Steamed jam pudding

Serves:

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup raspberry jam
• half a cup fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
• 125g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra, for greasing
• half a cup caster sugar
• Zest of 2 lemons, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup (250mL) warm milk
• Ice cream or thick cream, to serve

Method

Grease a 1L (4-cup) capacity porcelain pudding basin with butter. Put it in the fridge for 5 minutes, then grease again. Place jam and raspberries in the base of the basin.

Using an electric mixer to beat butter, sugar and lemon rind until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat on medium speed until smooth. Sift flour and baking powder into mixture, pour in milk and beat on low speed until just combined.

Spoon batter into basin, smooth top and place a circle of baking paper over the surface of the pudding. Place two circles of aluminium foil over the basin and tie on with unwaxed kitchen string.

Place basin in a large saucepan or pot and pour in enough boiling water to reach halfway up the side of the basin. Cover and simmer for 1 and a half to 2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the pudding comes out clean. Check the water level every 30 minutes and top up if necessary.

Remove pudding from saucepan, remove foil and paper, stand for 5 minutes before inverting on to a plate. Serve immediately with custard or thick cream.

Notes:

• This pudding was the highlight of an otherwise deep-fried food menu at my residential college during first year Uni. A difficult year.
• I love the bright red raspberry topping that runs down the lemony steamed pudding. Perfect dessert for these cold winter nights.
• Make sure the foil does not touch the water or it may seep into the pudding.
• Would recommend this as a weekend dish if you have to do kinder/school pick up. While it is quick to prepare the mixture, the steaming time is a bit of a problem. Needs to be started at about 4pm to be ready for dessert.
• Make gluten-free using gluten-free plain flour and 3 teaspoons baking powder.

Serving Suggestions

Note