I needed to bake a proper 'pudding' for Sunday dinner pudding, which would meet the dessert needs of my parents, husband, kids and me. Unfortunately, not many of the puds in Mary's book meet the stringent criteria of a family with members who between them don't like cream, cinnamon, raisins...ad infinitum until all you've got left is chocolate cake. However, this was one which seemed a pretty safe bet, although I knew my eldest offspring would only eat the accompanying ice cream.
It was a very straightforward bake; the batter was quite minimal, so I was a bit worried about it baking too quickly when spread out across the dish. I enjoyed plopping the apricot halves on top, but was amazed at the sheer quantity of demerara sugar required for the topping: a whopping 175g! I got sugar guilt as I was sprinkling, so didn't use it all in the end. It seemed pretty excessive for me, even though the batter didn't have much sugar in it.
It soon puffed up in the oven, and the apricots emitted a gorgeous aroma, but to my great annoyance, I didn't keep my eye on it in the final stages and the top caught a bit too much. Sadly, it came out looking rather charred, and I was a bit gutted about that. There's 'caramelised' and there's 'cremated': this was somewhere in between. Nevertheless, it still tasted really good and got the thumbs up from everyone who sampled it (all except ice-cream fiend daughter). The apricots tasted beautiful, and the texture of the pudding was lovely, especially with its crunchy topping. It didn't taste too burnt; I'll look forward to making it again and being a little more wary about it catching.
Baker's verdict: easy to make and delicious. I'll definitely make it again for a comforting pud.
