the middle of a cake.  I'll get to that one day, but so far I haven't found the right afternoon to experiment with a cake and a whole lemon.  There's also a craft project to make a darling umbrella stand using a galvanized bucket and some paint.  So cute, but quite impractical for where I live now.   Besides, all my friends know I'm not very crafty; even the kids know they come to my house for the good food, but down the street, my friend Jenn has all the great crafts.


I love a simple, homey self-saucing chocolate pudding.  I've made many different variations over the years, but I found another version in one of my "old favorite" magazines from the wicker basket and I thought I'd give it a shot.  Of course, as with most recipes, I modified the process so it would fit my desire for whole, unrefined ingredients.  I've also been playing a bit with gluten-free grains so I made this one gluten-free just for the fun of it.

I'm having a give-away this week for a pair of Le Creuset stoneware baking dishes!  One is a 10.5" x 7" and the other is 7"x 5" in a beautiful blue caribbean color.  The good people at the CSN stores are hosting this give-away.  They sell everything from cookware to yoga gear to barstools - love a site like that!  To enter the give-away please leave a comment between today and Monday, March 22nd and I'll announce the winner on Tuesday.  Good luck!



Individual Chocolate Pudding Cakes
If you don't have any gluten-free flours on hand you can simply substitute 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for the rice, sorghum and tapioca flours. 
Serves 4

1/2 cup brewed herbal coffee
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup cacao powder 
1/3 cup organic whole cane sugar or sucanat (to read about this sugar click here)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup organic whole cane sugar or sucanat, divided
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
2 tablespoons tapioca flour (or starch)
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 large egg yolk

Preheat oven to 400°F and adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Lightly oil 4 (8-ounce) ramekins or ovenproof bowls and set them on a baking sheet. Stir together herbal coffee and water and set aside. In a medium bowl combine 1/3 cup whole cane sugar and maple syrup until sugar is moist.  Stir in 1/3 cup cocoa, and 1/3 cup whole cane sugar breaking up any large clumps with fingers; set aside.

Melt butter, remaining 1/3 cup cocoa, and chocolate in a double boiler and whisk until smooth. Whisk rice flour, sorghum flour, tapioca flour, and baking powder in small bowl to combine; set aside. Whisk remaining 2/3 cup whole cane sugar, vanilla, milk, sea salt, and egg yolk in medium bowl until combined. Add the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Add flour mixture and whisk until batter is evenly moistened.

2. Divide batter evenly among ramekins and level with back of spoon.  Sprinkle about 3 tablespoons cocoa/sugar mixture over batter in each ramekin. Pour 4 tablespoons coffee mixture over cocoa/sugar mixture in each ramekin. Bake for 20 minutes until puffed. (Do not overbake.) Cool puddings for about 15 minutes before serving (cakes will fall).

This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday

64 comments:

  1. I'll be trying this very soon. Yum!

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  2. That looks so delicious and love the baking dishes; what a pretty color!!

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  3. Love the blue color of these baking dishes! Your pudding looks so delicious!

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  4. That looks delicious! I just bought some sucanat and am anxious to replace refined sugar. Thanks for the chance to win the dishes!

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  5. always looking for new, natural, organic ingredients. on my way to google sucanat.

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  6. I'm the same way with magazines. Just the idea of making one of the recipes or crafts is fun.

    I love the color of the baking dishes! Thanks for the give-away! :)

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  7. Ummm wow, these look TO DIE FOR! I love how you put them in those mugs!

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  8. MMM! That Chocolate Pudding Cake looks so delicious. I can't wait for your cookbook to come out because I'm pretty sure I've copied every recipe on your website already and they have rolled corners in my 3 ring binder.

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  9. You had me at "pudding." :)

    I love magazine too and am always looking for inspiration. One of the magazine I love is 'Body & Soul.' Do you subscribe to that one?

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  10. This looks amazing, and gluten-free too? Yay!

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  11. aforaubergine: Yes, I get that one too! Lately "Real Simple" has put out some amazing issues. Love all those "time saving" articles!

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  12. great idea for when friends come over to let the kids play and the moms sit around the kitchen table chatting.

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  13. Your cakes are lovely! I've made a mental note of that beehive cake many times, as well... One day...

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  14. yum those look delicious! thanks for the chance to win

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  15. My husband laughs at me because i have marked SO many recipes in every magazine I get (real simple, bon appetit, Food and Wine, Everydayfood, and Food Network magazine- yes, i love magazines too!) and we both know we'll never have time to make them all, but i can have goals!

    I loved that issue of Martha Stewart Living too and knew exactly which one you were talking about!

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  16. YUMMY! Think I'll try them tomorrow when Matt's working the airshow.

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  17. I agree that the new magazine smell is intoxicating, but after years of watching the old copies pile up without making the cover recipes... I had to cancel my subscriptions. It's too depressing!

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  18. I agree, the color of those pans is awesome. but not as much as the puddings...I'll need to find an excuse for those very soon. maybe we'll celebrate "it's the sunday that's 2 weeks before Easter!" tomorrow...hmmm...yes...this could work...

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  19. For some reason, I'm suddenly craving chocolate! :) Thanks for the chance to win the bakeware...

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  20. The pudding cake looks lovely, and I love the photograph with the red and white napkin underneath.

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  21. You can never go wrong with chocolate!

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  22. I was literally just going through my huge stack of cooking magazines today, tearing out and sorting recipes I want to try someday, even though I know I'll forget about them, and you're right: it is fun to open magazines and vicariously enjoy all the homemade stuff! These pudding cakes look incredible.

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  23. Yummy! Those look great! And those pans are awesome!

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  24. "Self Saucing" OK I am in love with these chocolate pudding cakes! Gorgeous photos. I have the stacks of inspirational magazines that I never look at now that I am on the computer all the time.
    So are you gonna brand the "In Style Parfum"....hilarious! I know what you mean.

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  25. looks delicious. chocolate, how I love you in so many ways!

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  26. i love chocolate :) my best dessert everytime :)your chocolate pudding cake looks fluffly and yummy =)

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  27. That looks so nice and yummy! Good idea to serve them in coffeecups!

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  28. I've gone one step further with my favorite magazine recipes and scanned them in on my laptop so they are searchable. I have even synced then with my iPhone so I can take a look at ingredients while i'm at the store.

    This recipe looks great. I can't wait to try it:)

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  29. I have so many recipes piled up that I want to try! And now I'm going to add these pudding cakes to the list! I'm going to have to see if I can find sucanat at the store.

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  30. WOW those look scrumptious and what cute presentation! yum yum! Perfect for baking day Sunday

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  31. I need to try cooking with different flours. The pudding cake sounds really good!

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  32. Love the way the chocolate looks in those white cups!

    Would love those baking dishes, too.

    Thanks!

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  33. I've been meaning to comment for some time now. I do love your blog ever so! I'm going to try the wild rice recipe from last week for lunches this week. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and talents!

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  34. I am a recipe saver too- I used to clip them from newspapers, magazines, then later the net, etc. I have a complete file box of recipes (organized by categories) that are as of yet untried! I've had to really reign myself in- of course it's much easier now not to clip/try recipes that we are trying to eat/live in a Nourishing Traditions way- though I still save non NT recipes for when I bake for others. :) Would *love* to win those dishes too- yeah! Someone is going to be so happy about that!

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  35. Thanks you for making this gluten free! They look wonderful. Le Creuset is my favorite brand for cook ware. I've loved their pots since I was a little girl. And yes, the Martha Stewart Living magazine with the bee hive cake is a keeper! What is it about that bee hive cake?!

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  36. I do the same with magazines! lol Though I never seem to follow the recipes exactly, when I do get around to them.... I love the giveaway.

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  37. Used my leftover egg whites from the Banana Cream Tart in the scrambled eggs this morning. :) Thanks for keeping us honest, Carrie.

    Paula

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  38. This looks absolutely delightful. I'll have to try it out very soon.

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  39. Thank you for your blog and all the time and effort you put into it. It is appreciated!!

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  40. Chocolate pudding cakes...YUM! I've been "needing" a little chocolate fix lately!

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  41. I love the idea of serving the pudding in a coffee cup!

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  42. As a newbie to eating an organic diet, thank you for this recipe! It looks delish.

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  43. Yum, looks delicious, and beautiful photographs!

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  44. I'm adding this to my list to try once we get to Seattle!

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  45. Hope I'm not too late for the comment and a chance to win!

    A friend asked me for a chocolate pudding recipe last night and I pulled out an old faithful, but I will send her a link for this one as well....

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  46. That pudding looks super delicious and I absolutely love le creuset. I'm doing a giveaway on my site as well right now(http://www.akitcheninbrooklyn.com)

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  47. That pudding looks super delicious and I absolutely love le creuset. I'm doing a giveaway on my site as well right now(http://www.akitcheninbrooklyn.com)

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  48. Chocolate and Le Creuset - Hellooooooooo. I want both!

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  49. I've been traveling the past two weeks and came home to stacks of magazines, including InStyle! And I LOVE smelling it, LOL!! My new favorite is Food Network Magazine.

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  50. These look AMAZING! Yum!

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  51. Hoping I can win and here is one for you too!

    I am having a "Blue Monday" giveaway~stop by to see~

    Thanks...Have a terrific week!

    Carrie

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  52. love the dishes. what's the chocolate cake recipe? I'm gluten free and curious about that cake. :)

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  53. Your creations (and photography) rock my world!

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  54. Your blog is really beautiful, and I love the healthy recipes. And yay for Le Creuset!! What a lovely color!

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  55. Shauna: Under the Le Creuset picture there it says, "Continue for recipes" if you click there you will be able to read the rest of the post which includes the recipe. Let me know if that doesn't work.

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  56. I would love to win the baking dishes!

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  57. Hey Carrie! What a surprise to read your post this morning. I made chocolate pudding cakes two nights ago in ramekins. Your pictures with the coffee cups turned out great! I'll have to try that. Love, love, love the color of those baking dishes. Maybe I'll get lucky! :) Take care.

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  58. it's soo nice to know that i am not the only one holding on to old magazines with recipes that i will "get to eventually." =)

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  59. My girls and I were drooling over your pics - this recipe will be filling our kitchen with heavenly aroma very soon!

    Thanks for the drawing as well!

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  60. Its my favorite days when my cooking magazines come in the mail!
    Thanks for the chance to win!

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  61. I agree with other comments. This recipe looks delish! I'm vegan so always looking for fun recipes to veganize. This one will move to the top of my list!

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