My memories of steamed puddings from my childhood are
delicious warm sticky pudding with hot custard on a cold night.
The recipe below is a little more fiddly since the oranges
need to be glazed but it is well worth the effort and it looks and tastes
stunning. It also has the advantage of keeping well if you want to serve it
over two nights. It can also serve up to 12 people depending on how generously
you cut the slices.
I have an old fashioned steamed pudding bowl that has a hole
in the middle and a lid that screws on the top. Otherwise use a stainless steel
or ceramic mixing dish that is about 1.2 litres
Serves 8 - 12
Chocolate and Orange Steamed Pudding
200g demerara sugar
2 seedless oranges
200g unsalted butter, softened
200g muscovado sugar
Finely grated zest of one orange
3 tablespoons orange marmalade
3 eggs
150g plain flour
50g Devonport Chocolates dark cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Make a sugar syrup
Pour 300 ml water into a saucepan and add the sugar, Cook
over a gentle heat until dissolved.
Thinly slice each unpeeled orange into 6 – 8 slices Submerge
in the sugar syrup. Place a circle of parchment paper on top of the oranges in the
pot and cook gently for 30 – 40 minutes. Lift the oranges out gently and place
on a rack to drain.
Boil the syrup until it reduces by half (watch carefully –
it is easy to turn into sticky toffee.
Butter the pudding bowl and place a disc of parchment paper
in the base of the bowl. Place the best orange slice on top. If you are using
the traditional bowl with the hole in the centre omit this step.
Line the bowl with the slices of orange.
Cream the butter, muscovado sugar and orange zest until
light and fluffy. Add in the orange marmalade and an egg at a time. Sift the
flour, baking powder cinnamon and cocoa into the mixture and fold in gently.
Spoon into the orange lined pudding bowl. It should come
about three quarters of the way up the sides. Smooth the surface and cover with
a disc of parchment paper.
Screw on the lid of the steamed pudding bowl otherwise
follow the following directions:
Take a large sheet of foil and fold in half, make a pleat in
the centre and place over the basin (the pleat will allow the pudding to
expand). Tie the foil around the basin with string and cut away the excess
foil.
Stand the basin on a trivet in a deep pot, (if you don’t
have a trivet place a tea towel in the bottom of the pot.). Fill with water so
it comes about 6cm up the side of the bowl. If you have too much boiling water
it will enter the pudding bowl . Put the pot lid on and gently simmer for 2
hours, topping up with water if required.
Remove the lid or foil and insert a skewer in the pudding.
If it comes out clean it is cooked. If not recover and steam for a little
longer.
Loosen the pudding around the bowl with a thin knife, put a
plate on top of the bowl and turnover. It should come out clean.
Trickle a little of the reserved syrup over the pudding. You
don’t want the syrup coating the plate so judge it carefully as the pudding
soaks up the syrup.
Serve with hot custard, icecream or cream.
