This rich, indulgent, dairy-free chocolate bread pudding recipe was shared with us by Levana Kirschenbaum, a celebrity chef and cookbook author. She originally shared this dessert with us in 2010, but we’ve updated it and moved it to our recipe section.
Levana is all about options. She makes this as a chocolate challah bread pudding, but gives you the flexibility to use another bread, including gluten free. She also shared two flavor variations: mocha and chocolate cranberry.
Special Diet Notes: Chocolate Bread Pudding
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, optionally gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegetarian.
- 3 cups plain or unsweetened vanilla dairy-free milk beverage
- 1½ cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup oil
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- Dash rum or brandy
- Pinch salt
- 1 medium-size challah, broken into 1-inch pieces (can sub gluten-free challah or other bread)
- Preheat your oven to 375°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the milk beverage, sugar, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, coffee, rum or brandy, and salt. Add the bread and stir to coat.
- Pour the bread and liquid into your prepared baking dish and even it out.
- Bake the chocolate bread pudding for 40 minutes, or until the center is puffy and barely firm.
Chocolate Cranberry Variation: Omit the sugar and the rum or brandy, but add 3 tablespoons crème de cassis and a 15-ounce natural jellied cranberry sauce. Taste the liquid and add sugar, to taste, if desired. It will depend on the sweetness of your sauce.