12 variations on a simple steamed pudding recipe that’s perfect for easy family weekday desserts.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time2 hourshrs
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: British
Keyword: family-friendly, home cooking, simple, slow cooker
Servings: 6people
Ingredients
6ozplain flour(or use self-raising flour and omit the baking powder)
1heaped teaspoonbaking powder
pinchsalt
2.5ozbutter or margarine
3ozsugar(use either white, soft light brown or a mixture)
1egg
¼pintmilk(either whole or semi-skimmed work fine)
Instructions
Foundation Recipe
Fill and boil the kettle. Put a little hot water in the bottom of the slow cooker and start pre-heating it on High whilst you assemble the pudding.
Butter a 2 pint pudding basin and lid.
Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl.
Rub the fat into the flour mixture.
Stir the sugar into the flour mixture.
Beat the egg and milk together in a jug or small bowl.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until it comes together.
Pour the batter into the pudding basin and cover.
Place the pudding basin in the slow cooker and top up the cooker with boiling water until it comes about half way up the pudding basin.
Cook for 2 hours on High.
Remove the pudding from the slow cooker and turn it out of the basin on to a plate. Serve with jam sauce.
Variations
(Jam) Put about 3 tablespoonfuls of any jam of your choice into the bottom of the pudding basin before you pour in the batter. Serve with custard.
(Chocolate) Add 1oz of cocoa powder to the flour, and use a little extra milk (about 2 tablespoonfuls).
(Lemon) Add the finely grated zest and juice of a lemon to the dry ingredients. Use a little less milk for mixing and serve with a lemon sauce.
(Orange) Add the finely grated zest and juice of an orange to the dry indredients. Use a little less milk for mixing and serve with an orange sauce.
(Raisin) Add about 1oz of chopped raisins to the mixture when you add the sugar. Serve with custard.
(Mixed Dried Fruit) Add up to 2oz of mixed dried fruit (the sort that contains candied peel), or a mixture of dried fruit of your choice (eg cranberries, blueberries).
(Fig) Chop 3oz of dried figs and add to the dry ingredients. Serve with cream.
(Date) Chop 2-3oz of stoned dates and add to the mixture with the sugar. Serve with lemon sauce.
(Strawberry) Mix 3 tablespoonfuls of strawberry jam into the dry ingredeients when you add the sugar. You can add a few drops of red food colouring if you like. Serve with strawberry jam sauce.
(Coconut) Add 2oz of desiccated coconut to the dry ingredients when you add the sugar. Serve with cream.
(Cherry) Halve 3oz of glace cherries and add to the mixture. Serve with custard.
(Nut) Add 3oz of finely chopped nuts to the dry indredients. Arrange some halved walnuts (or pecans) around the basin before you pour in the batter - try to do this without dislodging the walnuts. Serve with maple syrup or custard.
Sauces
(Jam Sauce) Put 1.5oz of white sugar and 75ml water (yes, I know I'm mixing my units, but it's what's easiest to measure for me!) in a small saucepan and boil up until it starts turning syrupy. Add 2 heaped tablespoonfuls of the jam or marmalade of your choice. Boil up again until you have a homogenous sauce. You can add a little lemon juice to improve the flavour if you have it. I most often do this with seedless rasberry jam - depending on your choice of jam you might like to strain it before serving.
(Lemon Sauce) Put ½ pint water in a small saucepan and finely pare a lemon into it with a vegetable peeler. You could zest the lemon with a grater if you prefer. Boil the zest and water for a minute or two. Mix ½ oz cornflour with a little more cold water and add that to the saucepan. Cook for a few minutes more, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove the lemon peel and add approximately 1oz of sugar or to taste.
(Orange Sauce) As for the Lemon Sauce, but use an orange instead. You will need less sugar.
Notes
You can cook this pudding in a stove-top steamer, wrapping a ceramic pudding basin in greaseproof and foil in the traditional way.