Summer Pudding or Summer Fruit Pudding is a British dessert traditionally made of sliced white bread, layered in a deep bowl with fruit and fruit juice. The first reference to it as Summer Pudding in print was in 1904, but identical recipes for the much less catchy sounding 'hydropathic pudding' can be found as far back as 1868. You can of course still make it with stale bread but for a little extra indulgence my recipe uses brioche to add a buttery softness. So, I use strawberries, raspberries and currants 

because that's what I grow but if you have been more adventurous and have tayberries, loganberries, cherries or blueberries then these could be used too and have your children proclaiming that their family "make it with Tayberries and its simply the best!" Nothing like creating a new family classic!

Summer Pudding—using brioche

This has got to be one of my best recipes; it is so easy and delicious. I make a lot of these in the summer with my children. They feel so important to have made such a great pudding. You can use a variety of fruits, I always think it is nice to have a few blackcurrants as they are very flavoursome against the gentleness of the raspberries. Of course you can use some fruit that you have frozen to mix with the fruit that is in season.

Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking time: 5 minutes Waiting time: min 3 hours Serves: 6 – 8

Ingredients:

2lbs (900g) soft fruits, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, white/ black /redcurrants...

6oz (150g) caster sugar

6 – 8 slices of Brioche

Directions: 

1. Use a soufflé dish or pudding basin; cover the bottom of it and the sides with slices of brioche.
2. Hull* the strawberries.
3. Put the fruit into a pan with the sugar on a low heat, until the fruit has softened for 4 – 5 minutes.
4. Take it off the heat and spoon out the fruit leaving most of the juices in the pan.
5. Cover the top of the fruit with more brioche and pour the remaining juice on top of that.
6. Put a plate that fits into the bowl on top and weigh it down with some kind of weight.
7. Put it in the fridge for 3 hours – overnight is best.
8. Finally, just before you are ready to serve, take it out of the fridge. Take off the plate and the weight, loosen the edges gently and turn it out onto a serving plate.
9. Perfect served cold with a splash of cream.

* Hull means to take the stalks off the strawberries. For a printable copy click here Summer Pudding