I went to Pudding Club last night, my first ever Pudding Club and the first time of meeting the lovely ladies there and amazingly I won! I was so chuffed and actually couldn’t believe it as competition was tough. My money was on a lovely raspberry mousse cheesecake, which I really must get the recipe for.

I entered a rather complicated and as it turned out, rather worth all the effort, un-elegantly titled, chocolate gooey stack, but please don’t let the name put you off, it was a rather yummy, rather sophisticated dessert. Light fluffy layers of chocolate meringue, layered up with a gorgeous chocolate creme patissiere and topped with crushed honeycomb, you could make the honey comb yourself, or alternatively use Crunchie bars.

The creme patissiere, I will not lie, is rather a tricky thing to make, it is very easily burnt, but with patience and if you watch it carefully, is very achievable, you don’t know unless you try and it is always good to push yourself, you never know you maybe a master at it.

How did all this come about I hear you ask, well all thanks to Twitter is the answer. I am a bit of a Twitter addict and I follow local people, anyone involved in food, anything that interests me and I love to Twitter what’s going on and my thoughts. Over the last few weeks I have been chatting to a few ladies that live in Oxted and Limpsfield and have had great fun getting to know them via Twitter. Nancy(sparkie7) decided that January was rather boring and gloomy and decided to get us all together for Pudding Club. What more can a girl ask for, great company, wine and puddings, heaven.

Very kindly The Crown in Old Oxted (thanks to Nancy’s contacts, LOL) allowed us to meet up and hold our first ever pudding club. They provided us with plates, cutlery and even a judge, there lovely Chef and Staff. It was a very busy night for them, as they were celebrating Burns Night, but they made us feel so welcome and even gave us a generous helping of Haggis, Nips & Tatties, which was lovely.

It was a lovely evening, meeting everyone was so much fun and I can’t wait until the next one. Thank you ladies and the Staff at The Crown.

Buon appetito

“THE WINNING PUDDING”

FOR THE MERINGUE DISCS:
6 large egg whites
300g golden caster sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
3 baking sheets

FOR THE CREME PATISSIERE:
6 large egg yolks
100g golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons plain flour
300ml full-fat milk
300ml double cream
100g the best dark chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
20g pistachios, chopped, I gave mine a gold dust finish with a crushed Crunchie & gold edible glitter, I love a little sparkle, what girl doesn’t?

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 140ºC/gas mark 1.

Line the baking sheets with parchment and draw a 20cm circle on each one. The simplest way to do this is simply to find a bowl or cake tin with the desired dimensions, plonk it on and draw round it. I made mine in a circle the first time, but wanted something a little different for Pudding Club and so did squares. You can have fun, maybe hearts for Valentines and top with Raspberries.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then add the sugar a spoonful at a time, beating in well after each addition. Believe me – and I speak as someone often criminally impatient – it does make life easier to go slowly here. Sprinkle over the cocoa and vinegar and then fold in gently but firmly.

Divide the dusky meringue between the 3 circles, spreading evenly. You don’t need to worry too much about beating the air out of them as you smooth; I find they withstand a modicum of brutality. Don’t you just love it when Nigella uses words like brutality to describe baking!

Cook for 1 hour, then turn off the oven, leaving the meringues in until cool. Often, I just make them before I go to bed and leave them in the switched-off oven overnight. It makes for less hanging about. And as long as you keep them airtight, with sheets of baking parchment in between, you can do these a good week or so in advance.

Now for the creme patissiere: beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then add the cocoa and flour, whisking well. Warm the milk and cream in a saucepan, then, whisking, pour this onto the eggs and sugar before pouring everything back into the saucepan on the heat and, stirring constantly, bring it to the boil. When the mixture has thickened, take it off the heat and stir in the melted chocolate and vanilla.

Let it cool now, but avoid putting it into the fridge as it will become too solid. You can stop it forming a skin either by covering with buttered baking parchment or greaseproof paper or by sieving a layer of icing sugar over. What I often prefer to do, however, and which cuts out more waiting around, is to plunge the saucepan into a sinkful of iced water and just keep stirring: it doesn’t take long to get cold.

To assemble the cake, place one of the meringue discs on a flat plate (I rather like those tea-shop cake-stands, though preferably in glass), spread with a third of the chocolate cream, then carry on layering. Scatter over the chopped pistachios, which will gleam out, a tender grass-green against the dark chocolate. Then just cut in: and you’ll find that it gives the illusion of a fine layering of multi-stacked, custard-bellied wafers; this is because each meringue, with its soft innards and crisp carapace, looks and tastes like three layers, not one.

Word of advice, if you want to make this in advance, you can make the meringues and keep them in an airtight container with parchment in between, but I would only do this for about a day, not a week as the recipe suggests. Make the creme patissiere on the day, leave it to cool, but don’t put it together until you really have to, as it starts to dissolve the meringue, which is lovely and gives the centre that lovely mousse like texture, but over time it will become a bit soggy.

It is a little hard work and possibly one of the trickier desserts on the blog, but its a chocoholics dream.

Serves: 10-12