Summer Pudding recipe
This Summer Pudding recipe is an English classic which was developed specifically to make use of stale bread. It was an imperative not to waste food and products had a shorter shelf-life due to lack of preservatives. In the winter, Bread and Butter Pudding, was a popular way to use up bread that was past its best. In summer, when berries were in season, Summer Pudding was the answer!
Slices of bread, dipped in berry-flavoured syrup, are used to encase a mixture of summer berries. One of the great things about this Summer Pudding recipe is that it can be adapted to the ingredients that you have available. You can use any berries that are in season but make sure that you include some currants – either redcurrants or blackcurrants – as they are needed to produce the flavourful syrup.
- Easy Shortbread Recipe
- Cranberry Gin
- Beetroot Soup with Coconut
- Leek and Potato Soup with Fresh Chives
- Blackberry Gin
Other easy dessert recipes
If you are looking for an easy, make-ahead summer dessert, you might also like some of my other recipes.
- Rhubarb Roulade – an easy roulade recipe with a filling of rhubarb compote
- Strawberry Roulade – another easy roulade recipe
- Banoffee Pie – a quick and easy recipe with the winning combination of bananas, caramel and cream
- Lime Cheesecake – an easy make-ahead, no-cook recipe with a zesty lime flavour
- Strawberry Pavlova – classic meringue, cream and berry combination
- Lemon Pavlova – light meringue with whipped cream and lemon curd
- Rose and Raspberry Pavlova – rose-flavoured meringue topped with whipped cream and fresh raspberries
- Rose Meringues – simple meringues flavoured with rosewater
Summer Pudding recipe
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Summer Pudding recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: for 6 people 1x
- Category: Pudding
- Cuisine: English
Description
An easy to make, no-cook, traditional English bread pudding recipe using fresh seasonal berries.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo mixed fresh berries (NB: the mix should include some currants but otherwise use whatever you have available from: redcurrants, blackcurrants, raspberries, loganberries, tayberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries etc)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 170 g caster sugar
- 6 slices of white bread (crusts removed)
Instructions
- Place the currants in a saucepan together with the water and sugar. Heat until the currants have softened. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Add the other berries to the saucepan with the currants and stir to combine.
- Use a sieve to separate the berries from the juice.
- Take a sheet of cling film and use it to line the inside of a small pudding basin. This will make it easier to get the pudding out of the basin!
- Dip the slices of bread in the juice and use it to line the bottom and sides of the small pudding basin. You can fill in any gaps with small pieces of juice-dipped bread.
- Pour the berries into the bread-lined pudding basin.
- Cover the top of the basin with juice-dipped bread to enclose the berry mixture.
- Put a piece of cling film loosely over the top of the pudding basin. Put a small saucer on top of it and use something heavy (a can of beans is perfect!) to weigh it down.
- Leave the pudding basin in the fridge overnight.
- When you are ready to serve, remove the cling film from the top of the pudding basin. Invert the basin onto a plate. Give it a sharp shake and remove the basin leaving the pudding on the plate. Take off the cling film that you used to line the basin.
- Serve chilled. Whipped cream is a good accompaniment.
Notes
- Use whatever berries are available but make sure you include some redcurrants or blackcurrants as you need these to make the flavoured syrup.
- You need to make this recipe a day in advance of when you wish to eat it as it needs to be kept in the fridge overnight to ensure that it stays in shape when turned out.
- This is a vegan recipe.