Pudding Baking

Traditional Summer Pudding

This summer pudding recipe is perfect for outdoor entertaining. It's a traditional British dessert that really evokes summertime, and is made using little more than sliced bread and British seasonal berries.

30 minutes, plus overnight chilling prep, 25-30 minutes cook

Serves 6

Ingredients

600g raspberries

600g strawberries hulled and halved if large

600g blackberries

300g caster sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

150ml white wine

300ml water

6 slices of thick cut white bread

Fresh jersey double cream, to serve (or ice cream)

Method

Put half the mixed berries in a large saucepan with the sugar, lemon juice, wine and water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for five minutes until softened, stirring occasionally.

Lift out the fruit into a sieve using a slotted spoon, strain any berry juice back into the saucepan, then put the fruit in a bowl on the side. Allow it to cool (this is so you don't cook the raw fruits in the hot ones). Reserve 200ml of the fruit juices for painting the bread.

Return the pan to the heat and boil the remaining liquid for 20-25 minutes until syrupy. Allow to cool. Combine the cooled cooked fruit and reduced syrup with the raw fruit.

Line a 1.8 litre pudding basin with two sheets of overlapping cling film (the edges of the cling film should hang over the top of the basin so that they can enclose the pudding).

Cut the off the bread crusts and cut each slice into two rectangles. Thoroughly paint one side of each rectangle with the reserved syrup. Cut and paint a circle of bread that fits the bottom of the basin. Put this in the basin with the red side facing the cling film. Arrange the pieces of bread all the way around the inside of the basin, overlapping slightly where the joints meet, with the painted side always facing the cling film.

Spoon the fruit into the basin onto the layer of bread and pack down well. Top neatly with the remaining painted slices of bread. Cover with the overhanging pieces of cling film and place a side plate holding a heavy weight on top to press it down. Put in the fridge and leave overnight.

When ready to serve, remove the weight, open the cling film and invert the pudding on to a serving plate. Remove the cling film. Should there be any leftover juices left, using a pastry brush, daub any pale patches with it. And there you have it - a delicious British pudding, which tastes great served with heavy cream, or even crème fraîche for a slightly lighter touch.