Raspberry & Rhubarb Eve's Pudding. What a lovely way to celebrate the advent of Spring! In the UK right now they are enjoying the tender, pink, early spring rhubarb from Yorkshire. It is one of the pleasures of the British early spring.
Rhubarb has always been one of my favorite things to eat. I usually buy up lots when it is in season and freeze it to use in the winter months. Long about this time of year I will be using it up to make room for the coming year's crop.
This is an especially lovely dessert to use up some of it with. I love pudding type cakes, and this one is especially nice with its thick fruity base and tender cake topping. It is a world apart from the pudding cakes we used to get when I was a child.
Mixed and baked they formed a saucy base like magic, topped with a cake. Every once in a while mom would get us one and we would enjoy it warm with ice cream. As always homemade is infinitely better!
Especially when you are talking about the delicious homey comfort of rhubarb mixed with raspberries. The raspberries tinting the stewed fruit bottom a delicious looking ruby pink color that is oh-so-pretty!
When it comes to rhubarb, this is one of my absolute favorite ways to use it. The bottom layer cooks up soft, sweet and wonderfully saucy. The top cake layer is buttery, light and fluffy!
This has to be one of the homiest, most comforting desserts to make this time of year when our seasons are in transition. The calendar says its spring, but the weather hasn't made up its mind yet! The skies may be bright blue and the birds may be building their nests, but the wind still has a nasty bite to it!
You, of course, can make this homey dessert with any fruit really. Most berries will work well, as will sliced apples, pears, peaches, plums, etc. Just adjust the amount of sugar used for the base according to the type of fruit you are using.
Eve's Pudding is a dessert much beloved in the UK, consisting of a base of lush stewed apple topped with cake, very similar to pudding cakes. You can access my recipe for Eve's Pudding here.
I also have an Apple and Cranberry version which is just as lovely as well as a Spiced Cranberry, Mincemeat, and Almond one.
These types of pudding are proof positive that you can easily make something incredibly delicious using just a few pure and simple ingredients.
The fruit for this easy dessert is mixed with some sugar and orange juice, as well as a bit of cornstarch for thickening.
When I freeze my rhubarb is is already cut, so I just let it thaw out a bit and then mix it in a bowl along with the raspberries, sugar, cornstarch and the juice.
Make sure you use a deepish casserole dish. The filling can really bubble up in this, depending on the fruit. Some fruit is juicier than others. You may also want to set it on a baking sheet to protect your oven.
The cake goes together very easily. Just beat the butter and sugar together until light, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
There is some ground cardamom which is mixed with the flour and baking powder. Cardamom lends such a warm sweet flavor to bakes such as this and goes well with the fruit in the base.
As with any cake you add the flour mix alternately with some milk to make a nice soft batter, perfect for spooning/pouring over the fruit in the bottom.
I hope I don't get a lot of purists coming on and telling me this isn't an Eve's Pudding. When it comes to cooking, nothing is really set in stone and Eve's Pudding is one of those recipes that can easily be adapted to other fruits and flavors.
Essentially it is the same no matter which fruit is used. Stewed fruit on the bottom. Cake thatch on the top. Count me in . . . yum, yum!
I can remember when I first moved over to the UK. I was so North American. The idea of having anything on top of a dessert like this other than Ice Cream was so foreign to me.
The British love to enjoy their baked or steamed puddings adorned with lashings of pouring cream or custard. I soon adapted to their way, and actually came to prefer it.
We were so spoiled over there as we also had access to really great refrigerated ready made custard in most of the shops. I confess I was very lazy most of the time and used that. It was easily warmed in the microwave. Oh what would we do without a microwave oven!
In any case this dessert was enjoyed today with lashings of cream, not custard. Very old school either way and very British to say the least!
Raspberry & Rhubarb Eve's Pudding
Yield: 6
prep time: 15 Mincook time: 30 Mintotal time: 45 Min
A delicious dessert cake with lovely flavours. Serve warm with ice cream, pouring cream or custard for a real springtime treat!
Ingredients
For the fruit compote:
- 3 cups (300g) rhubarb, cut into 1/4 inch slices
- 1 cup (100g) raspberries, fresh or frozen
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
- 1 TBS orange juice
- 1/2 TBS corn flour (cornstarch)
For the cake topping:
- 1/2 cup + 2 TBS (79g) plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- pinch salt
- 1/3 cup (75g ) butter at room temperature
- 6 1/2 TBS (75g) sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large free range egg
- 3 TBS (40ml) milk
To serve: (optional)
- pouring cream, clotted cream, whipped cream, warm custard sauce or ice cream
Instructions
- Tto make the compote, place the sugar and cornflour into a large saucepan Stir together. Add the rhubarb and the orange juice. Toss to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the fruit releases its juices and the mixture begins to thicken considerably. Stir in the raspberries. Pour into the bottom of a 1 litre glass pie dish or casserole dish.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
- Beat the butter and sugar together for the cake until light and fluffy. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom. Beat the vanilla and egg into the creamed mixture. Add the flour mixture alternating with the milk until you have a smooth batter. Dollop the batter over the fruit filling and smooth out as best as you can.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Serve warm spooned into bowls with your desired topping if any.
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I don’t know if you have tried blueberries with the rhubarb, but its delicious. Just sub. the blueberrys for the raspberries.
ReplyDeleteI have not, but I imagine it would be very goood! Thanks for the suggestion!
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