This self saucing recipe is a dairy free take on Black Forest gateau which is a favourite pudding of mine. It’s really silky smooth, rich and chocolatey and is great on its own or with whipped cream if you are not dairy free or with dairy free vanilla ice cream. The decorations are optional, or you can customise it with whatever you fancy like fresh berries.

Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 teaspoons powdered gelatine (or veggie gelatine or agar agar)
500ml of soya milk (I use Bonsoy because it’s extra creamy) or whole milk if you prefer
50g golden caster sugar
a pinch of salt
I vanilla pod, split
170g bittersweet chocolate blitzed in a food processor till all the big chunks have gone

For the decoration (optional)

a jar of cherries in kirsch (I got mine from an Italian deli but supermarkets do stock them or you can add a few tablespoons of kirsch to a tin of cherries in juice)
some gold edible glitter (I get it on Amazon) or edible gold leaf
one and a half pint heat proof mould or bowl

How:

Sprinkle the gelatine onto 3 tbsp water and soak for 5 mins. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod into the pan and put the pod into the milk. Put the soya milk, salt, vanilla pod, and sugar into a pan. Heat until the liquid just comes to the boil (if using veggie gelatine, you’ll need to bring it to the boil – check instructions on the packet), then remove from the heat and stir in the gelatine and the chocolate. Whisk until smooth and cool for 10 mins. Strain the mixture, then pour into the mould and cover with cling film. Refrigerate over night or until set.

To plate up, place a flat serving plate over the top of the pannacotta and invert the pannacotta onto the dish, I use a cooks blow torch to gently warm the mould so the pannacotta will release and drop onto the plate. There will be a bit of melting but it just adds a delicious sauce to the finished pud. Spoon the cherries over the pannacotta with a bit of their juice they came in, I add an extra splash of kirsch if the cherry juice is not kirschy enough. Place the gold leaf carefully on top of the cherries or sprinkle with the gold glitter or go mad and put both on.

I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl