Berry Sponge Pudding Food

LUSCIOUS LEMON PUDDING WITH SUMMER BERRIES

Steps:

• Butter an ovenproof dish and heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Carefully weigh out the butter and sugar into a bowl.
• Finely grate the zest from the lemons. For best results, grate, then turn the lemon a little and grate again, so you just take off the yellow skin rather than the pith below. Halve and squeeze the juice from the lemons - you need 100ml, so make up with a splash of water or more juice.
• Separate the eggs (put the whites in a large, clean bowl), being careful not to get any yolk in with them. Whizz the butter, sugar and zest in a food processor until creamy. Add the juice, whizz again; then, with the motor still running, tip in the yolks, flour and milk to form a smooth batter.
• Whisk the egg whites, preferably with an electric hand whisk, until firm but not stiff. Pour in the lemon batter, then gently fold the 2 mixtures together with a large metal spoon, being light-handed so that you don't knock out all the air from the whites. Don't worry if it looks a bit lumpy.
• Pour the mixture into the buttered dish, then put it in a roasting tin. Pour in a kettle of hot water into the tin so it is half-filled (this is called a bain marie). Ask an adult to help you with this bit. Bake for 35 mins until the top is set and there is a saucy lemon curd below. Use oven gloves to remove it from the oven.
• While the pudding is baking, pull or cut the hulls (the green tops) from the strawberries. Halve or slice them if large. Put in a bowl with the blueberries, then spoon over the cordial or sugar and mix together. Remove the pudding from the tin, dust with icing sugar through a sieve and serve warm or cold, with the berries.

EASY JAM SPONGE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Butter a 25cm square or 20 x 30cm rectangular cake tin or baking dish.
• Beat the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract together until smooth. Spread the jam over the base of the tin, and dollop over the cake batter. Spread over evenly. Bake for 20-25 mins until the sponge is light golden and risen, and a skewer inserted into the middle comes back clean. Serve warm with custard, cream or ice cream.

THE ULTIMATE MAKEOVER: SPONGE PUDDING & CUSTARD

Steps:

• Very lightly butter a 1-litre pudding basin. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Coarsely grate one of the apple quarters and thinly slice the rest. Combine the sliced apple and blackberries, toss with the 2 tbsp caster sugar and spoon half into the bottom of the basin.
• Mix together the flour and baking powder. Beat both the sugars and butter together in a large bowl with an electric hand beater until light and creamy. Break in 1 egg and beat well, then beat in the second egg (the mix will look curdled). Sift half the flour mixture over the sponge mixture and fold in gently. Carefully stir in half the milk, then repeat with the rest of the flour and milk, followed by the orange zest and reserved grated apple.
• Spoon two-thirds of the sponge mixture over the fruit mix in the basin and level off. Spread the rest of the fruit on top, followed by the remaining sponge mix. Place the basin in a small roasting tin half filled with hot water. Bake for 1¼ hrs (lay foil over the top for the last 15 mins if it is browning too quickly) until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• While the pudding is baking, make the custard. Mix the sugar, custard powder and cornflour with 1 tbsp of the milk to make a paste. Beat in the egg yolk. Pour the remaining milk into a pan, slit the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape in the vanilla seeds. Add the pod to the milk and bring just to the boil. Pour this over the cornflour mix, stir, then pour into a clean pan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring all the time, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in the crème fraîche.
• Loosen pudding from the sides of the basin with a round-bladed knife and carefully invert it onto a serving plate. Serve with the custard.

WHITE CHOCOLATE & BERRY PUDDING

Steps:

• Lightly butter a 1-litre microwavable gratin dish or a 20cm microwave cake dish. Beat together the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and milk with an electric hand whisk for 2-3 mins, until light and fluffy.
• Fold through the white chocolate and most of the berries, pour into the dish, then microwave on High for 10-12 mins, until set and dry on top. Leave to stand for 5 mins, before dusting with icing sugar and serving with the reserved berries and custard.