Orange and ginger and raspberry fondant puddings – with hidden extras

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/12/baking-orange-pudding-raspberry-fondant-recipe

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I've never much cared about making baking pretty: a well‑made cake, pudding or pie has its own messy brand of good looks that needs no dolling up. The hubristically self‑proclaimed "centrepiece" bake often doesn't taste as good as it looks. So it's in gentle rebellion against fondant icing, piping, sugarcraft and quenelles that I present two ugly puddings! Those who dismiss them based on looks alone will be missing a trick: cut into each and you'll discover hidden treats. I know it's trite and decidedly naff, but I must say: with baking, it really is what's inside that counts.

Steamed orange and ginger pudding

There's a whole orange lurking inside this pudding. This is no gimmick, though: as it steams, the orange releases juice and flavour into the surrounding cake, leaving the pudding fantastically moist, zesty and tender. Serve with lots of custard.

Serves 4-62 medium oranges, zested125g unsalted butter, soft125g dark brown soft sugar2 large eggs5-7cm root ginger, grated3 tsp ground ginger75g stem ginger, roughly chopped125g plain flour1½ tsp baking powder

1 Prepare a steamer (improvised, if necessary, using a trivet or metal pastry cutter in the bottom of a large, lidded saucepan), heating a few centimetres of water in it over a medium heat. Gather some greaseproof paper and a length of string.

2 Bring a small pan of water to the boil. Zest both oranges, setting the zest aside until later. Boil one of the oranges in the water for 10 minutes then set aside to cool while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

3 Cream the butter and sugar for a couple of minutes, then add the eggs and the ground, root and stem ginger. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder then add these to the wet ingredients. Add the reserved orange zest and stir to combine.

4 Grease a 1-litre pudding basin generously with butter, then line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper (this will help with the unmoulding later). Cut a 5mm slice from the widest part of the unboiled orange and place it in the bottom of the basin. Not only will this look impressive when the pudding is turned out, but it also hides the top of the other orange you're going to put inside the pudding.

5 Half-fill the basin with the cake batter. Pierce the boiled orange all over with a sharp knife or cocktail stick then press this into the mixture, placing it centrally. Spoon the remaining batter around the orange – if its top is still peeking above the level of the cake mix at this point, don't worry: the cake will rise to cover it as it bakes. You may not need all of the batter, depending on the precise size of your pudding bowl and the orange inside it – just add enough to fill to 2-3cm below the rim.

6 Cut two large squares of greaseproof paper, make a wide, crisply folded pleat down the middle of each and lay them over the top of the pudding basin. The pleat will allow plenty of room for the pudding to expand. Secure the paper using a length of string tied tightly around the basin.

7 Place the pudding on to the steamer rack or makeshift steaming platform. Make sure that there's plenty of water in the base of the pan (if using a improvised steamer, don't let the water level reach higher than a few centimetres up the sides of the pudding basin) and put a lid on. Steam for 2 hours, topping up the water periodically.

8 When the pudding is ready, unwrap it, loosen the edges with a knife, turn out on to a plate, peel back the circle of greaseproof paper on top and slice proudly down the middle to reveal the whole orange inside.

Raspberry chocolate fondants

Fondants can be formidably rich. These ones are livened up with fresh raspberries in their molten centres.

Makes 4 110g unsalted butter100g dark chocolate – 70% cocoa solids2 large eggs110g caster sugar60g plain flour75g raspberries

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Melt 30g butter over a low heat and use to grease four individual pudding moulds: brush the base and sides with butter, freeze for a couple of minutes to set, brush again for a second coat and leave in the fridge to chill.

2 Roughly chop the chocolate and melt it in a large, heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of barely simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Once melted, add the remaining 80g butter and stir until fully combined. Set aside to cool slightly.

3 Whisk the eggs and sugar for at least 5 minutes, until very, very thick and creamy. When the whisk is lifted from it, the mix should fall in a ribbon that sits on the mixture's surface for a second or two before sinking back in.

4 Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the whisked eggs, cutting through the mixture to combine and digging right to the bottom of the bowl (the chocolate will tend to sink through). Sift in the flour and fold in.

5 Divide the mixture between the four prepared pudding moulds: put a generous spoonful in the bottom of each, followed by three raspberries, and more batter on top of the raspberries.

6 You can now chill the fondants to be baked later or bake now for 10‑12 minutes, or until well-risen with a crust. The trick is to cook them just long enough so that they're hot throughout, but just briefly enough that the centres remain liquid. You might want to sacrifice one if you're really not sure – unmould, halve, check for readiness and eat, all in the name of testing. If you decide to the chill the fondants to bake later, remember to add a minute or two to the cooking time.