Chocolate Bread Pudding

I really wanted to make something chocolate-y for Thanksgiving, but I had a hard time figuring out what to make. I had thought about a chocolate cake, but that just seemed boring. The day before Thanksgiving, I remembered seeing this recipe at Food Network. I looked it over and decided it was perfect. It sounded delicious, with the added bonus that I had all the ingredients on hand. No way was I going back to the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving.
Now, when I say that I had all the ingredients, that is a slight exaggeration. I didn’t have any bread for the bread pudding. But remember my new bread machine? Four little ingredients and a few hours later, I had bread.
My only change to the recipe was the liqueur. The original recipe uses coffee-flavored liqueur, like Kahlua. I decided (with some encouragement from Quinn) to use Frangelico, which is a hazelnut-flavored liqueur. After discovering it last year, Frangelico has risen to the top of my list of liqueurs.
This is a really simple yet impressive dessert. My only complaint was grating all that chocolate. That was exhausting. Other than that, it was quick and easy. I do think it got a bit lost in the Thanksgiving dessert spread, especially with that cheesecake. I think it would have performed much better on its own. Maybe I’ll just have to make the sacrifice and make it again.
Chocolate Bread Pudding

Ingredients
- 1 1-pound loaf French or Italian bread, cubed
- 3 cups milk
- 1/2 cup Frangelico
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 6 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated
- sweetened whipped cream, for garnish
Instructions
- Lightly grease a 9"x 13" baking pan. Place the cubed bread into the prepared pan. Set aside.
- Whisk milk, Frangelico, and cream in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder. Add to the milk mixture and mix well.
- Place eggs in a small bowl and beat lightly. Add vanilla, almond extract, and cinnamon to eggs and stir to combine.
- Add the egg mixture to the milk mixture. Mix well.
- Stir in the grated chocolate. Then, pour the mixture over the bread. Allow to stand, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, or until the bread absorbs the majority of the milk.
- Preheat oven to 325°. Bake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Serve warm or chilled with sweetened whipped cream.
13 Comments on “Chocolate Bread Pudding”
Yum! I love all cheesecake…this looks especially good. I too love Frangelico…I find it very underused.
i love bread pudding!! the concept on reincarnating old bread is really wonderful….hazelnut flavored liquer blends well with chocolate…such a great idea !!
You found a way to combine bread with Frangelico. You’re a genius!
That looks great! I love the frangelico idea.
wow, this looks totally amazing! will have to try it…
Thank goodness, this dessert DID get lost at Thanksgiving. That meant that I got to bring a lot home! This is a wonderful dessert that is good even re-heated a few days later.
God I love chocolate bread pudding!
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For those of you (like me) who are a bit skiddish of baking…. Go ahead and make this! I made it for a dinner party prior to Christmas and it turned out great! Now, I will admit that I called Jennifer a couple of times before I started it; but, overall, this is pretty easy to make. I happened to have Kahlua in the pantry instead of Frangelico, so I used that instead. Thanks for your help, Sister!
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When I was at university there was a small local coffee bar that made the best chocolate bread pudding, at class break we would need to run to get a piece as it was so popular! This recipe brought back that fun memory.
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