How to make a Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding…in a camp oven…

So anyways, I’ve been glamping this weekend.

Each August Bank Holiday my little family of three joins with my brother’s not so little family of five in a weekend away at my Uncle’s property just out of Eucumbene in the Snowy Mountains.

I written about it before. We call it glamping because it’s not camping, but we cook and eat outside. It’s a mix of the two.

This weekend it snowed. Lots…more on that later.

Last year I offered up a chocolate self saucing pudding for sweets. Cooked in a cast iron camp oven over coals, it shouldn’t have worked. But it did. This year we made it again- to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke.

Obviously, being glamping, we don’t have mixers or beaters or any fancy measuring equipment, so I used mugs. I also took with me some super good Dutch cocoa, and used heaped tablespoons- just to ramp up the decadence of the whole thing.

Also, I use a 2 quart (apparently in the camping world they still measure sizes by quarts) cast iron camp oven that I’ve “seasoned” over the fire as per instructions. As for the fire? I believe the official temperature of the coals was medium.

Anyways, it worked- even better than last year- more fudge, more chocolatey, more “this so shouldn’t be working but it did” than last year.

Here’s the recipe. Of course you can make it at home and actually set the temperature of the oven to 180C, but seriously, that’s so mainstream…

What you need for the cake

• 1 cup self raising flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• 80g butter
• ½ cup milk
• I teaspoon vanilla
• 1egg, lightly beaten

What you need for the sauce

• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 cups boiling water

What you do with it

• Grease a 2 quart cast iron camp oven with butter.
• Heat butter in milk until the butter has melted, add the vanilla
• Sift flour and cocoa into a large bowl, stir in the sugar
• Combine the egg, milk, vanilla and cooled butter in a jug and slowly add to the dry ingredients, mixing until well combined and smooth. Spoon into prepared camp oven.
• To make the sauce, sprinkle combined sugar and cocoa over the pudding
• Carefully pour over the boiling water and put the lid on.

Where I’d normally bake this in a moderate oven for 40-45 minutes, we’d prepared a pit with hot coals that we removed before popping the oven in. A few coals went around the sides and a few on the lid and the pudding was baked for about 40 minutes.

The top and sides should be crispy, and the inside fudgey.

Serve it with a dollop of fresh cream or custard, or, if you need it to be extra rich, cream and custard.