My childhood memory of Herrencreme is Oma making it as a special Sunday Nachtisch for Opa… and me getting Chocolate Pudding. Herrencreme or Gentleman’s Pudding is made with dark chocolate shavings and a generous amount of rum and therefore might be too “bitter” for children. (I don’t think Oma considered the rum inappropriate, she did give us Eierlikör on the pudding…so I must have made a face at the dark chocolate ). Now that I’m considered an adult, I can make the Herrencreme recipe to my taste (semi-sweet chocolate, not extra-dark), and enjoy it any time.

In the Münsterland, Herrencreme is the traditional wedding dessert. It’s light, not too sweet, and studded with chocolate. And just the right thing to take the edge off of the sweet tooth while waiting for the cake to be sliced. (German weddings last hours… often well into the night, and even into the next morning. Lots of food keeps things moving).

Münsterlander Omas all have slight variations on the recipe... some use more chocolate shavings or DARKER chocolate shavings… some add more or less rum (some even rum extract)… but the technique is the same. First, you prepare a vanilla pudding, then stir in rum, chocolate shavings, and unsweetened whipped cream. Serve with a topping of extra chocolate shavings… and maybe some berries or whipped cream. As a Nachtisch, it’s a nice end to any meal.

And bonus! You no longer have to be a Gentleman to enjoy it.

Herrencreme Recipe

A not-too-sweet pudding with dark chocolate and rum.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 5

cooling time 2

Course Dessert

Cuisine German

Servings 3

Equipment

1 Saucepan (medium)
1 Mixer stand or hand - to whip the cream
1 Vegetable Peeler to shave the chocolate

Ingredients

2 cups Milk 500 ml (divided)
2 Egg Yolks
4 tablespoons Cornstarch 40 gr
½ cup Sugar 60 gr
2 tablespoons Vanilla Sugar or 2 tsp. Vanilla extract + 2 tsp. Sugar
¾ cup + 2 TBL. Heavy Cream 200 ml
3-4 tablespoons Rum to taste
100 gram Dark Chocolate

Instructions

Place a medium empty bowl nearby to catch the cooked pudding.
In a small bowl- Combine ⅓ cup (100ml) milk with the egg yolks and cornstarch. Whisk until smooth. Set aside
In a medium saucepan- Combine the other 1 ⅔ cups (400 ml) milk with the sugar and vanilla sugar. Heat over medium, stir to dissolve the sugar crystals.
Increase the heat a bit to bring the milk to a boil
When it starts to boil, remove from the heat... and WHILE WHISKING add the milk/egg/cornstarch mixture. Whisk until smooth.
Return to the heat, and whisk until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil.
Remove from the heat immediately, and pour into the medium bowl that you set nearby earlier.
Stir in the rum.
Cover the cooked pudding with plastic wrap... press down a bit so the wrap in directly on the pudding (you don't want pudding skin)
Set in the refrigerator to cool.
This can take up to 2 hours. You can hurry the process by setting the bowl of warm pudding into a larger bowl of ice water.
Shave the chocolate- Use a vegetable peeler to shave the chocolate bar into a bowl. Set aside
(This is messy, and I wish I knew a better and more efficient method. The food processor leaves "chunks", and the texture is wrong. )
When the pudding is cooled, whip the cream into stiff peaks.
Fold the whipped cream, and around 3/4 of the chocolate shavings into the pudding. Set into the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Before serving, taste it again and add more rum if desired.
Serving- you can spoon the pudding into individual bowls/glasses, or just transfer it to a nice big serving bowl.
Sprinkle with the reserved chocolate shavings.
Feel free to top with berries (Strawberries and Raspberries are best) and maybe whipped cream.

Notes

Chocolate makes a difference. My preference is a 75% chocolate... semi-sweet. Lindt makes a 100gr bar, so it's the perfect size. I have used a super-dark chocolate (85%), and to my taste, it's just too bitter... but my husband liked it.

Shave the chocolate. You want the chocolate to melt away in your mouth. I've tried the food processor, and can't really get the texture right. It's messy, but the vegetable peeler works. Please let me know if you have a better solution.

Keyword Herrencreme, Nachtisch, Pudding

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How to Prepare the Herrencreme Recipe

Combine 1/3 cup of milk with the cornstarch and egg yolk… whisk thoroughly

Heat the Milk, Sugar, and Vanilla Sugar in a medium saucepan to just boiling.
Remove from heat and whisk in the Milk/Egg Yolk mixture.

Pour into a bowl

Mix in the Rum
(how much is up to you… I tent to be more generous. You can always add more later)

It will look curdled at first….

Keep stirring until it looks smooth…

Now cover with plastic wrap, and let cool… have the wrap touch the pudding so that you don’t get a skin

While you are waiting, shave the chocolate. I use a vegetable peeler over a larger bowl
(and yes, I do get chocolate on my hands, tabletop etc.)

But the work pays off… the texture of the chocolate shavings is exactly right
(I use Lindt 70% but you can use darker if you prefer a more “adult” taste.)

Add Whipped Cream and Chocolate shavings to the cooled pudding

Fold it in

Set the Pudding aside in the Refrigerator until ready to serve.

(Or just grab a spoon)

Serve and enjoy

Herrencreme Recipe a “Gentleman’s” Pudding from the Münsterland