Spotted dick roly-poly
Two old-school classics rolled into one. Swap the strawberry for your favourite jam, if you prefer.
SERVES 6 PREP 25min COOK 1hr 45min
• 175g self-raising flour, plus extra to dust
• 25g caster sugar
• 100g vegetable suet
• 100g raisins
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 125g strawberry jam
1 Clear all but the bottom shelf out of the oven and preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Put a large sheet of baking parchment on top of a sheet of foil of the same size.
2 In a large bowl, stir together the flour and sugar. Add the suet and lightly rub into the flour/sugar with your fingers, then mix in the raisins.
3 In a jug, mix the vanilla extract with
75ml cold water. Using a cutlery knife, stir the liquid into the flour mixture. If it seems dry, add a little extra water. Knead very lightly to bring the mixture together to make a soft but not sticky dough.
4 Lightly flour a work surface and roll out pastry to a rectangle roughly 20.5 x 28cm. Spread the jam over the pastry, leaving a 2.5cm border along both short edges. Roll up pastry from a short edge.
5 Put the roll seam-side down in the middle of the parchment (with the foil underneath). Bring up the parchment paper tightly around the sides (to keep the roll shape), then roll down the edges to seal at the top – leaving a little room above the roll for expansion. Bring up the foil to enclose the parcel and seal the edges tightly, again leaving a little room above the pudding.
6 Put a wire rack on top of a roasting tin and 1/2-fill the tin with boiling water. Sit the foil-covered roll on top of the rack, then cover the whole tin and wrapped pudding with a tent of foil to make sure no steam escapes. Carefully transfer to oven and bake for 1hr 45min.
7 Carefully remove the tin from the oven, unwrap the foil and transfer the roll to a serving platter. Serve in slices with cream or our Creamy Custard (right).