Steamed vanilla sponge with butterscotch sauce & custard

Steamed vanilla sponge with butterscotch sauce & custard

Finish Sunday lunch with John Torode's indulgent and nostalgic steamed pud

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 2 hrs

Method

  1. Butter a 1.5-litre pudding basin. To make the sponge, cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition, then add the vanilla extract.
  2. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and fold into the sponge mixture, ensuring there are no lumps of flour remaining. Finally, stir the milk into the mixture.
  3. Fill the basin with the sponge mixture and cover with a double layer of buttered foil and baking parchment, making a pleat in the centre to allow the pudding to rise. Tie the foil securely with string, then place in a steamer or large pan containing enough gently simmering water to come halfway up the sides of the basin. Steam for 2 hrs until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
  4. To make the custard, bring the milk to the boil. In a bowl, beat together the yolks, sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract. Pour the scalded milk over the egg mix and beat well. Return to the pan and place over a low heat, stirring for a few mins until the mix begins to thicken. Take off the heat and leave to cool.
  5. For the butterscotch sauce, dissolve the sugar with 2 tbsp water over a low heat. Bring to the boil; do not stir. When the sugar has turned into a dark, golden caramel, whisk in the butter. Remove from the heat and stir the cream through.
  6. When the sponge is cooked, turn out onto a plate, drizzle with the butterscotch sauce and serve with the custard.

PER SERVING

1308 kcalories, protein 18g, carbohydrate 148g, fat 75 g, saturated fat 43g, fibre 2g, sugar 98g, salt 1.47 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2011.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo Jerseyboy

    10 November 2011

    Jerseyboy commented on this recipe

    Is this plain flour or self raising please... probably look an idiot asking but don't want to waste anything... thanks

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  • Binder photo sullie

    11 November 2011

    sullie commented on this recipe

    Hi Jerseyboy,as far as i know when it says flour they mean plain flour so give it a go and let me know how it turns out, it looks really good.

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  • Binder photo Carol

    11 November 2011

    Carol commented on this recipe

    I'm going to try it with S/R once I've worked out the parchment/foil thing!

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  • Binder photo Angiepoo

    11 November 2011

    Angiepoo commented on this recipe

    Jerseyboy - this is going to be self raising flour and not plain flour.

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  • Binder photo susiebonnie

    11 November 2011

    susiebonnie commented on this recipe

    Surely as there is baking powder in this recipe then the flour will be plain !!!

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  • Binder photo Mary

    12 November 2011

    Mary commented on this recipe

    Are those calories correct? Crikey !!!

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  • Binder photo Katherine

    04 December 2011

    Katherine rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Butterscotch sauce is great. Sadly the pudding our hosts had made hadn't cooked after two hours but a hot oven fixed it. Quantities seemed odd. The custard and sauce were spot on for four but we only needed about half of the pudding part - still, that reduced the calories. You could certainly tell you'd been at the sugar afterwards! I shall be stealing the sauce for sticky toffee pudding purposes.

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  • Binder photo Tricia

    11 November 2012

    Tricia commented on this recipe

    This I would love, the calories I wouldn't so sadly I'm giving this a miss. Such hardship!

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  • Binder photo Pete

    30 March 2013

    Pete rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Made it with s/r flour on several occasions and it's turned out superb. Delicious and light, a great crowd pleaser that tastes even better with cream poured over as well.

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 2 hrs

Ingredients

FOR THE SPONGE

FOR THE CUSTARD

FOR THE BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE

  • 75g caster sugar
  • 25g butter
  • 50ml double cream
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PER SERVING

1308 kcalories, protein 18g, carbohydrate 148g, fat 75 g, saturated fat 43g, fibre 2g, sugar 98g, salt 1.47 g

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