chocolate budino with espresso cream and flake salt

This is a rich chocolate budino recipe that’s thickened only with eggs (no cornstarch or gelatin). It’s a stiff Italian pudding, just sweet enough to mellow the bitter cocoa. A chocolate lover’s heaven.

This chocolate budino is pure decadence. It’s like eating the center of a chocolate truffle– rich, smooth, intense. Some might say the budino is so intense, you don’t need much to get your fill. That’s probably true, but as someone who is completely obsessed with all things dark chocolate, I just can’t get enough of this chocolate budino recipe.

It’s alarmingly easy and quick to make. To be honest, I kind of want a recipe this good to be more work. I need a bigger hurdle to keep me from living off of it. Because if there’s chocolate budino in the fridge, it’s all I can think about. The luscious, thick texture. Deep chocolate flavor. Just enough sugar to round out the bitter cocoa. I want spoonful after truffled spoonful of chocolate budino. If you’re like me and have zero self control around chocolate, consider yourself warned.

So, what is budino?

Budino is the Italian word for pudding. There’s nothing necessarily unique about budino– the term applies to a wide range of pudding styles: stovetop, baked, spoonable, stiff. I refer to this specific recipe as a chocolate budino because the rich, truffled consistency is similar to a chocolate budino I’ve had from an Italian restaurant. 

simply put: a ganache-pudding baby

Most stovetop puddings are thickened with gelatin or some form of starch, which will make them thick enough to spoon but not very stiff. This particular chocolate budino recipe is different. It’s not soft like a pudding snack. It’s firm, velvety, decadent. 

I like to think of it as the child of a pudding and a ganache. That’s essentially how it’s made, after all. A hot custard, thickened only with eggs (no starch or gelatin) is poured over chopped chocolate. The heat melts the chocolate, and the mixture is whisked until smooth. It’s poured into jars and chilled until firm and spoonable. When warm, it will resemble a thick chocolate sauce, but once it’s set in the refrigerator it will be much firmer. Truffled.

what you need for this chocolate budino recipe:

• Dark chocolate
• Milk chocolate
• Heavy cream
• Milk
• Butter
• Egg yolks
• Brown sugar
• Cocoa powder
• Vanilla extract
• Kosher salt
• Powdered sugar (for the whipped cream)
• Espresso powder (for the whipped cream)
• Fine mesh sieve, pot, whisk

how to make chocolate budino

1. Gently heat cream, milk, yolks, sugar, cocoa and salt until thickened
2. Place chopped chocolate and butter in a bowl
3. Strain hot custard over chocolate (to remove any small bits of egg)
4. Let sit a few minutes (the heat will melt the chocolate)
5. Add vanilla, stir until smooth
6. Pour into six to eight small jars
7. Cover and chill until set, about 3 hours
8. Make espresso whipped cream, dollop on top with flaky salt
9. Enjoy!

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recipe tips, substitutions and variations:

Heat the custard slowly, and whisk nearly constantly as it begins to thicken. It can go from just starting to thicken to almost boiling– which will give a grainy custard at best, scrambled chocolate eggs at worst.

Make sure to really chop the chocolate into fine pieces. If the chunks are too large, they may not melt completely and it’s tricky to reheat. If you do have a few unmelted chunks, just fish them out and discard (eat).

• For super dark chocolate bitter flavor, use all bittersweet chocolate and no milk chocolate
• To make an extra luscious and rich budino, use all heavy cream and no milk.
• For extra complexity, throw in 1/2 tsp espresso powder with the cream.

This chocolate budino recipe is really flexible. If you want less, it can easily be halved to make four small jars. Same with doubled.

It will keep, covered and refrigerated, for about 5 days.

more chocolate desserts and pudding recipes to try:

dark chocolate coconut milk pudding

chocolate panna cotta with sugared pine nuts

tahini mousse with chocolate ganache

chocolate mousse tart with a hazelnut crust

stovetop rice pudding with cardamom and vanilla

pumpkin crème brûlée

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