February can be the worst month of the winter, I always think. Still cold, snow even and, just recently almost hurricane-force winds and icy rain. At times like that it’s natural to look for hearty, warming dinners (and never mind the diet!). Comfort food for Brits often revolves around hot puddings, with lashings of custard, and we are nothing if not conventional when it comes to puddings. I was certainly feeling like we needed a dose of comfort to brighten up February.
The problem was, I’m trying not to be tempted into baking, so I’m not keeping things in the store cupboard that would tempt. It would need to be a pudding that could be made from stuff I had in anyway. I remembered an old recipe that might do the trick-Baked Jam Sponge. I’ve had this recipe for years, longer than I’ve known Mark in fact, and it has come out on a semi-regular basis all through the last 30 years. It was originally written on a scrap of paper, so I don’t know where I found it, but I scanned it into my computer some time ago, so at least it is easy to track down. It is really simple to make, very cheap and cheerful, and very warming. It is also quite foolproof-I’ve had all sorts of mishaps with it but it still tastes good-and that’s the main criterion for me!
This is an old recipe, from the UK, so amounts were measured in ounces. I have converted to metric, and suggested cup equivalents, but I’ve never actually tried these so using one of the weight systems would be more accurate (given that, it is very forgiving so it’s probably worth a try!) Also, self-raising flour-you can get it over here, or make your own by adding 1½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt to 1 cup of all-purpose (plain) flour. Whisk well to distribute the baking powder. You can just use this, as is, or weight out the correct amount from this preparation (I’ve not tried it, myself, I got this from the internet).
The Recipe:
| 2 oz/60 g/¼ cup/½ stick margarine*, plus additional for greasing the dish |
| 2 oz/60 g/¼ cup caster sugar** |
| 4 oz/ 125 g/ 1 cup self-raising flour |
| 1 egg |
| Good pinch salt |
| 4 tbsp milk |
| 6 rounded tsp jam*** |
*I have always used soft margarine (Imperial) for this, it makes for a very quick mixture, but I have no doubt that hard margarine or butter would also work,
**Caster sugar is superfine sugar, although in the absence of either I have used normal North American granulated sugar with good results.
***The jam suggested in the recipe is plum, not often found in our grocery store. I have used damson, strawberry, blueberry and raspberry jam. I would suggest full sugar jam and seedless, for best results.
Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C/Gas 4 .
Grease a 1½ pint pie dish with margarine, or butter, and set aside.
Place all of the ingredients, except the jam, into a large bowl.
Beat together the ingredients until smooth, beat for 1 minute using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer (my preference!).
Transfer to the greased pie dish. Place the jam on top of the mixture, smooth as required
Transfer to the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. The pudding is done when the top is golden and a skewer comes out clean. Normally the jam layer migrates through the sponge, leaving a jammy layer on the bottom of the sponge.
This is where it went a bit wrong, this time. I couldn’t bake straight away, because i was already using the oven. The main course of baked salmon and garlic roast potatoes were already in there, and at considerably higher temperature than the sponge wanted. I had to wait until the main course was ready before I could turn the oven down and put the pudding in to bake. Consequently, the temperature was probably a bit high to begin with. Result? the jam didn’t move, probably because the surface baked quicker than it should have done.
Mind you, it didn’t look too dreadful and the sponge baked nicely. It still tasted good.
As I mentioned, it’s best served with lashings of custard, although I think cream would work, too. It seemed to hit the spot. Note to self, maybe bake this first, next time! It should refrigerate and re-heat if the quantity is too large (serves 3-4 standard appetites).
The Pudding Queen 