Summer Pudding

It might not technically be summer yet, but all this gorgeous weather has put me in the mood for some summer pudding! This classic British dessert is essentially a mountain of summer berries encased in juice-soaked bread. Perfect for any and every meal, BBQ or party April-August.

Recipes

Serves 8

Time: 20 minutes, plus chilling time

Ingredients

• 1kg Frozen mixed berries (I use a mixture of frozen strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries)
• 160g Caster sugar
• 1 small loaf of white bread (about 9 slices)

To serve (optional)

• Freshly whipped cream
• A few mint sprigs
• Fresh berries

Method

1. Take a 1L pudding basin or a medium-sized bowl and line it with clingfilm, making sure there’s a few cm over-hang around the top.
2. Put the fruit and sugar into a pan and gently simmer for about 10 minutes to defrost.
3. When the juices are bubbling out of the fruit, turn off the heat and sieve the fruit with a bowl underneath to catch the juices.
4. Whilst the fruit is draining put the bread onto a chopping board. Cut off the crusts (these can be whizzed up in a food processor and used as bread crumbs) and keep the bread centres.
5. Dip one of the bread slices into the fruit juices, turning it over so the whole slice is covered in juices. Place this slice in the bottom of the lined bowl. Repeat with enough slices of bread to cover the inside of the bowl, with the slices slightly overlapping.
6. Pour the fruit into the bread-lined bowl. Soak a few more bread slices in the juices and place these on top to completely seal in the fruit.
7. Pour the remaining juice over the top of the pudding. Bring the excess clingfilm up over the top of the pudding to enclose it.
8. Put the pudding into the fridge to chill for 6 hours, or overnight.
9. When read to serve peel the top layer of clingfilm off the pudding. Turn the bowl out onto a serving plate and then take off the rest of the clingfilm. Serve with fresh cream, berries and mint!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x