Baking for a Jedi: Fruit Summer Pudding

"You under-estimate my powers, my Master" says Anakin defiantly to Obi Wan Kenobi only 3 minutes before the latter cuts both his legs and one of his arms off with his laser, leaving him slowly almost burning to death on the side of a volcano. 
We all know what happened next to our dear Anakin Skywalker. 

I've been baking for 4 years now, and I often get tempted to improvise recipes myself. Adding a bit of this, swapping this with that...
When it works, it works really well, at least most of the time. I’ve done a few tricks over the years, and I now can swap ingredients or turn a cake into muffins by changing a few things here and there.
But every so often I am reminded by the God of Cake that I'm still a beginner, and that recipes often list specific steps for you to follow for a reason.

Baking is like training to be Jedi: while trying to cultivate one's creativity, one should never be tricked into over-confidence.

(Thankfully, I've messed up a few cakes but haven't turned into Darth Vador)

Summer Fruit Pudding

aka The Lovely Berry Bursting Pudding

So easy to make, this no-bake summer dessert is so delicious and so impressive that I don't understand how I could live for 4 years in the UK without it.

I was sceptical about the idea of making a pudding with bread, yet, it does give fantastic results. 

The traditional summer fruit pudding recipe calls for white loaf, but I wanted to experiment a funkier version of it using waffles (not too loud, I recognise that the bread version is even better!)


Ingredients: 
750g of mixed red fruits, frozen (it's cheaper than fresh!)
50g of caster sugar (more or less, to taste)
1 good quality white loaf, or little toasting waffles (I bought mine from Lidl)
1 tbsp of lemon juice

Make the pudding: 
1/ Grease the inside of a 1L pudding basin (with butter or oil spray) 

2/ Line the sides and bottom of the basin with thick slices of bread / waffles, taking care not to leave any gaps and covering all the sides. 

3/ From the fruits selection you have, put a handful aside (you'll leave these in the freezer) and put the rest in a pan with the sugar and lemon juice over a low heat. Leave to cook, mixing gently, for 10 to 15 min, until the fruits soften. They should release about half a pint of juice.

4/ With a sieve, drain the fruit mixture into a bowl and make sure you keep all the collected juice for later. Delicately put the sieved fruits into the basin, pressing down gently so they are well packed and come up to the top of the bread level. Then close what will be the base of the pudding with additional slices of bread. To ensure the pudding sets properly some pressure needs to be applied. So cover the base with foil and place a pan or a heavy bowl on top to act as a weight. The 'weight' will need to be roughly the same size as the base, so that the pressure is uniform. 

5/ Leave to set in the fridge over night. Before serving, pass a knife around the edges of the pudding and gently turn over on a deep plate. Pour the juice left aside all over the cake so it soaks it completely, especially where the bread or waffle is still white. Gently lift the bottom of the pudding so some juice goes under it and soaks the bottom as well.

6/ Decorate with the left over fruits (you can use them frozen, they will defreeze in few minutes), few leaves of fresh mint, and serve with cream.

This post is dedicated to Joan. Thank you for welcoming me in your home and making me discover the delights of the summer fruit pudding!

Oh nooo, not a fruity dessert! Yes, and it's even healthy.

In the dessert category, "yummy" means "naughty" to me.
And by naughty, I mean rich.
If you ask my very fussy tastebuds, they'll tell you that going for the lighter option is cheating.

Fruit mousses? Yuck
Sorbets? No way (what I like about ice-cream is the creamy bit)
Cakes made with light butter? You can't be serious
I love fruit and dessert, but not fruity dessert.

Of course, I've got nothing against lighter options in principle (and I could benefit from dropping one or two dress sizes), but I'm not ready to compromise on taste for this.
A dessert or a snack should be a pleasure.

Sometimes, (however often by mistake)  I do find a fruity dessert recipe that's both light and indulgent enough to be called a Treat. 

And here is my latest invention!

My light lime posset 

and mango compote

A posset is usually very thick and creamy, because it's made with double cream. 
Although I love the thick version of it, I wanted a lighter alternative there, so I used single cream instead. As a result, the posset is lighter, with a more moussy texture. 
So feel free to go for single or double cream depending on the texture you're after. 
If you go for single cream, just plan to leave the possets to set in the fridge ideally for a whole night rather that just a few hours.

The mango compote goes wonderfully well with the lime posset, making it a fancy homemade tropical dessert, yet so easy and quick to make!

Preparation time: 15min + 1 night setting time in the fridge

Ingredients for 4 possets (the size of a yoghurt):

For the lime posset: 
1 pot of single (or double) cream
Zest and juice of 2 limes
Sugar: to taste (approx 50g) : I used sweet freedom syrup which I love for lighter desserts

For the mango compote: 
1 ripe mango
sugar or sweet freedom syrup: to taste. 
a drizzle of lime juice 

Instructions: 

1/ Make the compote: cut the mango in 1cm cube and place in a small pan with a good drizzle of sweet freedom syrup and lime juice. Cook on a low heat with a lid on for approx 10min until softened but not mashed.
Split the mango compote between the yoghurt pots and leave to cool in the fridge while you make the posset.

2/ Make the posset: in a small pan, heat the cream with the sugar / sweetener on medium heat. Turn off the heat as soon as it's boiling. Add the lime zest and juice, mix well, and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Slowly pour the posset mixture over the compote in the pots, and leave to set in the fridge preferably overnight.


The possets will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

News from my Toolbox: I finally got around buying myself a proper zester, and got one from Microplane, on the advice of a friend who is a professional baker. It is absolutely amazing, and it's never been easier to zest and grate!