Jan Ellis Pudding with a brandy-orange sauce

I finally steamed my Christmas pudding two days back. The recipe said 10 to 12 hours but I just couldn't bear to carry on for that long and so after about 8 hours I checked it with a skewer, nothing stuck to it and so I decided it was time. While it was steaming, there was no divine smell of the soaked fruits in brandy or anything and I was disappointed. But once the cake was put aside to cool, the smells that filled my house was sooo good. It was like Christmas in a bowl. Ro on the other hand could have been a bit more enthusiastic about it..but instead he asked:

'cant we just buy a pud from M & S like we always do?' 

No we cant because I STIRRED this pud with aching arms and now I want to flambé it for Christmas. OK then this months electricity bill is coming out of your salary. 

Hmm, OK, screw the stirred pud, maybe we can actually just buy it from M & S

But then we agreed to still go ahead with this, with the bill situation still unresolved. But when those smells wafted through the house, I had a slight feeling it was thoroughly worth it. Its now well wrapped up and put in a cool, dark corner for the flavours to develop and then on Christmas day it has to steam for another 2 more house, after which it will be ready to be flambéed.

Since I couldn't eat the pudding I steamed, I went and baked another pudding yesterday. I am a novice when it comes to steamed puddings and after the 8hr experiment, I didn't want another steamed one. So I opted for the Jan Ellis Pudding which is probably the simplest but tastiest pud I have had in a while. I made it in a 2 litre Mermaid pudding basin which was absolutely perfect for the deed. Made of hard anodised aluminium, the basin is extremely solid and durable and there is even heat distribution which is great for the pudding to cook all the way through. I did butter the basin a bit with fear of not being able to turn it out on to a plate easily, but I doubt that was necessary, as it came out nice and smooth and with no fuss. The only thing I noticed was that, about 10 minutes into the baking time the top started to brown severely. I don't know if it was because of the heat from the basin or just the oven, but it was solved by covering with a silver foil sheet.  

The pudding is traditionally South African and you can read more about it on Cook Sister where I saw the recipe a loong time back and had book marked it. The pudding on its own is pretty average, but the sauce that accompanies it just takes it to a whole different level. Soaked in the sauce, this dessert will definitely be a hit. Go on, try out something different for Christmas and I assure you wont be disappointed.

Recipe adapted from here and here (serves 4 to 6)

Milk- 1/2 cup

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Plain flour- 1 1/2 cups

Granulated sugar- 1/2 cup

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Apricot jam- 2 tbsp

Eggs- 2

Butter- 2 tbsp, melted

Cinnamon powder- 1/8th tsp (optional)

For the sauce

Double cream- 3/4 cup

Boiling water- 1/2 cup

Granulated sugar- 1/2 cup

Orange zest- 1/2 tbsp

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Brandy/ Cognac- a few splashes 

 

Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and keep aside.

Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl and into that add the remaining ingredients. Mix well using a strong wooden spoon, breaking down the apricot jam as you go.

Pour in the milk mix and continue stirring till all the ingredients come together and you get a smooth batter.

Pour into a lightly greased 2 litre pudding basin and bake in an oven preheat at 180C for about 40 to 45 minutes.

Once the skewer comes out clean, take the basin out of the oven and leave to cool for about 5 minutes after which you can turn it on to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the pudding is in the oven, you can get working on your sauce.

Mix together the cream, boiling water, sugar and orange zest in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Take it off the heat and add in the vanilla and brandy, give a good stir and leave aside till your pud is ready.

When ready to serve, douse the pudding with enough syrup and have it hot or cold.

What I did was, I transferred the pud into a deep plate, warmed it up a wee bit in the microwave and poured over the some of the sauce. 

Left it aside for a couple of minutes and it had soaked up pretty well.

If you don't want to do this, then once you slice the pud, you can pour over the sauce then and serve. Not everyone might enjoy a soaked up pud. I sure did though :)

 

Notes: Feel free to halve the recipe, in which case you may need to reduce cooking time and also use a smaller pudding basin.

That said, you are free to bake this in any pan you like, a 9 inch cake pan would work perfectly well. But again watch out for cooking time.

I think i over baked my pud  a bit more than necessary and so it wasn't it soft soft. But once the sauce went over, it was no problem at all.

Jeanne of Cook Sister has used orange zest in her batter as well. Feel free to use about 2 tsp of zest if you please.

The cinnamon powder can be replaced with a pinch of nutmeg powder, or completely avoided. Your choice.

The brandy is purely optional. Avoid if not a fan.

I thought the apricot jam would lend a nice taste to the final product, but was disappointed I couldn't even taste it. I wonder why???

With thanks to Mermaid Bakeware for sending me the Pudding Basin for this challenge. All views expressed are my own.

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No bake biscuit pudding (biscuit cake)

This is my mums signature dish. She makes it at every party and get together and is so popular among everyone. Back in those school/college- going days (I know I sound like a grand mother) whenever there is a party and my mums making a list of things to make, my brother and I would beg her to NOT make this damn biscuit pudding. It used to be so funny...even some of my uncles and relatives used to joke saying, we are not coming to your house if you are serving that biscuit pudding as dessert. Ironic, because, today I'm missing home terribly and thought what better to post than my mums infamous biscuit pudding on this Diwali day, and remember all things comforting and secure...home.

She used to claim its so damn easy to put together and was any day better than a store bought tub of ice cream (which we wouldn't agree of course) and also since it could be cut into slices, it made for a perfect fuss free, plate-free dessert, hence less washing up and easy solution. You might by now understand where I get my lazy genes from..yes mum, thank you very much. But in all honesty, I would completely understand her reasoning. Parties used to go till late in the night and no one wants to sit and wash dishes and clear up stuff till the wee hours of the morning. No dish washer and no live-in house maid to make this job easier. So anything to ease this process was welcome. 

I called her up the other day to get the recipe and my exact line was 'Mummy I want the recipe for that horrible biscuit pudding you make.' To which she replied, I knew you would one day ask me for the recipe and I shall not give you. I said don't push it since I already had a tonne of biscuit pudding recipes from google searches and if by chance one of those turned out awesome, it would replace her boring recipe. After pulling each others legs for a while, she slyly told me shed just made the recipe that very day cos they had guests over for lunch the next day and so I got the recipe off hand.

So this Diwali, when everyone's making jamuns and Mysore pak and other yummy desserts, go against tradition and made this biscuit pudding instead. Its hassle free and tastes absolutely delish. I have tried another version of the same from Shabs Cuisine and it was great, even though a bit time consuming, and is much more richer and fancier than this version. Take your pick. Either ways, you will love it.

I would also like to dedicate this post to a blog reader of mine U, who sends me the sweetest emails and keeps in touch with me constantly. I thoroughly look forward to her inputs on the recipes I have posted and she once requested for a biscuit pudding recipe. Although I'm terribly late in posting it, I hope she enjoys it and is the recipe she was looking for. 

 

Tea biscuits/ Marie biscuits- 1/2 a pack (as needed)
Coffee/ Espresso powder- 1 1/2 tsp
Water- 1 cup
Butter- 100 gms, at room temperature
Icing sugar- 1 cup
Cocoa powder- 4 tbsp
Milk- approx. 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Make a cup of coffee by diluting the coffee/ espresso powder in 1 cup boiling water. Keep aside to cool.
In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. You can do this using a spatula or your hand held beater/ free standing mixer. Its not too difficult if your butter is soft enough.
Sift the cocoa powder into the mix and continue beating till they are all mixed well.
Add the vanilla extract followed by milk and continue beating till everything comes together. Add the milk bit by bit and see if it reaches the required consistency. It shouldn't be too stiff, but easily spreadable consistency, and not too watery. I used around 1 1/2 tbsp.
Dip the biscuits in the coffee and place a layer at the bottom of the pan (refer notes). Its ok if some of them overlap.
Drop a couple of spoons of the chocolate-butter cream mix on top of the biscuits and using a palette knife/ spatula spread it out as evenly as possible and pushing the cream into all the corners and spaces. Again, it need not be smooth and stuff.
Continue with another layer of biscuits followed by cream till all of it is over and the cream is the top most layer. I got 4 layers of each.
Fold over the cling wrap, give a gentle press and refrigerate for at least 4 hours..
When ready to serve, lift the pudding out of the pan, unfold it, turn it onto a plate and decorate (if needed) or immediately slice and place in a serving plate.

 

Notes: There are 2 ways to assemble the pudding..

• Line a 9 inch loaf pan with cling film, so that the ends fall over the sides and there is enough cling film to fold over the top. This method will let you lift the entire thing off the pan and slice into desired sizes. Less messier, easier and looks pretty.
• Just layer the entire thing in a square glass/ brownie dish and slice them as required. May be a bit tricky to get the pieces out, but my mum follows this method. She says it works.

The chocolate melts really fast when kept outside for too long, so hand around paper napkins along with the slices. You don't want chocolate stains on your new Fab India cushion cover do you?? :)

You can decorate the top with chopped nuts, chocolate swirls etc. I didn't do it because Ro will dig into it in a matter of seconds and its not worth all that decoration ;)

My mum uses up an entire pack of biscuits, but that could be because she uses a square Pyrex dish for the same. If using up all the biscuits, you may need a wee bit more coffee.

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