I have had this thing recently for making little steamed puddings.
I gave a quick recipe yesterday on Lynne’s Dinners, for the Marmalade and Syrup puddings we had for dinner yesterday, but I was thinking about the amazing variety that you can make from that one simple sponge recipe..
I simply use a Victoria Sandwich sponge. Just like the one I used for the Mother’s Day cakes. And the base of the Malteser Cakes we had at Easter. It is such a useful receipt to have under your belt, and I love that you just don’t have to remember any quantities. You just weigh your eggs in the shell and use the exact same amount of Self Raising flour, sugar and butter. With a slosh or two of milk to make it softer – not a big deal, you can not bother (makes a slightly denser cake) or even just use a little water. Large eggs x 2 are around 120grams normally, and that will make enough for a large pudding for 4 people (steam for about an hour and a half) or 5 little individual pudding basins (steam for about 40 mins ).
Steaming makes a wonderful light soft sponge when eaten hot, but not as tender when eaten cold. I did try making a proper cake by steaming the sponge mixture, but I like a cake for eating cold much better baked than steamed. Steaming is for hot puddings with icecream or custard or clotted cream….
Lots of different flavours too, these are some I have tried and loved.
- Golden syrup in the bottom, lemon zest in the sponge mix
- Golden syrup in the bottom, chopped preserved ginger in the sponge mix
- Golden syrup and marmalade in the bottom, orange zest in the mix or even a tablespoon or so of marmalade folded in.
- A couple of spoons of ground almonds in the mix, cherry jam or compote in the bottom
- Any jam in the bottom, vanilla essence in the mix
- Soak a couple of handfuls of raisins in brandy or whisky for an hour or so, add to sponge mixture. (best with creamy custard this one)
- Chopped apples or pears with 1 tsp ground cinnamon folded in
- Chopped bananas with 1 tsp ground allspice or mixed spice folded in
- Sliced canned pineapple (in juice not syrup) – better in a large basin so you can put slices around the edge more easily. Rum in the sponge mix.
Have you any other ideas for me to try out?
