I’ve told you before that one of my favourite childhood puddings was treacle pudding. I can clearly remember watching my mum making steamed puddings when I was younger and although I have been making my own treacle puddings lately I have been baking them in the oven. So today I decided to bite the bullet and attempt a proper steamed pudding for tonight’s tea.
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Here is the recipe I used:
175g butter
175g sugar
125g self raising flour
50g of cocoa
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3 beaten eggs.
The first thing I did was check to ensure the bowl I was going to use would fit into my largest saucepan. It’s recommended to place a cloth at the bottom of the saucepan and an plate to stop the bottom of the bowl touching the bottom of the saucepan so that it steams properly and the bottom of the pudding doesn’t burn. After a bit of trail and error I decided only to use a cloth at the bottom of the saucepan as I didn’t have a bigger saucepan that I could use which would allow me to have the lid on while steaming as required.
I opted to use a 1.6litre Pyrex bowl. I then set about measuring out and mixing the ingredients for the pudding together. I used the all in method where you add all the ingredients and mix together thoroughly. Once done I then took some butter and greased the inside of the Pyrex bowl before emptying the pudding mix into the bowl. I then cut some tin foil and some baking parchment to the same size, lay the baking parchment inside the tin foil and in the middle made a fold to help allow the pudding to expand as it steamed. I then placed the tin foil and baking parchment over the bowl and flatted around the bowl to seal it. Taking a length of string I then secure the cover to insure no water could get into the pudding mix.
Placing the bowl on top of the cloth inside the saucepan, I then filled the saucepan half full with water and put the lid on. Then you need to cook the pudding over a medium heat for between 1hr 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the heat you are using. I decided to set the timer on my oven to 100 minutes, so 1 hour 40mins. I kept an eye on the saucepan to ensure it wasn’t boiling over and waited.
When the timer pinged and I anxiously went to check on the pudding. To my delight it had worked and the pudding was ready. Carefully I lifted the bowl out of the saucepan and went to retrieve a plate to turn the pudding out onto. Removing the tin foil and baking parchment cover I then carefully placed the plate on the top and turned it over. It instantly slipped out of the bowl onto the plate. I was really quite pleased with myself it has to be said!
I put it in the microwave to cool a little bit while we enjoyed our dinner and then served it up with a splash of cream. It was a big hit with everyone. If you didn’t want to make a chocolate pudding you could leave out the cocoa in the recipe or you could add sultanas or raisins instead if you wished. I think my next attempt at a steamed pudding will have to be a treacle pudding though.
Mmmm, I do love a steamed pudding and this sounds wonderful, especially with the cool cream. *drool* Thanks so much for linking up with #recipeoftheweek. I’ve pinned this post and have scheduled to tweet shortly 🙂 Hope to see you linking up again soon! 😀 x