Our puddings fit for a Queen!
The search is on for a jubilee ‘Platinum Pudding’ — so will you be inspired by our top chefs and their desserts with intriguing royal links?
TAMASIN DAY-LEWIS’S royal twist on a British pudding
A SUMMER trifle is that most English of puddings, dating back to the 1590s when Elizabeth I was on the throne.
So when it comes to the Queen’s Jubilee celebration, it is platinum-plated.
Rather than covering the trifle in a snowy layer of thick, whipped cream, I lighten and sharpen it with a lemony syllabub, another pudding that dates back to the 16th century.
June is a perfect month for summer fruits. I always add a layer of puréed raspberries above the custard, a flash of pink to cut through the richness.
I cannot think of a more fitting and regal pudding. Served in stemmed glasses, the syllabub billowing beneath the fruit and flaked almonds, it is truly the queen of puddings.
■ TaMaSin’S Kitchen Bible by Tamasin Day-Lewis (Weidenfeld and nicholson).
ALEX HOLLYWOOD’S take on Eton Mess
THE story of how Eton Mess came about is of a cricket match between Eton and Harrow, an accident with a strawberry and meringue pudding and a scramble to serve up the ensuing ‘mess’ to the hungry teams in bowls instead.
It reminds me of summer garden lunches and I suspect is also popular with the inhabitants of Windsor Castle too with Eton just down the road.
So to celebrate the jubilee I’ve chosen my own version. Salted Banoffee Crunchie Eton Pie is easy to make — the ingredients can be bought at any corner shop — but the end result is perfection!
■ Cooking Tonight by alex hollywood (hodder & Stoughton).
THE HAIRY BIKERS’ pineapple & rum sticky toffee pudding
This pineapple and rum sticky toffee pudding is a 2022 twist on two old favourites, with a little bit of booze to give it the finishing touch.
A combination of pineapple upsidedown cake — popular in the 1950s when the Queen came to the throne — and a sticky toffee pudding, the dessert regularly voted Britain’s favourite.
There’s also a strong connection to the Queen and Prince Philip, which we love. Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, received several fresh pineapples as wedding presents when she married the dashing Philip in 1947, and she passed them on to needy families. in the year of her Coronation, adverts for tinned pineapples to make upside-down cake featured heavily in women’s magazines.
And, as we discovered last year, Prince Philip used to watch The hairy Bikers on TV, so i like to think he’d have been tucking in, too! ■ The hairy Bikers’ everyday Winners by Si King and Dave Myers (Seven Dials) is available now.
TOM PARKER BOWLES’S rhubarb fool
AS A cookery writer, I know there’s nothing silly about this rhubarb fool. It’s a quintessentially British dish, bringing together the joys of the pasture with the fruits of the walled garden.
The rhubarb has a gently sharp edge while the crumbled biscuits don’t just provide mighty crunch, but a warming whack of ginger, too. So a taste of more balmy climes, and a reminder of all those royal tours.
■ ToM Parker Bowles, Let’s eat (Pavilion Books, 2012).
FIONA CAIRNS’S crown meringue
WHAT could be more apt for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee than a delicious red, white and blue crown pudding, made up of store-cupboard essentials, and topped off with the finest berries Britain’s countryside has to offer?
I like to think the Queen might enjoy a meringue — so deliciously light — when royal duty means she has an awful lot of functions to attend.
With enough for 12 people, this would be perfect for bringing the neighbours together. And uniting the nation is what our Queen does best.
I know from my experience making Prince William and Kate’s wedding cake that a royal event is the ultimate feel-good celebration. And this showstopper of a dessert could be the perfect centrepiece to your jubilee festivities.
I’d include silver dragees, to look like platinum, but you could apply edible silver leaf over the berries to give your jubilee crown meringue regal pizzazz.
ROSE PRINCE’S jammy roll cake
ThE inspiration for this cake lies somewhere between a Battenberg sponge and an airy version of a traditional, good old British jam roly poly.
i think the Queen would approve of its heritage — it has links with her family’s European connections, but the jam is strictly homegrown.
The sponges are made French style, with whisked eggs, sugar and melted butter. stacked into a pile of four, as with a Battenberg, they are filled with oh-soEnglish strawberry preserve. The cake construction is held together with a sheet of fondant icing.
Once sliced, coils of golden cake and ruby filling are revealed. it truly is fit for royalty.
■ The Pocket Bakery by Rose Prince (Orion Books).
FELICITY CLOAKE’S jelly cherry jubilee
This deliciously wobbly, cheerfully stripy pudding is a modern take on the flambéed cherry dessert created by the great 19th-century French chef Auguste Escoffier for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
As well as sharing her ancestor’s love of dogs, horses and scotland — it was Victoria who purchased Balmoral, often described as Elizabeth ii’s favourite home — our Queen has spoken of the pleasure they have both found in the private gardens at Frogmore on the Royal Windsor estate.
she echoed the sentiments of Victoria on this ‘dear lovely’ retreat, known for its magnificent collection of flowering cherries.
indeed, the monarch has worn hats decorated with both cherry blossom and fruit, so i like to think she would enjoy this spectacular, and very British centrepiece — perfect for the big parties we will see in June.
■ The A-Z Of eating by Felicity Cloake (Fig Tree, £25).