Hello and welcome to the third installment of Birthday Week! That’s right friends, we’re still going strong!

For you see, I have birthday activities lined up for my birthday as far away as next weekend. But don’t worry, I won’t subject you to much more of this egocentricity. There is this weekend’s Sunday Supplement to look forward to though! See if you can guess what the theme will be! [HINT: I haven’t shut up about it all week][SPOILER: It’s Birthdays you guys]

This little number is what I will be eating to cap off the celebrations this fine Friday evening of birthday week. My lovely gentleman friend and I are staying in. There will be homemade pizza and lime and sodas. We will be watching The Princess Bride, because I’m a sucker for schmalz. And then there will be these DARK, seriously dark chocolate puddings, resting on their platform of gingersnap crumbs.

I guess you could call it symbolic – a bittersweet ending to a wonderful birthday time. But it’s more the case that my boyfriend loves chocolate pudding, I love chocolate anything, and we both like our chocolate like we take our coffee. Strong, and dark.

And it’s nice to spoil your man, when he has done a good job of spoiling you on your birthday right? I think so. Also I wanted pudding. Needless to say, the reasons were many and varied for making these gorgeous, silken puddles of goodness. Not least of which is this:

This is the only pudding recipe I can make work.

I don’t know what it is, but literally every other pudding recipe I try? They don’t set! And I end up with a soup – a delicious chocolaty soup – but a soup nonetheless. No bueno. No bueno, indeed.

So here it is for ya. My failsafe pudding. Happy Birthday week! This one works every time, even for me, the puddingly challenged person.

Also, note that it makes a great white chocolate pudding (simply omit the cocoa and dark chocolate, and add 100g chopped white chocolate at the end) or a milk chocolate pudding (replace the dark chocolate with milk chocolate, duh) and it responds really well to any cool add ins you can think of. A little orange rind? A sprinkling of honeycomb? A layer of toasted marshmallow? ALL GOOD IDEAS. Well done you.

xx Sarah.

Dark Chocolate Pudding with Gingersnap Crumbs Recipe

An original recipe by Sarah Coates for The Sugar Hit.

For the crumbs

6 gingersnaps

20g (1 1/2 tbsp) butter

For the pudding

250ml (1 cup) whole milk

125ml (1/2 cup) cream

60g (1/4 cup) caster sugar

30g (4 tbsp) cocoa

15g (1 tbsp) cornflour

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

75g (3oz) dark chocolate, chopped

sea salt

To make the crumb base, crush the gingersnaps into very fine crumbs. Next, melt the butter in heatproof bowl, before adding the crumbs and combining well. Divide this mixture between 4 small glasses (about 150ml or 2/3 cup capacity), and press it down evenly. Set in the fridge to chill.

To make the pudding, place the milk and cream into a heatproof jug and microwave until just warm. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, cocoa, cornflour, egg yolks and vanilla, along with 2 tsp of hot tap water, and whisk until smooth and combined. Slowly add the warmed milk mixture, whisking to combine. Place the saucepan over a low heat and whisk constantly for about 5 minutes until the mixture thickens to a custardy consistency. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate and a pinch of salt. Stir until the chocolate is melted and combined, and then pour the mixture over the gingersnap crumbs into the glasses. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.