Chocohotopots in Advance

Asked by tazkoul. Answered on 19th March 2014

Full question

How far in advance of my dinner party can I prepare the batter for the Chocohotopots? I will bake them once dinner is finished. Thank you for your help.

Our answer

Nigella's Chocohotopots (from Feast) are made from a mixture of eggs, sugar, melted chocolate, butter and flour. If you are going to make the batter in advance and leave the unbaked pots at room temperature then we suggest only making the batter an hour ahead of time. The eggs in the batter should not stand uncooked for too long, particularly if they are in a warm kitchen.

However it should be possible to make the pudding batter a day ahead of time, put it in the ramekins and refrigerate them until ready to cook. If you are cooking from chilled then the cooking time will be slightly longer, usually for ramekins it is 3 to 5 minutes longer. However as we have not tested this method and as ovens do vary then you may like to do a test run first in your oven to ensure perfect results.