Chocolate Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce (Warm + Decadent!)
Chocolate Bread Pudding is a warm and decadent dessert of bread cubes soaked in a rich chocolate custard and then layered with more chocolate before being baked and served with a drizzle of raspberry sauce!
A week into February, I think it's high time for a Valentine's Day-friendly recipe, wouldn't you agree? And friends, today I have a good one for you. As if plain ol' bread pudding wasn't delicious enough, this one is infused with chocolate and accented by a glossy raspberry sauce. But the best part? Not only is this Chocolate Bread Pudding scrumptious and impressive, it's also deceptively simple to whip up!
For me, Valentine's Day desserts are synonymous with chocolate. And while chocolate pairs beautifully with so many flavors, raspberry is one of my favorites.
Like most bread puddings, this Chocolate Bread Pudding starts out with stale cubes of French bread. But then something special happens when melted chocolate is whisked into the bread-soaking custard.
To elevate things yet another notch, a handful of chocolate chips is sprinkled between layers of soaked bread so that the resulting bread pudding flaunts a streak of melted chocolate when you scoop into it.
Ingredients
This is a recipe where simple ingredients yield decadent results!
- Chocolate chips. Semi-sweet.
- Instant coffee granules OR espresso powder. Just a smidge! And you can leave it out if you prefer. But if you do decide to add it, rest assured that your Chocolate Bread Pudding won't have a coffee undertone. Rather, this trick just gives a bit of extra depth to the chocolate flavor of chocolate-based recipes like brownies and such.
- Eggs. At room temperature
- Brown sugar. Firmly packed.
- Pure vanilla extract.
- Whole milk + heavy cream. At room temperature.
- French bread. Cubed. A great way to use up past-its-prime bread, because the more stale the bread, the better it'll soak up the custard!
- Seedless raspberry jam. The fancy raspberry sauce garnish surely requires a multi-step process of cooking and straining fresh berries, right? Nah. Just use seedless raspberry jam that's been warmed up and stirred until it's thin enough to drizzle! (Did I not tell y'all this recipe was easy?!)
- Whipped cream and/or fresh berries. Optional but recommended, for serving.
How to Make Chocolate Bread Pudding
(The below photos are intended to be helpful, but please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for FULL DIRECTIONS.)
- Melt chocolate chips and add instant coffee granules/espresso powder, stirring until smooth.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and then beat in the brown sugar and vanilla. Blend in the cooled, melted chocolate.
- Gradually stir in the milk and the heavy cream.
- Fold your bread cubes into the milk mixture and set aside for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure that the bread is getting evenly soaked.
- While the bread is soaking, preheat the oven and grease your baking dish with butter.
- Scoop half of the soaked bread mixture into the prepared baking dish and evenly sprinkle with chocolate chips. Repeat the layers one more time.
- Bake for about an hour or until center is set.
This bread pudding is amazing served warm straight out of the oven, with the bread cubes chewy in some places and gooey in others, and melted chocolate ribboned throughout.
But what puts it over the top is a sprinkle of fresh berries, a drizzle of raspberry sauce, and a generous dollop of fresh whipped cream!
And yes, I forgot the whipped cream in these photos.
It will make me feel better if you would kindly visualize this chocolatey dessert garnished with a mound of soft, freshly whipped cream.
Thank you for humoring your resident crazy, Type-A food blogger. 😉
Variations
- Drizzle your Chocolate Bread Pudding with chocolate syrup instead of raspberry sauce.
- Or drizzle it with caramel sauce instead! (The whipped cream will still complement your dessert, but you might opt to leave off the berries if using caramel sauce in place of raspberry or chocolate sauce.)
- You can easily turn this recipe into an adults-only Kahlua Chocolate Bread Pudding by swapping out some Kahlua for ½ cup of the milk.
- And you can even take it a step further by beating a teaspoon or two of that tasty coffee liqueur into some heavy cream (which I know you won't forget!) to make Kahlua Whipped Cream!
YUM to all of the above.
The Importance of Room Temp Ingredients
One last warning before I curtail the babbling and share the Chocolate Bread Pudding recipe...make sure that your ingredients are at room temperature!
If that means soaking your eggs in a bowl of warm water and zapping your milk and cream for a few seconds in the microwave to take off the chill, so be it.
Because what do you suppose happens when you stir melted chocolate into a bowl of cold milk/cream/egg custard?
Well, I'll tell you what happens. The liquid chocolate instantly re-solidifies into hard little shards of solid chocolate. Not that that's happened to me or anything. Just learn from my mistakes take it from me...save yourself the headache of having to equalize temperatures after the fact and make sure that none of your ingredients are cold from the get-go.
Now who's ready for the best bread pudding you've ever had?
Promise me you'll make Chocolate Bread Pudding for your sweetie this Valentine's Day...because nothing says 'I love you' like chocolate!
More Yummy Desserts
- Croissant Bread Pudding with Caramel
- Raspberry Swirl Brownies
- Easy Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
- Coconut Macaroons
- Skillet S'mores Dip
- Warm Chocolate Cobbler
Chocolate Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce (Warm + Decadent!)
Ingredients
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, DIVIDED
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules OR espresso powder
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
- 6 cups cubed stale French bread
- ½ cup seedless raspberry jam, warmed and stirred until thin and pourable
- Fresh whipped cream
Instructions
- Melt 1 cup chocolate chips by putting in microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each interval until smooth (it should take about 1 ½ minutes total for chocolate to melt). Stir instant coffee granules into warm melted chocolate and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Beat in brown sugar and vanilla. Blend in cooled, melted chocolate until mixture is very smooth. Gradually stir in milk and cream and mix well. Fold bread cubes into milk mixture and set aside to soak for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure that bread is evenly soaked.
- While bread is soaking, preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-cup capacity baking dish (such as an 8- by 8-inch square dish or a deep 9-inch round dish) with butter.
- Scoop half of the soaked bread mixture into prepared baking dish. Evenly sprinkle with ¾ cup chocolate chips. Pour remaining soaked bread on top of chocolate chips and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for about an hour or until center is set. Start checking for doneness at about the 45 minute mark and then every 5 minutes thereafter.
- Drizzle raspberry jam over the top of the bread pudding and onto serving plates, if desired. Serve warm with whipped cream.
Notes
- To lighten up this recipe, all milk may be used in place of the heavy cream. Also, 2% milk may be substituted for whole milk.
- VERY IMPORTANT -- all ingredients should be at room temperature so that the melted chocolate does not re-solidify when it hits cold milk/cream/eggs.
- You may decrease or omit the coffee/espresso granules if you are afraid of tasting them, but they mainly serve to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.
- You may opt to drizzle your Chocolate Bread Pudding with chocolate sauce or raspberry sauce instead of caramel sauce.
- TO MAKE WHIPPED CREAM: (1.) Using the wire whisk attachment(s) of an electric mixer, beat ½ cup chilled heavy cream at medium speed until soft peaks begin to appear. (2.) Sprinkle 2 tablespoons powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract over the whipped cream. (3.) Beat at medium-high speed until stiff peaks just form. (Be careful not to overbeat or you'll end up with butter instead of whipped cream!) TIP: Whipped cream beats up the fluffiest when your heavy cream, your whisk, and your bowl are all chilled.
- Variation ~ KAHLUA CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING: In the Chocolate Bread Pudding recipe, replace ½ cup of the milk with ½ cup Kahlua coffee liqueur. And for a Kahlua Whipped Cream garnish, add 1 teaspoon of Kahlua (or more, to taste) at the same time as the vanilla in the above whipped cream directions.
Nutrition
Post originally published on January 15, 2014, and updated on February 7, 2024.
