Description
A traditional British batter pudding, made sweet with sugar and plums.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (100g) sugar (I used brown) plus 2 extra Tbsp kept aside
- 1 rounded Tbsp flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Small pinch ground clove (optional)
- Knob of butter (about 1 Tbsp)
- Approx. 12 ripe plums, stoned (pitted in US parlance but stoned is British and sounds funnier to my juvenile sense of humour) and halved. You need enough plums for the halves to cover the bottom of your baking dish. I actually used 14 since they were a small variety.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
- Beat the eggs and then add the milk, cream and vanilla and mix together until blended.
- Sift in dry ingredients and whisk for about a minute.
- Use the butter to grease the bottom of your baking dish, then line it with the plum halves, cut-side down.
- Sprinkle the plums with 1/2 of the leftover sugar.
- Pour the batter over the plums and then sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top.
- Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until nicely puffy and golden-brown. (It will sink a few minutes after coming out of the oven and that’s ok.)
Notes
1. Check this after 30 minutes and, if the middle is still runny, turn off the oven and leave the pudding in there with the door closed for another 10 or 15 minutes. The pudding should be puffy all over – slightly squidgy but still spring to the touch.
2. You can cut fat by making this with 1 cup of milk instead of 1/2 milk and 1/2 cream, but it will lose a bit of volume.
3. I list the ground clove as optional because many of my European friends don’t care for it. It reminds them of visits to the dentist as, in Europe, many dentists use clove oil as a natural analgesic. I do like it and, when I’ve made this without it, felt it lacking. Try it and see what you think, but be careful – a little goes a long way and too much will be overpowering.
4. Try this batter pudding with other soft fruits, such as peaches or berries. I made it once with red currants from the garden and the tartness of the berries was a perfect fit. Of course if you make it with cherries, you’re edging dangerously close to the other side of the Channel and a French clafoutis!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins