Yummy, yummy cottage pudding in your tummy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/08/2011 (5517 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Olga Chorney wrote in asking for some good old-fashioned recipes, including one for cottage pudding. Bonnie Carlson sent in a recipe for a white cake with caramel topping, writing that “my Métis mom used to make this for my Scandinavian dad whose Icelandic mom made it for her family.” (Now, that’s Canadian.) Denise Robideux sent in her mother’s version, in which cake and sauce are baked together, with the cake rising to the top.

While these are different versions of a cottage pudding, both are easy and economical, made with basic, inexpensive ingredients that you probably have on hand. Robideux points out that it was sometimes called Hard Times Pudding. (Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.)

Several readers are looking for ways to use seasonal produce. Shirley Grosky of The Pas would love a pie recipe for wild cranberries, while Rose Kiesman of Ste Rose du Lac is looking for a good way to use tomatillas and ground cherries, which she grew for the first time this year.

And here’s an interesting request: Leo Sauder would like hints on cooking bacon — just regular bacon — so it doesn’t curl up too much. If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you’d like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

 

Denise Robideux’s Cottage Pudding

250 ml (1 cup) white sugar

250 ml (1 cup) all-purpose flour

10 ml (2 tsp) baking powder

125 ml (1/2 cup) whole milk, room temperature

250 ml (1 cup) raisins

Syrup:

250 ml (1 cup) brown sugar, firmly packed

1 L (4 cups) hot water

15 ml (1 tbsp) butter

15 ml (1 tbsp) grated lemon peel

30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease a 22×22 cm (9×9 in) baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, flour and baking powder. Add milk and stir just until combined. Add raisins. Spoon into prepared pan. (Batter will be thick.) Make syrup by dissolving brown sugar in hot water in a medium bowl. Add butter and stir until melted. Add lemon peel and juice. Pour gently over batter in pan. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream, if desired.

Tester’s notes: This tastes like a lovely old-school raisin dessert, almost like a steamed pudding with a lemony-sweet sauce, except you make it quite conveniently and quickly all in one pan. The cakey portion rises to the top, leaving the sauce on the bottom. I wouldn’t mind a slightly thicker sauce, so I might cut back on the amount of water next time. Make sure to leave space at the top of your pan, because the pudding will rise and the caramelly liquid will bubble up.

 

 

Bonnie Carlson’s Cottage Pudding

57 g (1/4 cup) butter or margarine or shortening

150 ml (2/3 cup) white sugar

1 egg

2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla

125 ml (1/2 cup) whole milk, room temperature

3785 ml (1 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour

10 ml (2 tsp) baking powder

2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt

Brown sugar sauce:

125 ml (1/2 cup) brown sugar

30 ml (2 tbsp) all-purpose flour

250 ml (1 cup) boiling water

15 ml (1 tbsp) butter

2 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease a 22×22 cm (9×9 in) pan. In a medium bowl, cream butter or shortening and add sugar, egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, and then add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Spoon mixture into prepared pan. (Batter will be thick.) Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown at edges. Meanwhile, make sauce by mixing sugar and flour thoroughly in a heavy-bottomed medium pot. Add boiling water and cook, stirring steadily, over medium-low heat until thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Cool sauce and pour over cooled cake.

 

Tester’s notes: There’s something very reassuring and homey about this simple combination of white cake and sweet caramel sauce. This is a budget dessert, but if you’re feeling flush you can always use a caramel sauce with more butter or cream.