Mary Berry’s Toffee Apple & Pecan Pudding
A scrumptious toffee apple and pecan pudding recipe from Mary Berry. The fluffy apple sponge is crowned with a creamy toffee sauce and chopped pecan nuts.
From the book
The Great British Bake Off: How to Turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers
Showstopping recipes from the Great British Bake Off
Sweet and savoury bakes from your favourite judges and bakers
Fail-safe recipes for every occasion
Introduction
A good recipe to have at hand, at any time of year, this is a quickly made, light baked sponge pudding. What makes it special is how you use the toffee pecan sauce!
Ingredients
| For the toffee sauce: | |
| 300ml | double cream |
| 75g | butter, softened |
| 100g | light brown muscovado sugar |
| 1 tsp | vanilla extract |
| 75g | pecan nuts, roughly chopped |
| For the sponge: | |
| 125g | butter, softened |
| 125g | light brown muscovado sugar |
| 2 | large free-range eggs, beaten |
| 125g | self-raising flour |
| 250g | Bramley apples, peeled and diced |
Essential kit
You will need a 1 x 1 litre pudding basin, a handheld electric mixer, a jam jar lid and a large saucepan.
Method
To make the toffee sauce, measure all the ingredients, except the nuts, into a saucepan. Stir over the heat until melted, then boil for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
To make the sponge, measure the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat with a handheld electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add half of the beaten eggs and beat well, then add the remaining eggs plus a heaped tablespoon of flour. Beat until smooth. Using a metal spoon, fold in the remaining flour until combined. Fold in the apples.
Spoon half the toffee sauce into a 1 litre pudding basin and scatter over half the pecans, then leave to cool. Spoon the apple sponge into the basin and level the surface. Cut a disc of baking paper to neatly fit the top of the sponge. Cut a square of foil to make a lid for the basin, butter it and fold a pleat along the centre. Top the sponge with the baking paper circle and cover the top of the basin with the foil lid and fold under the edges to seal. Cut a 21cm wide strip of foil (it needs to be long enough to hang over the edges of the saucepan when the pudding is in position, see step 4). Folded the strip 3 times to create a 7cm-wide strip of foil and position a jam jar lid in the centre. Set the basin on the jam jar lid.
Put the foil, jam jar lid and pudding basin into a large saucepan, so that the foil ends hang over the edge of the saucepan. Pour boiling water into the saucepan so that it reaches half way up the sides of the basin. Cover the saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for 2.5 hours or until the sponge is golden, risen and springy to touch (lift the foil and baking paper lid to check this).
Remove the foil lid and baking paper. Loosen the sides of the pudding from the basin and invert it onto a serving plate with a lip. Heat the remaining toffee sauce in a pan. Spoon a little over the sponge and serve the rest alongside.
