This is a pudding fit for absolutely any occasion, but I’m posting this on Valentine’s Day, knowing that many of us might just be home tonight dealing with the demands of a regular week night. That said, an easy dessert to mark the occasion may not be entirely out of the question. And better yet, you probably have all of these ingredients in your pantry. If a little warm chocolate appeals to you, share the love and give this easy pud a try!

Here’s what goes in:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup castor sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup cake flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• A few chunks of chocolate, (roughly broken from a slab)

For the syrup:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to do it:

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Cream the butter and sugar, and then add the egg, continuing to mix until smooth. Add the dry ingredients, followed by the milk and mix until well combined. Transfer this to a greased baking tin or dish of your choice and randomly insert chunks of chocolate. In the meantime, prepare the chocolate syrup.

In a small saucepan, bring all the ingredients for the syrup to a low simmer, allowing the sugar to melt. Be careful to not let it boil over. Pour this hot syrup over the raw batter without mixing it in. Pop it into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cake has risen but still feels a bit wobbly. The center should be gooey, so that when you put a spoon into it, there is sauce inside the middle of the pudding. Serve warm with custard, cream or ice cream.