Hot cross bun pudding with chocolate & marmalade

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 ½ cups of Ultra Mel Vanilla or Cinnamon flavour
• 6– 8 hot cross buns
• 70g of chocolate cut into small shards/pieces
• Marmalade – optional
• Whisky maple glaze:
• 3 Tbs butter
• 3 Tbsp maple syrup
• 3 Tbsp whisky (alternatively use orange juice or water)

DIRECTIONS:

• Make the pudding in advance and allow some time for the buns to soak the custard (up to a day before)
• Cut the hot cross bun into 3 slices with the tops being just the domes.
• Make the glaze by putting all the ingredients into a small pot and bring it the boil and simmer for a minute on low. Then set aside.
• In a large enough baking dish (about 1.5-litre capacity) pour 1 cup of the Ultra Mel into the dish. Spread a very thin smear of marmalade on to the bottom third slice of the bun and nestle this snugly into the custard on the bottom of the dish. Submerge this if possible. Sprinkle over ¾ of the chocolate pieces. Then take the middle 1/3 slices of the hot cross bun and tear these up into shards/chunks. Pat these down on top of the chocolate. Pour over the rest of the custard and sprinkle the remaining chocolate.
• Brush the underside/cut side of the dome of the hot cross bun with the hot glaze and then place this on top of the pudding. Repeat with the remaining domes. Push these down so that only the tops are visible on the surface. Lightly brush the domes with the glaze reserving the rest for after the pudding is baked.
• Leave this to stand for at least an hour so that the custard is absorbed into the HC buns. You could also make this several hours in advance or the day before and keep it in the fridge until needed. Just bring it to room temperature before you bake it.
• When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180C and place the pudding into another baking tray with high sides and fill this with hot water to about halfway up the pudding dish. You are essentially baking this in a water bath/ Bain Marie. This is a better way to bake custard desserts.
• Cover the hot cross bun pudding with foil (it can be loose but ensure the entire surface area is covered and bake 45 minutes – an hour. Remove from the oven and reheat the remainder of the glaze sauce and brush this over the hot pudding bun domes. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes before serving.