This indulgent, restaurant-style pudding is simple to make and will look to all like you’ve been slaving for hours. The crispy filo hides a secret oozing chocolate centre
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water). When melted and smooth, set aside to cool for 15min.
Step 2
Put 40g of the butter and all the caster sugar into a separate large bowl and beat together with a handheld electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Next beat in the vanilla, then fold in the flour with a large metal spoon. Finally, fold in the melted and cooled chocolate. Chill mixture until firm, about 1hr.
Step 3
When the chocolate mixture is firm, melt the remaining butter. Trim all the filo sheets into rough 30.5cm x 30.5cm squares. Lay out four of the filo squares, then brush each with melted butter. Top each with another filo square and brush again with butter. Next, using your hands, shape ¼ of the firm chocolate mixture into a ball (it will be messy!) and put in the middle of one of the squares. Repeat with remaining chocolate mixture. Wash your hands before gathering the pastry above the filling, squeezing tightly to seal and scrunching lightly on top. Transfer to a baking tray. Repeat with remaining parcels. Chill for 30min.
Step 4
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C) mark 4 and bake the parcels for 15min. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with cream, vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
