Chocolate and Banana Brioche Pudding

Following a mini nervous break-down yesterday I realised – amongst other things – that my summer thus far hasn’t contained half as much baking as I’d hoped, and that it would be a good idea for me to rectify that as soon as possible. This morning I sat down with my collection of cookbooks and set about narrowing down the recipes with regard to what ingredients I already had; finally settling on Edd Kimber’s Chocolate and Banana Brioche Bread Pudding, from his first cookbook, The Boy Who Bakes. The more I read the more I had my heart set on this recipe, so conceded to a quick shopping trip for brioche and dark chocolate (I’m not making the mistake of substituting dark for milk chocolate again as I’ve seen how terribly that turns out!). The extra journey was worth it: this pudding was the perfect Saturday evening dessert.

The original recipe can be found in Edd’s book (which I’d DEFINITELY recommend: even if you’re not a baker the pictures and layout are beautiful – total coffee table book), and below is my edited version.

Ingredients:
Approximately half of a 500g brioche loaf
2 bananas, sliced
200ml whole milk
200ml double cream
150g dark chocolate, chopped
4 small eggs
25g caster sugar
Handful of flaked almonds to decorate

Method:
Grease a baking dish – mine was around 20x10cm and was plenty big enough. Slice the brioche (if not pre-cut as mine was…) and then cut into quarters. Layer up the brioche and sliced bananas in the prepared baking dish. I used about half of the loaf at this stage but keep the rest handy for later on. Don’t be afraid to squish it down so it all fits.

In a saucepan heat the milk, cream and 100g of the chocolate until melted and fully combined. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together. Bring the milk mixture to the boil and pour over the eggs, whisking constantly.

Slowly pour the chocolate custard over the brioche. Don’t pour it all in at once, but keep adding a little, spreading it over the brioche and into the holes, waiting a few minutes and repeating. If the custard tries to escape over the sides of the dish, use the remainder of the brioche loaf to soak up the excess and stick it on the top. This helped, but I still had lots of custard left over after filling the dish, which I put in a container and into the fridge once cool.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius in a fan oven), Gas Mark 4.

Leave it to stand for 15 minutes, and then sprinkle the rest of the chopped chocolate and flaked almonds on top of the mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the custard is just set and the filling is golden. Allow it to cool slightly before serving.

This would work well with cream or ice-cream, and was particularly yummy slightly warm. It made quite a big portion too and will certainly last my family for several days!

Try it out: you won’t be disappointed!

From the brioche loaf I had 6 slices left over which I’m planning to use to make Edd’s Coconut Cream Cheese French Toast. I shall blog the results once I’ve tried it out. If you liked the look of this recipe then head over the Edd’s website: www.theboywhobakes.co.uk for more baking inspiration.