Guinness pudding with Whisky cream

.


140g raisins
140g sultanas
140g currants
140g dates , chopped
50g mixed peel
1 large Bramley apple (about 125g), peeled and finely chopped
250ml Guinness Extra stout
zest 1 orange
zest 1 lemon
100g cold butter , plus extra for the basin
100g dark muscovado sugar , plus 2 tbsp
100g fresh white breadcrumbs
50g self-raising flour
ground cloves
ground cinnamon
ground ginger
nutmeg
2 eggs , beaten

Mix the dried fruit and apple, then add the Guinness, orange and lemon zests and stir. Cover and leave overnight to soak. Butter a 1.25 litre/2 pint pudding basin, then spoon in 2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar. Turn the bowl at an angle, jiggling the sugar around as you go to coat the inside of the bowl.

Mix the remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl. Grate the butter, then add to the bowl along with the eggs and fruit, and stir well. Spoon into the basin and level the top.

Take a sheet of foil about 30cm long, cover with a same-size sheet of greaseproof paper and butter the paper. Fold a 3cm pleat in the (middle)

Sit the pudding on a heatproof saucer in a saucepan, then pour in just-boiled water to come halfway up basin. Cover and steam for 6 hrs, topping up water occasionally. Re-cover with fresh paper and foil and store in a cool place. To reheat, steam for 1 hr or microwave, without foil, for 10 mins on Medium.

Jane says... I'd normally leave whisky and Guinness to those made of sterner stuff, but a chaser of soft-whipped whisky cream is the perfect foil for my Guinness pudding. You can, of course, use any kind of stout, but then 'whisky and stout pudding' just doesn't have the same ring to it. Soaking the fruit in Guinness really plumps it up and gives a rich, dark pudding without the bitterness of brandy or rum.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2007 .