I think Bread Pudding has to be the Toddster's favourite all time dessert, next to apple pie.   So, this week, when I found myself having a bit too much bread in the house due to the Toddster's having bought the wrong kind of bread when he picked it up for me (men ARE from Mars!)  I knew exactly what to do with the excess!

 1 TBS Limencello (Optional)

One of the things I like best about this time of year is all the lovely berry fruits that are becoming available. This pudding is a real favourite in our household, probably because all these fresh fruits are only in the shops for a very short time each year.


Soft and tremblingly tasty, this pudding is full of lovely fresh flavours . . . tart currants, sweet raspberries, blueberries, tay berries . . . cherries . . . this is summer at it's finest in a bowl.



Do plan ahead as it needs to be put into the fridge the night before in order for it to set up properly and for the lovely fruit juices to soak meltingly into the bread. Also be sure to use a good loaf of white bread, not the ordinary sliced bread that is for every day use, and so soft and squidgy. Buy a good and sturdy loaf, and let it go stale. You want it to be a couple of days old so that it will soak in the juices better.




*Summer Pudding*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

This delicious pudding is one of my favourite things about summer. Tart . . . sweet . . . this pudding contains all the goodness of summer in every mouthful. Plan ahead as it needs to sit overnight to set up.

750g/1lb 14oz mixed summer fruit
(such as raspberries, red, white and blackcurrants, tayberries, loganberries, blackberries, cherries and blueberries)
185g/6½oz caster sugar
1 medium loaf good-quality white bread, slightly stale
2 tbsp cassis or blackcurrant cordial
creme fraiche for serving

You will need a 2 pint pudding basin.


Place all the fruit in a pan, removing any stalks as necessary. Add the sugar and then heat and cook them over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, only until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit begins to give up some of it's juices. Please be careful not to over cook them. Stir in the cassis or blackcurrant cordial. Set aside while you get the bread ready.

Trim off all the crusts from the bread and cut the bread into thin slices. Cut one round slice out of the bread to fit the bottom of the basin and place it into the basin. Line the pudding basin with the slices of bread, overlapping them and sealing well by pressing any edges together. Fill in any gaps with small pieces of bread, so that no juice can get through when you add the fruit. spoon all of the fruit and its juices into the pudding basin. Trim the tips of bread from around the edge. Cover the top of the fruit with more wedges of bread. Place the pudding basin on a plate to collect any juices. Find a saucer that fits neatly inside the bowl, and place it on top to cover the upper layer of bread, then weigh the saucer down with weights - unopened tin cans come in very handy for this.. Let it cool, then place in the fridge overnight.

The next day, remove the weights and the saucer. Run a thin blade around the edges, then invert the basin onto a shallow serving plate. Serve, cut into slices or spooned out, and topped with a good dollop of Creme Fraiche.

I think I must subscribe to just about every cooking magazine going. I know . . . I am obsessed. Todd thinks I'm crazy . . . but, having said that . . . he does more than enjoy my cooking efforts daily.



Usually I flag recipes from each magazine that I want to try out at some point. Of course there are far more than I could ever conceivably try in reality . . . but, at least I am well intentioned. Sometimes I get there and, well . . . sometimes I don't . . .



I flagged this pudding recipe in the October issue of Good Food magazine as one that I definitely wanted to make. It's taken me almost a month to get to it, but today was the day.



All my stars were in alignment or something coz I actually got it done! Roly Poly pudding is a favourite around this house with my old school hubby as is bread and butter pudding, and we are both nuts about anything with jam in it!



This lovely pudding combines elements of all three! Lovely little buttery roly poly bread and raspberry jam sandwiches laid on a bed of more raspberry jam, and then baked in a sweet vanilla custard, until it all souffles up in a rich cloud of baked custardy goodness . . . soft and creamy inside, with lovely buttery sweet crunchy bits on the outside.



You take a slightly trembling spoonful and place it in your bowl, licking your lips in anticipation . . . you want to dig in immediately, but daren't for fear the jam will burn your lips . . .



You finally lift a spoonful to your mouth and gently blow before you plunge the delightful mass past your trembling lips . . .



mmmm . . . ahhh . . . did you feel that?

That, my friends, was an itty, bitty taste of heaven . . .



*Roly Poly Bread and Butter Pudding*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

Little bread butter and jam rolls baked in a delicious vanilla custard until light fluffy and scrummy yummy! You will want to use very fresh bread for this. Dry bread will not roll properly.

3 ounces softened butter, plus extra to butter the baking dish (3/8 of a cup)
12 ounces of raspberry jam (1 1/2 cups)
1 large fresh unsliced loaf of white bread
4 large free range eggs
14 fluid ounces of milk (1 3/4 cup)
14 fluid ounces of double cream (1 3/4 cup)
3 ounces of caster sugar, plus a bit extra for sprinkling on top of the pudding (3/8 of a cup)
1 tsp of vanilla paste, or the seeds scraped from one vanilla pod

Butter a deep two litre baking dish. Stir the jam well with a fork and then spoon half of it into the prepared baking dish.

Trim the crusts and rounded top off of the loaf of bread so that you have a large rectangular block of bread. Carefully cut the bread into 4 long slices lengthwise. (This is the hardest part as fresh bread is a bit squidgy, but persevere and go slowly. It will be worth it.) You can whiz all the edges and leftovers into bread crumbs and store in the freezer for something else.

Spread each of the four long slices of bread on one side with butter. Flip them over and spread the jam on the other sides. (Yes it will make the counter a bit of a mess, but again, it's worth it!) Roll up the bread slices, rolling up from the short sides, until you have 4 fat swiss rolls. Cut each in half carefully, so that you have 8 jammy rolls, and then place them, cut sides down into the jam lined baking dish.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla. Pour through a strainer over top of the jammy bread rolls, stopping to allow it to soak in, until all the mixture has been used up. Let stand for half an hour on the counter before baking,

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*D/ gas mark 3. Place the baking dish on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the top with some more caster sugar and then place in the heated oven to bake for about an hour to an hour and a quarter until the top is lightly browned and the custard is gently set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes before serving. Delicious!

Note - I knew that there was no way that the Toddster and myself could eat a whole one by ourselves, so I cut the recipe in half. It worked out great!