Whoa! I thought steamed puddings were a bit of a pfaff – not so! This one’s quick, easy and abso-stunningly-lutely gorgeous. When we cooked it for the first time at November’s Coaching and Walking retreat at Castle Farm, it leapt straight to the top of the Favourite Puddings list – a very discerning list!! Get the most natural, quality marmalade you can and hunker down with a proper winter pud. Tastes rather good cold the next day too.
Hot Marmalade Pud (Serves 8-10)
150g brown breadcrumbs (homemade bread with sunflower seed if poss!)
25g brown bread flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
120g soft dark brown sugar
120g lightly salted butter
450g (1lb) jar of marmalade (homemade if poss!)
3 eggs
1 rounded teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
First prep your pudding bowl – you’re after those traditional ceramic bowls that you can sit in a saucepan of water and boil for a few hours. You can use one big bowl or if, like me, you don’t generally have pudding bowls of 10 person capacity kicking about, use a small and a medium.
Whiz your bread up in a mixer till you’ve got fine breadcrumbs. A bread with sunflower seeds in is perfect, but any wholemeal type will do.
Put the breadcrumbs, flour, baking powder and brown sugar in a large bowl whilst you make the gooey bit. NB “Large” bowl is significant – you’ll need space for the mixture to expand….
For the gooey bit – put the butter and marmalade into a saucepan and melt gently. When it’s all liquid and lovely, pour the lot over the breadcrumb mixture and beat it all together till it looks even.
Whisk up the eggs till they’re good and frothy and add them to the breadcrumbs, mixing gently.
Then the really fun bit, this is such a clever trick and you can use it for other sponge puds too: Mix the teaspoon of bicarb in a tiny bit of water (about 4 teaspoons of water) then stir this in to your breadcrumb mixture. The whole lot’s going to froth up and rise up the bowl in a very funky manner indeed.
When you’ve finished gasping, tip the whole lot into your prepared pudding bowl(s) and cover the bowls with a layer of greasproof paper or tin foil, tied around the rim with string so it’s well sealed. Best to do that trick with a fold in the middle of the paper/foil too, so there’s room for expansion.
Stand the pudding bowl in a big saucepan and pour boiling water into the saucepan so that the water comes half to two thirds of the way up the side of the pudding bowl. Cover the saucepan and bring the water up to a boil, then turn it down to simmer for 2 hours.
Other than keeping an eye on the water level in case it needs topping up, you’re done.
To serve just turn the pud out on to a plate and serve with custard, cream or cream with a bit of orangey liquour and caster sugar whipped in to it. How easy is that?! Take the praise, feel smug, and repeat whenever you fancy it.
Recharge, Refocus, Relax… Walking, chatting, pampering holidays with rather nice food: http://www.more-to.org
