Chocolate self-saucing pudding (thing)

This recipe came from one of my mum's old, hand written, loose leaf recipe books - all the pages are yellow, though it's not that old, but the page this comes from is covered in splats of cocoa, vanilla, random foodstuffs. Not from her, as she doesn't need recipes for anything, but from me, as this is my favourite food in the whole wide world, and I'm not confident enough to cook sweet things by myself, yet.

This is a proper pudding, that is to say, in the English Style, not a slurry as these things tend to be in Other Places. It also fills your house with the most incredible chocolate smell, and tastes damn good. If it's winter, and your sweet tooth is playing up, this recipe is for you. Also, if you happen to be entertaining someone, say, special, this will always go over well. Unless they're one of those people who don't like chocolate. There's some kind of joke about self-saucing to make, here, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

Ingredients

• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 3/4 cup raw sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 dessert spoon cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon melted shortening

• 1&3/4 cups hot water
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 dessert spoon cocoa

Method

Set your oven to about 180°C (350°F), before you start anything, unless you are going to microwave this, which is much easier, but also more prone to destroying things of beauty. Now, in a casserole dish, mix all the non-topping dry ingredients, then add the liquids, and mix well.

Mix the sugar and cocoa set aside for the topping, and sprinkle it over the pudding dough, then pour the 1 and 3/4ers of a cup over it.

Whack it in the oven for about 50 minutes, and sit back and wait for your house to smell like heaven. Alternately, put it in your microwave on high for - and this is the only tricky part of this whole recipe - as long as it takes to be cooked. The microwave pudding will be spongy and firm, so don't overcook it. Pudding from the oven will have a crisp upper surface, and is much harder to overcook - it smells too good to leave in the oven too long.

When you get the pudding out, the water, cocoa and sugar will have disappeared - do not fear, they have been hiding under their protective pudding layer, forming a delicious chocolate sauce for your enjoyment. To serve, you should put large amounts of pudding and sauce in a bowl, with cream or ice cream to taste, then eat and enjoy one of the finest things my mother ever taught me.