This is the true account of how a semi-disaster in the kitchen was transformed into an amazing success story. It’s about a challenge that was issued, a challenge that was accepted and a challenge that was completed, with mixed results. It’s about a Choclate Babka that hinted at great things but ultimately came up short (and a little flat in the middle). And it’s about how a not-so-perfect chocolate babka got its act together and reinvented itself to be this delightfully decadent Chocolate and Raspberry Bread Pudding!
Most Saturday mornings we go to a local produce store to buy groceries (mainly veggies). But they also have an amazing bakery and cafe that we just cannot ignore every time we go there. What’s even better is that we always get to sample (for free) whatever’s usually new or on special at the bakery. And they almost always have something really tasty. About a month ago they were handing out samples of chocolate swirl Brioche (which is essentially Chocolate Babka) and they were SO GOOD! My husband loved it and naturally my response was “this is easy. I can make this at home.” So a challenge was issued by him which I accepted. I wanted my Brioche to be really rich with a deep chocolate flavour.
Three tries later I got pretty close to perfection. Not quite there but still pretty close. And it was amazing! We devoured that third one in a couple of days. This post however is about those first two very delicious but not so perfect chocolate babkas that we were left with. They did taste great but the first one just didn’t have enough chocolate for me and the second one stubbornly refused to rise in the middle for some reason. Of course I wasn’t going to throw them out (gasp!) and I still wanted them to feel special at the same time. After all they had been the stepping stones in my quest for the perfect chocolate swirl brioche.

So I gave them new life by transforming them into what you see below. Bittersweet chocolate swirls swimming in delicious warm custard and paired with fresh tangy raspberries and then topped with crunchy buttery pieces of brioche and a delightfully rich chocolate fudge sauce. Yup, it’s just as good as it sounds. And that’s how my chcolate babka casualties were turned into pots (ramekins?) of gold.
Chocolate Babkas are everywhere this time of year. The holidays are a wonderful excuse to indulge a little and chocolate babkas fit the bill perfectly. It’s made with Brioche which is a wonderful yellow hued bread that gets that amazing richness and flavour from butter and egg yolks and dark chocolate layers in between. This is also why brioche is great for bread puddings. I added the raspberries because I cannot imagine a bread pudding without some kind of berry and I thank my mother for that. She used to make an amazing (dairy-free) queen of puddings and that creamy bread pudding and meringue separated by a warm layer of jam always made cold winter nights very enjoyable (even with that scoop of ice cream I always added to it, winter or not). For those who don’t know what queen of puddings is, here is a recipe. Although truth be told, I will always prefer my mother’s over anything else.
A few notes about this dessert.
- This recipe can also be made in a 7 x 9 inch dish and that will be just fine.
- Or you could make them in 6 ounce ramekins (about 6 portions)
- You can make these with any kind of bread, or even chocolate or Nutella swirled bread. Brioche just has a richer taste.
- You need to layer them with soaked bread at the bottom and then raspberries (which can be fresh or frozen or fresh frozen like I did).

- When filling these with the milk mix, make sure there is a half centimeter gap between the fill line and the top edge of the ramekin. Why? The custard will expand when baking and will flow out of the ramekin if it’s completely full. Trust me on this one. Here I have used 4 ounce ramekins and they turned out to be a little too small to contain all that delicious goodness of the bread pudding. Which is why I’m suggesting 6 ounce ramekins.

In my opinion, a perfect bread pudding should have pockets of beautiful silky custard visible amongst all the soaked chunky bread pieces. Here I have used fresh raspberries (that I quickly froze, hence fresh frozen) because I really like the tartness that these berries yield to this rich dessert. I usually buy an excess of fresh berries when they are on sale and immediately put them in the freezer for days like this when I just have to have a berry fix. Plus they taste better than the frozen berries in the store.
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Ingredients:
- 14 ounces of chocolate babka you can use store bought or make your own
- 2 1/2 cups of half and half you can use milk or a mix of milk and cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 egg yolks
- 2.8 oz sugar
- 1 punnet of raspberries
- Melted butter to brush on top
- Brown sugar to sprinkle on top
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Cut the bread into small bite sized chunks and spread them in one layer on a baking tray.
- Bake the bread chunks in the oven for about 10 minutes until they become crispy around the edges but still soft in the middle. Check on the bread chunks after the first 5 minutes, as you don't want them to become too dry and hard.
- Remove them from the oven and let them cool. Put aside 1 cup of these toasted bread chunks.
- Lower the heat of the oven to 325°F/165°C.
- In a bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until they become pale and frothy.
- Whisk in half and half and vanilla.
- Place the bread chunks (not the one cup of toasted bread chunks) in the milk mix and let them soak for at least 30 minutes, till they are completely soaked through with the milk mix. From time to time, give them a stir and press them down to make sure they are soaking up the custard evenly.
- TO MAKE ONE BIG PUDDING - . Pour the milk and saturated bread mix into a buttered 7inch by 9inch baking dish. Sprinkle about 3/4 of the raspberry in the dish and gently press them into the custard and bread mix.
- Sprinkle the one cup of toasted bread chunks on top of the bread pudding and press them down slightly into the custard. It should still be the top layer. Leave to rest for about 10 minutes and brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle a little brown sugar.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until the custard is set. When you insert a tooth pick it should come out clean without any liquid.
- Serve warm with the rest of the raspberries.
TO MAKE INDIVIDUAL SERVINGS -
- Butter six, 6 ounce ramekins. Using a spoon place enough of the soaked bread chunks in each of the ramekins in one thick layer at the bottom (about 1/3 of the ramekin).
- Place 2-3 raspberries in each ramekin on top of the bread.
- Ladle the custard to fill the ramekins up to 3/4 full.
- Evenly divide the one cup of toasted bread chunks between the 6 ramekins and gently press them down.
- Add more milk to each of the ramekins making sure there is a half centimeter gap between the fill line and the top edge of the ramekin. Leave ramekins to rest for 10 minutes and brush the tops with butter and sprinkle about 1 tsp of brown sugar on top.
- Place ramekins on a baking tray and bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until the custard has set.
- Serve warm with the rest of the raspberries.
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
You can serve these warm (or even cold if you like) with maybe a dusting of powdered sugar?
Or some chocolate fudge sauce?
Maybe even whipped cream?
I love eating this while it’s still warm and soft. That’s how I’ve always had bread pudding. And with a scoop of ice cream on top. This time I didn’t have any ice cream in the freezer (I blame the weather for that!) so I topped it with this amazing chocolate fudge sauce. This is my favourite chocolate fudge sauce recipe and it’s from Brown Eyed Baker. I love eating it with ice cream or puddings or dare I admit – just straight out of the bottle. For the full recipe you can follow this link.
The custard layer in this bread pudding was delicious and I love how the chocolate swirls merged with the custard and the soft bread chunks. The crispy/crunchy golden brown bread at the top is a wonderful addition to the texture as well. And those bright red/pink patches you see in the pudding are where the raspberries used to be. They provide that sweet sourness which pairs wonderfully with the creamy richness of the chocolate bread pudding. There is certainly more than meets the eye in this amazing dessert in terms of all those lovely flavours and textures.
Mr K loves eating this pudding cold. I don’t get it. But each to his own. How do you like your bread pudding? Warm or cold? With whipped cream? Ice cream? Chocolate sauce? Or something else entirely? Let me know in the comments. You can keep this in the fridge for about 3 days (that’s how long ours lasted), and then just warm it up in the microwave before eating it (unless of course you’re part of some alien species that likes to eat bread pudding cold like my husband).
So Christmas is only two weeks away. This is my first Christmas with Mr K and we are going to be building a Gingerbread house together this year which will hopefully be a holiday tradition for us going forward. You will see and hear more about it in another post very soon!
I made these chocolatey desserts in time for Christmas too! You can check them out below.
Fully Loaded Rocky Road Brownies – Fudgy Chocolate Brownie topped with Chocolate ganache mixhed with all the Rocky Road Candies!
Intense Dark Chocolate Rum Balls – {or Rum Truffles} These are amazing! Don’t take my word for it. Intense bitter sweet chocolate with a nice boozy Rum kick! Perfect to give as gifts, ONLY if you can bear to part with them.
Don’t forget to follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest or google-plus. I am on a slight chocolate binge these days (not the healthiest thing I admit but hey it’s the holidays! Just put it down to the darn holidays!) and I’ll be sharing pictures of it on my social media. And don’t forget to subscribe for new posts and recipes via email below or on the sidebar.
Faye Wilkerson says
We love bread pudding in the south. Have to make this soon.
Cathy says
Looks Delicious! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Jennifer A Stewart says
Can’t go wrong with chocolate and raspberry! My hubs loves bread pudding!!! I’m making this right after Easter!
Akaleistar says
Oh, yummy! The bread pudding looks fantastic. Happy SITS Day 🙂
Krystle Cook says
I have never had bread pudding but this post makes me want to. Plus I love raspberries and chocolate!!
Dini says
I hope you do make it Krystle! It’s so easy to make and perfect for winter!! 🙂
Seana Turner says
That flavor combination is one of my favorite. I had no idea that berries you freeze yourself would be better than the ones you buy in the grocery store. Why is that?
Dini says
I love Raspberries and Chocolate together too. I find the frozen raspberries not as sweet as the ones I choose and freeze myself. I can choose better berries, when they are cheaper and use them when I want to! Plus they don’t break up like the frozen ones in bags(if you flash freeze and store in a box) 🙂
Lou Lou Girls says
This is fabulous! I love it. Pinned and tweeted. Thanks for being a part of our party! I hope you stop by on Monday at 7 pm. We love to party with you. Merry Christmas! Lou Lou Girls
Indu says
Looks so yum with the raspberries and chocolate! that’s a great combination! And put that into bread pudding – just marvelous! 🙂 thanks for bringing this to Fiesta Friday – Happy Fiesta Friday and Happy Holidays! 🙂
Judi Graber says
Raspberry and chocolate anything go so good together. After a trip to New Orleans I have been very interested in the different kinds of bread budding. Now, I can add your version to my list 🙂
Judi Graber says
Oops “pudding”
Jhuls says
I admire people who would get up and try after having those kitchen disasters. You babka looks beautiful to me, Dini. But I am glad you turned it into this delicious pudding. I assume I have one of these, yes? 😀 Thanks for bringing this at FF. Enjoy the weekend and enjoy the party. 🙂
Dini says
Thank you for saying that Jhuls!! 🙂 It was put to better use in the bread pudding! I will make it prettier next time though! hahaha!
Michelle says
This is definitely the ugly ducking story of baked goods! Not that your Brioche’s were ugly… you get what i mean, I hope haha!
That bread pudding looks so yummy though, that chocolate swirling with the custard is just to die for! And chocolate and raspberry are one of my favourite combinations, so I definitely need a few servings of this!!
Dini says
hahaha! I know what you mean! I do want to make a prettier looking brioche though! 😛 thankfully all of that was hidden inside the custard! 🙂
Loretta says
How absolutely gorgeous, love those individual ramekins don’t you? I just purchased some myself and can hardly wait to put them to use. Will definitely try bread pudding in them, so your recipe will be bookmarked 🙂
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
Oh my goodness, I love bread pudding and this looks so good! I have to share this one too! I’ll spread it out a little since we’re taking a week off from Foodie Fridays for Christmas but I’ll send some foodie love your way on this one too!
Dini says
Thank you Michelle! Bread pudding is a family favourite in my family too! I’m definitely going to miss Foodie Fridays! Thank you so much for sharing and sending me some love Michelle! 😀 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Blair @ The Seasoned Mom says
This is a beautiful, delicious-looking dessert! Pinned! Now I just need to find a good occasion to make it!
Glad I found you at Foodie Fridays link party. I’m a new follower! Have a great weekend!
Dini says
Thank you Blair! 🙂 Let me know how it turns out! Bread pudding is one of our winter favourites. Hope you have a fantastic weekend too!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
These chocolate and raspberry bread puddings look like the ultimate comfort food dessert. I totally need to make the recipe!
Dini says
Thank you Thalia! They definitely were comfort food, especially since it’s getting colder! let me know what you think! 🙂
Amanda@TexMexCrafting says
This looks soo yummy. I’ve been craving bread pudding and may have to try this. Pinning.
Dini says
Thank you Amanda! I hope you do try the recipe and let me know what you think! 🙂
Ganu says
That looks amazing!!!!!! Can’t wait to try this! 🙂
Dini says
Thank you Ganu! 🙂 you’re going to like tomorrow’s post better!!