Recipe
Summer Pudding
A jewel-bright British summer pudding layered with soft white bread and gently cooked berries, plums, pears and apple. Chill it overnight for a clean slice and serve with softly whipped cream.
Ingredients
Method
30 mins prep20 mins cook770 mins total
Put the pears, apples, plums, blackberries, sugar and butter in a wide saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 12–15 minutes until the fruit is tender but still holds its shape.
Tip the fruit into a colander set over a bowl and leave it for 8–10 minutes. Return the juice to the pan and simmer until reduced by about half, then cool until just warm.
Lightly grease a 1.5-litre pudding basin and line it with clingfilm, leaving an overhang. Dip a round of bread in the juice and use it to line the base, then arrange dipped bread around the sides.
Spoon in the drained fruit. Cover with more juice-dipped bread, trimming the pieces to make a neat lid, and keep any extra juice for serving.
Cover with the clingfilm, add a small plate and light weights, and chill overnight. Turn the pudding out carefully, brush any pale patches with reserved juice and serve in slices.
Notes
Use bread that is a day old rather than very fresh; it absorbs the fruit juices more evenly and gives the pudding a cleaner edge. Chill overnight under a light weight, then bring it out just before turning out.
About this recipe
Summer pudding is a lovely way to turn a bowl of ripe fruit into a generous, make-ahead dessert. Blackberries, plums, pears and Bramley apples are cooked just until tender, then pressed inside bread that drinks up the deep pink juices.
The pudding needs a proper overnight chill so the layers hold together when turned out. Keep the fruit pleasantly textured rather than stirring it into a purée, and reserve some of the reduced juice to touch up the bread before serving.
