Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae

Asked by Nurse Claire. Answered on 29th May 2011

Full question

I have just made this delicious sauce (Nigella Express, p160) for a dinner party tomorrow night. How long is it safe to keep considering it contains cream? It was so easy to make & a jar of it would make a nice gift as an alternative to home made jam.

I was just wondering - for the chocolate peanut butter topping for ice cream sundaes the recipe lists double cream yet on TV Nigella says condensed milk. Which is the correct one?

Our answer

The sauce for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae is based on a ganache (chocolate and cream mixture). This type of sauce should keep for around 2 weeks as long as it is kept refrigerated and sealed in an airtight container or a clean glass jar. If it is stored at room temperature then the cream in the mixture will start to sour after a couple of days. The sauce will solidify in the fridge but can be reheated gently in a saucepan, or in a microwave using 10-second blasts (stir between each blast) until liquified and warm. Don't boil the sauce as it can affect the chocolate in the mixture.

The sauce can also be frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.

The sauce does use double cream but for the US heavy cream is fine and in other countries any unsweetened cream that you use for whipping can be used. The Chocolate Pistachio Fudge recipe (p228) uses condensed milk.