Preheat the oven to 200C

Grease 4 little pudding basins. I like these ones

Pop a circle of greaseproof paper in the bottom to ensure they don't stick

Melt the butter and chocolate together. I prefer doing this in the microwave but a bain marie is also good - more faff, but still good.

Once melted, add the eggs and sugar

Stir in the flour, coffee, vanilla, and salt

Pour into the basins and cook for 10-15 minutes. Important: all ovens vary so it is VERY important to check them at 10 mins and then every minute thereafter until you think they are done. They are done when the sides are ever so sightly coming away from the sides but you can still see that it isn't set in the middle.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream / creme fraiche / double cream. Or all of the above. These are also gorgeous with a handful of raspberries to cut through the richness of the chocolate.

Doing a practice round before your guests arrive is always a good idea as you will feel much more relaxed (and you'll get extra puds all to yourself!)

These also freeze beautifully and can also be kept in the fridge for 2 days (uncooked). To cook from chilled simply add another 2 mins to your cooking time (remember to keep checking them). To cook from frozen simply add another 8-10 mins to the cooking time. This recipe doubles up beautifully so you could always prepare more than you need and bung the extras in the freezer...for well, emergencies.