This Easy Chocolate Bread Pudding Tastes Just Like a Cup of Hot Cocoa

Bread and chocolate come together in this warm custardy dessert.

By
Yvonne Ruperti
A photo of Yvonne Ruperti, a contributing writer at Serious Eats.
Yvonne Ruperti
Yvonne Ruperti is a food writer, recipe developer, former bakery owner, and cookbook author. She is also an adjust professor of baking at the Culinary Institute of America in Singapore.
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Published October 14, 2024
Overhead view of bread pudding

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Why It Works

  • The custard base gets bold chocolate flavor from both cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate.
  • Soaking the bread in custard for 30 to 45 allows it to fully absorb the custard before baking.
  • Nestling chunks of bittersweet chocolate into the bread pudding forms pockets of molten chocolate in the oven.

I should warn you up front. This bread pudding is not the kind of dessert that you should serve to guests. That is, if you want to keep conversations rattling along. Instead, it's the kind of dessert that'll turn the dinner table into a spectacle of silence. Debates and musings will suddenly come to a halt and the only audible sound will be spoons clinking into bowls. Chocolate and bread is already an obscenely divine combo (think pain au chocolat), but incorporating them into a warm custardy dessert makes the result downright dangerous.

When you marry soul-soothing bread pudding with the absorbing qualities of chocolate, what you have on your hands is an experience that doesn't have room for anyone else except for you and your helping of pudding. No socializing, no talking—just close your eyes and savor.

Most chocolate bread puddings don't live up to my high chocolate standards. Sometimes it's just a handful of chocolate chips tossed into the mix, or the custard is like a wimpy chocolate milk. That's not the case with this recipe. This bread pudding raises the chocolate bar by starting with a luxurious hot chocolate base of cocoa, milk, cream, brown sugar, and melted bittersweet chocolate. A touch of espresso powder heightens your perception of the chocolate, and a pinch of cinnamon rounds it out with the flavor of a Mexican hot chocolate.

Rather than toasting the bread (a common technique to encourage the bread to soak up as much liquid as possible), I find that softer fresh or partially stale bread works better to soak up the thick chocolate liquid. After the chewy chunks of French bread are fully drenched, even more bits of chocolate are stuffed into the crevices before the pudding goes in for the bake.

As you cradle your bowl filled with warm pudding, wafts of roasted chocolate float up and you'll begin to get transfixed. I dare you to take it slow as you sink your spoon into the dark chocolaty tufts of moist bread and gooey chocolate. And I know you'll make sure to get a bit of the crunchy top crust. A dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream spooned on top pleasantly cuts the rich chocolate and melts into the pudding like a sauce.

So for that dinner party next week with the loud-mouthed neighbors? You're now armed with my secret culinary weapon for peace and quiet.

November 2011

Recipe Details

This Easy Chocolate Bread Pudding Tastes Just Like a Cup of Hot Cocoa

Prep 10 mins
Cook 60 mins
Soaking and Cooling Time 80 mins
Total 2 hrs 30 mins
Serves 12
Makes 1 9- by 13-inch baking dish
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Ingredients

For the Bread Pudding (see note):

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 ounce; 28g), softened, for greasing

  • 6 large eggs

  • 6 tablespoons granulated sugar (about 3 1/4 ounces; 90g)

  • 1/8 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume

  • 1 cup light brown sugar (7 1/2 ounces; 213g)

  • 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (1 1/2 ounces; 42g), sifted

  • 2 1/2 cups (600ml) whole milk

  • 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream

  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (113g; about 2/3 cup), finely chopped

  • 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 13 ounces French bread (368g), cut into 3/4-inch cubes (see notes)

  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (57g; about 1/3 cup), chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

For the Whipped Cream:

  • 1 1/2 cups (360ml) heavy cream

  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (1/2 ounce; 15g)

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Grease a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with butter; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, granulated sugar, and salt to combine; set aside.

  2. In a medium saucepan, whisk brown sugar and cocoa powder to combine. Whisk in milk, cream, and vanilla extract, and heat over medium heat until warm. Add bittersweet chocolate, espresso powder, and ground cinnamon, whisking well until chocolate is melted, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, about 3 minutes. Add chocolate mixture to egg mixture, whisking well to combine.

    Four image collage of making Pudding

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

  3. Add bread to 9- by 13- inch baking dish. Pour chocolate mixture over and gently toss to evenly coat bread. Let sit until bread is thoroughly saturated, 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally with a flexible spatula to ensure bread is thoroughly saturated. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 325ºF (165ºC).

    Overhead view of pouring into bread

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

  4. Tuck chopped bittersweet chocolate into bread pudding, evenly distributing it. Bake until pudding is just set in the center, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool about 30 minutes before serving.

  5. For the Whipped Cream: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, about 3 minutes. (Alternatively, in a medium bowl, combine heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, about 3 minutes.) Serve with bread pudding.

    Overhead view of bread pudding

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Special Equipment

9- by 13-inch baking dish, stand mixer or electric mixer

Notes

This recipe can be easily halved. Use a 9-inch by 9-inch pan and decrease baking time to approximately 25 minutes.

I like the chewiness that the crust offers, but if a softer bread pudding is desired, trim the bottom crust from the bread.

Read More

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
548Calories
34gFat
50gCarbs
11gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories548
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 34g44%
Saturated Fat 21g104%
Cholesterol 82mg27%
Sodium 257mg11%
Total Carbohydrate 50g18%
Dietary Fiber 5g17%
Total Sugars 28g
Protein 11g
Vitamin C 0mg1%
Calcium 144mg11%
Iron 6mg35%
Potassium 357mg8%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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