Get ready to fall in love! This cozy White Chocolate Bread Pudding is not only delicious but very simple to make. It is a dessert that the whole family will enjoy!
With its rich and silky texture to its tart and rosy red sauce, this comfort dessert is not only at home on the family table but would also make an excellent dessert for those times you are entertaining.
As pretty as it is tasty!
This White Chocolate Bread Pudding Is the Perfect Comfort Dessert
Bread puddings are famous for being comfort desserts. They are quite welcome in these colder winter months when your body not only craves extra warmth and sustenance but your eyes also long for something pretty and colorful to break up the cold, dank and dark days we all experience.
The alchemy of cookery has always fascinated me. I have always been intrigued that the combination of a few simple ingredients can bring about something astonishingly, fabulously delicious!
The ingredients for this fabulous pudding are very ordinary. Bread. Sugar. Egg yolks. Whipping Cream. Half and Half. Vanilla. White Chocolate.
When they get together in the proper way, however, they create a dessert that is anything but ordinary. And that sauce. WOWSA!
Make Sure to Grease Your Baking Dish
You will want to use a large shallow baking dish for this recipe. Ideally it should hold 3 quarts of liquid. Mine is a large oval dish, measuring about 13-inches in length and 8-inches at its widest part. I sprayed it with some low-fat non-stick cooking spray, but you can also grease it with butter or shortening. You don’t want your pudding to stick to the dish, so this is an essential step.
Bread puddings are one of the simplest desserts to make. You are basically creating a flavorful egg custard mix that you pour over bread, allow to soak in, and then bake in an oven until the custard sets. So very beautiful and silky, with a bit of crunch on top.
Choose Your White Chocolate Carefully
This pudding uses a white chocolate custard mixture for soaking the bread. Any good white baking chocolate will work well. Mine was already conveniently coming into pre-marked small squares. You will want to chop your chocolate into smaller pieces for ease of melting.
The custard itself is very easy to make. You will need both whipping cream and a half and half cream which you combine in a saucepan. Bring them to boil over medium-high heat on top of the stove. Use a large saucepan, just in case (Milk ingredients can very quickly double in size!) and stir it constantly to help prevent it from catching on the bottom.
Once you have the creams to the right temperature you will want to whisk in your white chocolate. Remove the pan from the heat and keep whisking it in until the chocolate has completely melted, then set it aside to cool slightly before proceeding.
Try and Use Organic Ingredients
You will need 8 large free-range egg yolks for this recipe. I only ever use free-range eggs in my kitchen and if I can get them RSPCA approved. My reasoning for this is because I want to promote humane animal practices in the production of the food we choose to eat. Don’t worry about having 8 egg whites left around. These can be frozen and used at a later date for meringues, etc.
How to Make the White Chocolate Bread Pudding Step by Step
Beat the egg yolks thoroughly with the sugar and vanilla, using an electric mixer, until they are nice and creamy. I like to use a finer granulated sugar for this as it melts quicker and more easily without leaving behind any granular texture. Once you have this at the right texture you can begin ladling in the cream and white chocolate mix.
Keep beating it the whole time. I like to use a ladle because it is easier and the reason for adding it a bit at a time is to help prevent the eggs from cooking if your cream is still a bit on the warmer side. The last thing you want is a custard containing sugary scrambled eggs.
Now that you have the custard made it is time to begin assembling your pudding.
Stale Bread Works Perfectly for this White Chocolate Bread Pudding
The bread that is a bit on the stale side works better than fresh bread when you are making a bread pudding. Stale bread soaks up the custard quicker and better. Cut your bread into thin slices. I cut mine about 1/3 of an inch thick. Layer the bread slices around the edges of the dish and cover the bottom with them as well.
Once you have done that you can start to ladle on the custard. I start with two cups and let that soak in, and then I add another layer of bread, more custard and bread, etc. until I have used up all my bread and custard, allowing it to soak in a bit before each time before adding more.
Don’t Forget to Decorate
Once you have layered all your bread and custard, you can sprinkle some flaked almonds on top. They aren’t an absolute, but they add a bit of crunch and color to the finished dish.
Pop the casserole dish into a roasting pan large enough to hold it with a bit of space all around the dish, and then fill the roasting pan carefully with boiling water just to come halfway up the sides of your baking dish.
This is called a Bain Marie and helps to create that beautiful silky texture that we all enjoy in a good bread pudding. Carefully transfer the roasting pan to the preheated oven. I find it helpful to use a roaster with handles on the ends, for ease of transferring.
Baking the White Chocolate Bread Pudding
You will be baking the pudding for 45 minutes uncovered, and then covering it tightly with aluminum foil for a further hour of bake time. I just cover the whole roasting tin with the foil. This helps to keep the pudding moist and prevents it from getting overly browned in the long bake time. The pudding is done when a knife inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean.
Doesn’t that look pretty? It is just nicely golden brown without being overly so and the texture is lovely and souffle-like.
The Raspberry Sauce for this White Chocolate Bread Pudding: Steps and Tips
I like to create a Raspberry Coulis sauce to serve with the finished pudding. It’s also very simple to make. You just blitz a bag of thawed frozen raspberries in a blender at a high speed, along with some lemon juice (to help preserve that lovely red color) and some sugar to counteract the tartness of the berries and lemon juice. If you feel like making a lemon-based recipe now, I can only recommend the Lemon Mousse Recipe for endless joy!
You will want to get it as smooth as you can. The tedious part is pressing the blitzed mixture through a sieve to remove all of the seeds when it is done. This can take a bit of time, but do persevere as it will be more than worth it at the end. Once you have it all sieved you can transfer the finished sauce into an attractive sauce boat/jug to pass at the table.
The two together are a beautiful visual combination and incredibly tasty together. You have the rich and sweet flavor of that light-as-air pudding which contrasts beautifully with the tartness of that bright and colorful raspberry sauce. The crunch of the toasted almonds on top is an added sensory pleasure that we really enjoy.
Serve this White Chocolate Bread Pudding Warm
This lovely pudding is gorgeous served warm, spooned into bowls with some of the sauce drizzled over top. I have served it in my best pink cut glass bowls, set on top of a pressed glass plate, but it would also be beautiful spooned into and served in pretty china teacups on saucers for a special ladies’ luncheon.
If you are feeling particularly indulgent you can top each serving with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream before drizzling the sauce over top.
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White Chocolate Bread Pudding
Serve this deliciously cosy pudding, warm and spooned out into individual bowls. If you like and aren’t worried about calories you can top each serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream before drizzling with that gorgeous raspberry sauce!
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: Serves 10
Ingredients
- For the pudding:
- – 2 cups whipping cream
- – 2 cups half and half
- – 8 ounces of white baking chocolate, cut into ¼ to ½ inch pieces
- – 1 ½ cups sugar
- – 8 large free-range egg yolks (freeze the whites for another day)
- – 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- – ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- – 1 large (25 inches) or two small French baguettes, thinly sliced
- – 2 TBS flaked almonds
- For the raspberry sauce:
- – 1 12-oz bag of frozen raspberries, thawed
- – 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
- – 2 TBS fine fruit sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325*C. You will need a 3-quart shallow baking dish. Spray this with non-stick cooking spray or grease with some soft shortening. Set aside.
- Place the half and half and the whipping cream into a large saucepan. Heat, stirring constantly, over medium heat until it comes just to the boil. Add the white chocolate pieces and remove from heat. Stir to melt the chocolate completely. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Place the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and salt into a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. Slowly add the cream/chocolate mixture, one ladleful at a time, beating constantly until smooth. (I use a ladle as its easier to control.)
- Line the bottom and sides of your baking dish with slices of baguette. Ladle 2 cups of the custard mixture over top of the bread. Let sit for a few minutes for it to be absorbed. Add the remaining slices of bread to the dish. Ladle on the remaining custard mixture, 2 cups at a time, waiting for it to be absorbed until all of the custard is used up and has been pretty much absorbed. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.
- Place the baking dish into a roasting dish large enough to hold it with some space remaining around it. Fill the roasting dish with boiling water until it comes just halfway up the edge of the baking dish. Place carefully into the preheated oven and bake uncovered for 45 minutes.
- Cover with aluminium foil and bake for a further 1 hour and 5 minutes, until a knife inserted 1 inch from the edge of the pudding comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside while you make the sauce.
- To make the sauce put the raspberries into a blender along with the lemon juice and the 2 TBS of sugar. Blend on high speed until smooth. Strain through a sieve to remove the seeds. Pour into a sauce boat and serve alongside of the warm pudding.
- To serve spoon the pudding into individual bowls and pass the raspberry sauce so that people can pour some over top.
- Prep Time: 1 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hours
Nutrition
- Calories: 933
One thing is for certain, that no matter how you choose to serve this wonderful pudding, it is sure to be received with applause and plenty of oohs and ahhs from all around the table!
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Marie Rayner is a retired Chef, freelance writer, recipe developer, food blogger, and Cookbook author. She makes her home in Chester, UK, where she lives with her husband, Todd, and their much beloved English Cocker, Mitzie. Her motto is “Life is far too short to eat bad food,” and her goal is to share delicious and easy recipes which anyone can enjoy and cook in the comfort of their own home.
