Cooking & Entertaining > Desserts

Summer Pudding

The pudding may be prepared and weighted in advance, then frozen in its basin until it is required. Leave it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

Ingredients:

100 gm. caster sugar
225 gm. blackcurrants or redcurrants, stalks removed
225g. ripe red plums, halved and stoned
1 strip of lemon rind
225 gm. strawberries hulled
225 gm. raspberries hulled
8-10 slices of day-old white bread, crusts removed

Serves 6

Method:

Put the sugar into a saucepan with 60 ml/4 tbsp. water. Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the back or red currants, plums and lemon rind and poach until tender.

Add the strawberries and raspberries to the saucepan and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and, using a slotted spoon, remove the lemon rind.

Cut a circle from 1 slice of bread to fit the base of a 1.25 litre pudding basin. Line the base and sides of basin with bread, leaving no spaces. Pour in the stewed fruit, reserving about about 3-4 tbsp. of the juice in a jug. Top the stewed fruit filling with more bread slices. Cover with a plate or saucer that exactly fits inside the basin. Put a weight on top to press the pudding down firmly. Leave in a cool place for 5-8 hours, preferably overnight.

Turn out carefully on a plate or shallow dish to serve. If there are any places on the bread shell where the juice from the fruit filling has not penetrated, drizzle a little of the reserved fruit juice over. Serve with whipped cream or plain yoghurt.

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Recipe Source:

Mrs. Beeton's Book of Summer: A Celebration of Summer Living, With Simple Seasonal Cooking, Traditional Activities and Perfect Pastimes for Warm Days