SUMMER PUDDING

PREP + COOK TIME 35 MINUTES (+ REFRIGERATION) SERVES 6

1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar

½ cup (125ml) water

2 cups (300g) frozen blackberries 500g frozen mixed berries

6 thick slices stale white bread ¼ cup (80g) blackberry jam

1 Bring sugar and the water to the boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in berries; return to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 3 minutes or until berries soften. Strain over a medium bowl; reserve syrup and berries separately.

2 Line a 1.25-litre (5-cup) pudding bowl with plastic wrap, extending wrap 10cm over side of bowl. Remove crusts from bread. Cut two semicircles from two slices of bread just smaller than top edge of the bowl. Cut one round from one bread slice to fit the base. Cut the remaining three bread slices into 10cm-long strips.

3 Place the small bread round in base of bowl; use the bread strips to line side of bowl. 4 Pour ⅔ cup of reserved syrup into a jug; reserve. Fill pudding bowl with berries; cover with remaining syrup and top with the two bread semicircles to make a large round. Cover pudding with overhanging plastic wrap and weight pudding with a saucer; refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

5 Stir jam and 2 tablespoons of the reserved syrup in a small saucepan for 2 minutes or until heated.

6 Turn pudding out onto a serving plate; brush with remaining reserved syrup, then jam mixture.