This is one of my favourite ever desserts. Simple, light and kinda healthy! Just what you need to end a barbecue on a hot summers day, who wants a treacle sponge in this heat? It's one of my go-to recipes for many reasons...
1. It tastes delicous
2. It looks impressive, yet is ridiculously easy to make
3. It's cheap to make - and doesn't require any fancy equipment. Just a saucepan and a dessert bowl, really!
4. Just
look at it!
Here's how you do it.
You will need:
700g frozen fruit (strawberries and cherries are particularly good as they bulk it out. I also used blueberries and raspberries, but throw whatever you like in!
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 a loaf of slightly stale white bread.
See what I mean about how cheap it is? The bread is better off when it's dried out so it absorbs more of the lovely fruit juices. I had to buy my bread fresh, but left it out for about an hour in this heat and it was to get it nice and dry.
First, chop of the crusts of your bread, and line them around your bowl like this. Fill in any gaps with smaller cuts of bread - work that tessellation! Everyone loves playing Tetris with food.
Soften your fruit in a saucepan over a low heat and add your sugar. You want to get a nice juice to come out, so add more sugar if you want.
Pour your fruity loveliness into your bread bowl, all the way to the top. Add a few more slices of bread on top to form the base.
Weigh the pudding down with a plate plus anything heavy to get the juices to soak into the bread, and chill overnight if you're patient. If not it should be okay after a few hours.
As you will notice, not all the bread will have soaked up the fruit. To keep it looking pretty, stew some more fruit in the same way and drizzle on top so it's all a nice pinky-red colour. Don't forget to save some for the top of the cake when it gets tipped up.
Now for the scary bit. This is the worst part of any dessert making in my opinion. TIPPING THE CAKE OUT OF THE TIN. I usually cave under the pressure and get someone else to do it for me. Loosen the bread around the bowl using a knife and tip upside down onto a serving dish. Then, as if you're making a sandcastle give it a few magic taps, and pray it falls out nice and neatly.
If like me you had a lot of bread around the edges that was still white, trim them off with a knife. I won't tell.
And Serve!
This never fails to impress guests when you cut through to reveal a beautiful display of fresh fruit. A perfect summer pudding.
