PLUMMY PUDDING

From Sweet Enough: A Baking Book

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

150g plain (all-purpose)

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flour

55g (¼ cup) sugar, plus

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2 tbsp for sprinkling

50g (¼ cup) light brown

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sugar

2 tsp (9g) baking powder

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¾ tsp (3g) kosher salt

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3 large eggs

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175g (¾ cup) full-cream

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milk

½ tsp (2g) vanilla extract,

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or ½ vanilla bean, split lengthways

55g unsalted butter,

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melted

680g plums (or peaches,

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nectarines, apricots, cherries), cut into 2.5cm wedges, or

450g whole blackberries

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or hulled and quartered strawberries

Agreat example of really taking advantage of the vagueness of the word pudding, this dessert is nearly unclassifiable, but the taste is all the same familiar. It would be a clafoutis if it were denser. It would be a cobbler if it were more like a sliceable cake. It could be a bread pudding with fruit instead of bread. Whatever it is, it’s one of my favourite ways to use up leftover fruit – the sort that’s so ripe and perfect it needs little more than a buttery batter poured around it, containing just enough flour to simply absorb the juices of the fruit as it roasts inside a custardy bath. While it’s near impossible to mess up this pudding, the only tragedy would be to use underripe or out-of-season fruit – the pudding bakes so quickly, there’s not much time for the fruit to soften. Otherwise: foolproof. For those who “don’t bake” – well, you just haven’t baked this yet.

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 220C.

2 In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, 55g (¼ cup) of the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.

3 In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla extract (or scrape in the vanilla seeds; save the pod for another use). Add this to the flour mixture, mixing just to blend until you see no lumps, followed by the melted butter.

4 Cover the bottom of a 2-3 litre (8-12 cup) baking dish with the fruit and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar. Pour the batter over.

5 Bake until the top is deeply golden brown and puffed around the edges, 25-30 minutes; it should still be slightly custardy in the centre. Let cool slightly before eating.

Eat with A bowl of Greek-style yoghurt or whipped cream, and a glass of red vermouth on ice.

While still delicious after sitting for a few hours, this dessert is truly best eaten when it comes out of the oven. The batter is not worth making ahead, since it comes together quickly.

From Sweet Enough: A Baking Book, by Alison Roman: Hardie Grant Books, $55. Photography: Chris Bernabeo