Chocolate Custard

Have I mentioned how much I love Donna Hay? Possibly once or twice. ;-) This recipe is from her Simple Essentials: Chocolate book, and is one of few recipes that divides the Cake household down the middle; while Mr Cake often vetoes my dessert suggestions for being too unhealthy, if I can convince him it'll be okay he usually quite likes the things I choose. This custard, though, is too rich for him. It is very rich - I keep meaning to try it with half milk, which would probably make it more tolerable for him, and I think that would work well enough (though it would be less decadent, and I do like my decadent desserts). But if you just want a little of something really rich, this is pretty yummy and only takes 10 minutes or so to make.

The only ingredient I wouldn't have in my pantry/fridge normally is the cream - and sometimes (like last night) I do - so this really was pretty speedy (i.e. no supermarket trip/begging Mr Cake to make a supermarket trip for me) (which probably wouldn't have worked anyway since he doesn't really dig this dessert).

One of the things I really like is that it tastes like you've spent a lot of time and effort making something amazing, but all it takes is four dishes (a wooden spoon, whisk, saucepan and bowl), 5 ingredients and 10 minutes.

I think this might go well with pavlova - rich and decadent with light and fluffy? This sprung into my mind because this uses four egg yolks - so it seems appropriate. ;-) A sort of super-luxury Eton mess I think would be perfect - broken pav, chocolate custard and berries, layered in a glass serving dish. If I'd been motivated enough to spend more than 10 minutes in the kitchen (or been willing to wait an hour for the pav to cook!) I would have done this last night - oh well, next time.

It's perfectly good on its own, anyway - I like it when it's still steaming hot, so much so that it condensated my bowl:

What better way to conclude a long working day than with a delicious chocolate dessert and a new episode of Castle - I don't often get hooked on TV, but Castle definitely has my attention (though it has occurred to me a few times - usually as I scoop food into my mouth - that it's really not a show to eat in front of, what with all the gore at the beginning). What's your favourite show to curl up in front of with something tasty, for the ultimate blob-out experience?

Chocolate Custard (adapted from Donna Hay's Simple Essentials: Chocolate)
Ingredients
500ml cream
60g chocolate, chopped
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup/55g caster sugar
1 Tbsp cornflour

Heat the chocolate and cream in a saucepan over low heat until the chocolate has melted. Increase to medium heat and bring just to the boil.

In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour. Gradually add the cream mixture, stirring constantly, then transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and return to the heat and stirr until thick.