Hot whisky and marmalade pudding with Drambuie custard
Ingredients
For the pudding
150g fine brown breadcrumbs
25g self-raising wholemeal flour
120g light brown soft sugar
120g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the bowl
175g well flavoured, course-cut marmalade 30ml whisky
3 large eggs
1 rounded tsp bicarbonate of soda
For the custard
150ml full fat milk
150ml double cream1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped out and reserved
3 egg yolks
30g caster sugar
30ml Drambuie
Method
Butter a 3 pint pudding basin really well and choose a saucepan large enough to hold the pudding basin comfortably. we use a 3 pint plastic basin that has a matching lid; perfect for this recipe.
Place the breadcrumbs, flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter and marmalade together in a saucepan over a gentle heat, but do not boil. Pour the melted ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together thoroughly. Lightly whisk the eggs until frothy and beat gently into the mixture, until well blended. Last of all, dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 1 tbsp of cold water. Beat this into the pudding mixture, which will increase in volume as it absorbs the bicarbonate of soda – leave to stand for 5 minutes for the bicarb to work. Cover it with a double sheet of buttered foil (or a lid if your basin has one), making sure there is a pleat in it for expansion.
Place the pudding basin in a saucepan of boiling water. The water should reach halfway up the side of the basin. Simmer the pudding steadily for 2 hours. The water will need topping up throughout the cooking period. Meanwhile make the custard. Place the milk, cream and vanilla pod and seeds into a thick-bottomed pan and place on a high heat until boiling. In a stainless steel bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together with a balloon whisk, until the mixture becomes thick, fluffy and pale.
Add the hot mix to the eggs. Make sure that you combine the whole pan by stirring in a figure of eight rather than round and round.
The mixture should begin to thicken within about 2 minutes. You’re looking for a temperature of 82°C, and a thermo probe will prove invaluable. If you don’t have a probe, watch for little puffs of steam escaping from the side of the pan. when the mix has thickened enough to coat the back of the spatula, take it off the heat and strain immediately through a fine sieve to remove any small lumps which may have formed. Serve immediately, or pour into a clean bowl, cover with cling film (touching the surface to avoid a skin forming) and chill in an ice bath.
Uncover the pudding and turn it out onto a warm serving dish. Serve hot with the warm custard.