Cherry Jam Steamed Pudding

A steamed jammy pudding is the loveliest surprise dessert that you can cook for the special people in your lives. Every mouthful brings back nostalgic childhood memories for me, as my Mum often cooked steamed puddings with various toppings: jam, golden syrup and treacle, and probably mainly in Winter, however, change of seasons in either hemisphere is still the perfect time. Cherry Jam is the perfect topping, sweet and yet very slightly tart, but any thick homemade jam would also work.

I was happy with my second attempt at cooking this perfect steamed pudding, yes this is my second try at perfection. The only real problem with the first time was a result of not choosing the most appropriate steamed pudding basin. I often quietly think that when it comes to cooking, many creators of recipes think that the home cook has an endless supply of cake tins, in all shapes and sizes, and various pudding bowls and basins, saucepans and casserole dishes. There, I've said it now. This recipe is originally from a Coles supermarket recipe catalogue, which is generally very good, and I also checked my Mum's old recipe books, just for good measure, and the size of the pudding basin that Coles recommended didn't work well for me the first time. Second time round, hence the photos and recipe here, it all worked out perfectly. When I heard the plop from the upended pudding bowl onto the plate, I knew that I had nailed it this time. Oh, what a feeling!

What vessel do I cook this steamed pudding in:

It seems that steamed pudding basins are hard to come by, and when I enquired everywhere at our largest shopping centre if they stocked any, I was met with fairly blank looks, but the consensus seemed to be that most Kitchenware shops here have them for sale closer to Christmas, in readiness for the Steamed Plum Pudding cooking rush. Luckily, I have two on hand, both of which I have used previously for my Christmas Plum Puddings, a small and a large one. The original Steamed pudding recipe recommended using a 5-cup (1.25 L) pudding basin, which is quite small, my smallest is a 6 cup with a lid so I thought that would be ok. However, the batter rose and touched the lid of the basin, so that it didn't turn out perfectly. Still delicious to eat, but not so photogenic. Mr. HRK was really happy though, as now there was the promise of two puddings. 

So, the second time I used my 8 cup Stainless steel basin, which I bought three years ago from a privately owned hardware business here in Mackay called Porters, with a smaller base and with outward sloping sides to the rim, which gives the perfect shape to a large plum pudding and worked well for this one as well. This recipe only filled the basin to nearly 3/4 full, when cooked. But it still turned out beautifully, the basin was well greased with butter. I would suggest shopping for a pudding basin online, much easier. My smaller tin was my Mums, of course, so it's a vintage edition. She always made two plum puddings from her mixture, a large one for Christmas, and the smaller one in this smaller tin for New Year's Day, which is what I do now too. That's a Scottish tradition, or so I was told by her. Yikes, it won't be long, and I'll be making the Christmas plum puddings for 2023.

Vintage Steamed Pudding Basin, secured with string, just in case the clips don't work properly

I've given you some instructions below (Covering the pudding batter for a smaller basin) for using baking paper and alfoil, which I think is safer than using a lid as the paper and alfoil will expand through the crease if the batter rises above the edge of the bowl. However my preference is just to use a larger basin with a lid. 

Perfect in every way

Let's Cook:

Serves 6

 Prep 15 mins (+ 5 mins cooking time)

Cooking time: 2 hours 

1948 kj/466 Cals per serve, in case you are interested.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (70 g) cherry jam

125 g butter, softened

1/2 cup (110 g) caster sugar

2 Free Range Eggs

1 lemon, rind finely grated

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 1/2 cups (225 g) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (125 ml) full cream milk

Method:

Use butter to grease a 5-cup (1.25 L) pudding basin well. Spoon jam into the base of the basin.

Mix together in an electric mixer the butter and sugar and beat until it is pale and creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat the batter well after each time you add an egg.

Remove the bowl from the electric mixer for stirring the batter by hand.

Now, add the flour, vanilla and lemon rind and stir to combine all of the ingredients.

Add the milk slowly and stir the batter to combine.

Gently spoon the batter over the jam into the basin, and with a knife or spoon smooth the surface of the batter.

Secure the lid on top of your pudding basin or if your bowl doesn't have a lid use some baking paper and alfoil to cover. Or improvise with what you already have. 

Covering the pudding batter for a smaller pudding basin:

Cut a 30 cm square of baking paper and foil.

Place paper on top of foil. Fold the centre to make a pleat. Place over the basin, foil-side up.

Secure the paper and foil with kitchen string.

Place an upturned saucer or a trivet in the base of a large saucepan. As long as the pudding basin isn't touching the base of your large saucepan. Position the pudding basin on the saucer in the pan. Add enough boiling water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the basin. Bring water back to a simmer over a medium-high heat.

Cover and cook for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted in the pudding comes out clean. I didn't need to do this, it was obvious that it was cooked. 

Set the pudding aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly before turning out onto a plate. Place an upside down dinner plate on the top of your pudding basin, and tip your pudding onto the plate.

Serve with cream, ice-cream, or home-made Boiled Egg Custard. It is traditional at Christmas time for us to serve  Boiled Egg Custard with the Christmas plum pudd. However, it can be served at any time with any dessert which is complimented by a custard. This is great comfort food, and much nicer than the bought custard.

Ingredients for my homemade Boiled Egg Custard

Bring 2 cups of milk to the boil and add the following and stir in:
1 beaten egg
1 dessertspoon sugar
vanilla

In a medium sized pyrex heatproof bowl, mix 1 dessertspoon corn flour with about 1-2 tblsp. milk to form a liquid paste. Pour boiled milk onto this mixture. Return to the saucepan to thicken and then pour into a nice jug.

"Turn this steamed pudding with homemade custard out at your next family dinner party or one with friends for a sweet jammy surprise."

Enjoy!!

Warm wishes

Pauline