This week’s TWD was chosen by Garrett of The Flavor of Vanilla: split-level pudding. It consists of vanilla pudding atop a layer of chocolate ganache. Since I’m not really a pudding person and Shane would be the only one eating this dessert, I made 1/3 of the recipe which yielded enough for 2 small ramekins. Dorie’s pudding recipe makes use of a food processor but since I was making such a small quantity, I just used a whisk and strained the pudding after it thickened on the stove to ensure it was really smooth and that worked well.
I sprinkled some cocoa powder on top to try and make it more attractive, but this pudding just didn’t want to photograph well. I wish I’d used glass containers so the two levels would have been visible. As for the taste? The vanilla pudding was yummy, but we didn’t like it combined with the ganache. My ganache was quite solid after a few hours in the fridge and the texture just didn’t seem to work well with the pudding. So, I’ll definitely keep this pudding recipe in mind for the future, but I’ll skip the ganache.
Thanks to Garrett for hosting this week! You can find the recipe on his blog and check out how everyone else fared by visiting the TWD site.
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I am also not a pudding person, so i skipped it altogether. glad you enjoyed it though!
I’m much more of a vanilla person than a chocolate person so I think I’m going to give this one a try soon sans the chocolate. Thanks for sharing.
We had the exact same experience with this recipe! I love ganache, but apparently not as a (solid) pudding base. Cute how your cocoa powder gave a little hint of the bottom layer.
Your vanilla layer looks perfect. 🙂 I agree with you about the ganache. The 2 seemed to compete with eachother as far as consistency…but it was a delicious recipe!
My ganache was solid too! So difficult to eat / photograph bc of it. Tasty though!
It looks good to me!
I need a spoon!
Interesting recipe – I like chocolate and vanilla, but not really combined. It’s an interesting concept, though! Your pictures look pretty.
I was wondering about the ganache when I was reading the TWD posts today. It just doesn’t seem like something you would want to serve cold- with pudding none the less! Glad you enjoyed the pudding itself though.
Looks good with the cocoa! I’m glad to hear that it wasn’t just me with the hard ganache, I thought mine might have been too hard due to recycling from last week, but I guess it’s just the consistency.
mine didnt photograph well even in a glass. yours looks good though
You were so smart to dust yours with cocoa. I would love to try it in a glass stem of some sort. I’m taking some to a new Mom with her meal. Hoping to run across something durable in a glass to take it in. It was kind of funky to photograph but so glad we got it made. I tasted before chilling and its was yummy.
AmyRuth
Looks phenomenal Tracey – the cocoa finishes it off so nicely. I had to heat my ganache and then quickly add the vanilla and then quickly photograph it and the quickly eat it. It’s all fake…. a quick fake out just for photography’s sake. BUT I’m sure it tasted wonderful – the recipe was fantastic! Nicely done – and a great “save”!
I couldn’t disagree more. This is a beautiful photo. I love the contrast of texture between the pudding and cocoa with the rough wooden table. Just lovely!
my ganache was a tad on the grainy side but mine didn’t set up to be hard so the tastes colliding was quite delish!
yours looks great!! and don’t feel bad. mine didn’t photograph well either.
I actually combined the pudding and the ganache after I chilled the pudding because I had some leftover ganache and saw how much it hardened up! It is definitely not good for leftovers, that is for sure! I’m sorry you weren’t crazy about this one!
definitely a difficult one to photograph for me. Sorry this didn’t knock your socks off
Thanks for sharing but the ganache on the bottom does not turn on my taste buds.
Joyce
Your pudding looks lovely with the cocoa powder on top! I can’t stand pudding, so I skipped this week. I have also been a commenting slacker. Time to buckle down! I’m glad you thought this was tasty even though pudding isn’t your thing!
I’ve never made homemade pudding, so I did want to make this week’s TWD, but have been out of town and just couldn’t get to it.
Bummer it wasn’t too fab for you, but at least you didn’t make the whole recipe.
I did make last week’s tart that I missed! Mmm.
Looks good, Tracey! I like the cocoa powder on top. I’ve read that several people had problems with the ganache, but I didn’t at all. The ones the girls have been eating have had pudding consistency on the bottom. Hmm.
Too bad it didn’t work out for you. Love the cocoa sprinkle!
I’m a pudding freak, but I wasn’t in love with the ganache layer. Then I went to Garrett’s blog and he suggested serving the pudding warm. Oh, duh.
Your picture looks great!
I’m all for skipping the ganache also, but for obvious reasons…LOL. Yours looks pretty with the top decorated like that…sorry I had to skip our cook along for this as I always look forward to that.