Eve’s Pudding – a proper old fashioned pudding from my childhood and given the abundance of apple trees in our garden, we got this a lot!
Eve’s pudding is something I loved to eat as a child. In fact, it was probably my favourite dessert as a child, and remains one of my favourite puddings today.
Baking Eve’s pudding brings back happy childhood memories. Growing up we had a huge fruit and vegetable garden with two large apple trees growing within it.
I have my friend to thank for this recipe. She went on for months to make her an Eve’s pudding.
I had not cooked this dish for years so was determined it had to be my Mum’s old recipe. My Mum made the best Eve’s pudding I’ve ever eaten.
A proper old fashioned pudding from my childhood. Given the abundance of apple trees in our garden, we ate this a lot! I add ground cinnamon to the apples, although this is not traditional.
The apples are topped with sponge batter which when baked forms a thick dome shaped crust! It is pudding heaven in a bowl.
My sister Judith has recently moved into a new house and there are two mature apple trees in her garden. One of the trees was full of deliciously sweet eating apples.
So armed with my Mum’s recipe and a bag of my sisters apples I set to making a few puddings. Turn’s out my kids love this pudding as much as I did as child.
I’ve made it weekly for the past month, including one for my friend who also loved it. As did her son who stole the crust from the top when she wasn’t looking.
As anyone who’s ever eaten Eve’s pudding will know, the crust is the best bit!
Recipe steps:
What apples can I use for Eve’s Pudding?
I like to use Granny Smith apples when I make this traditional Eve’s pudding as they are nice a tart, crisp apple and they keep their shape when cooked.
However, other dessert firm apples like a Pink Lady would also work. Traditionally my Mum would have used Bramley cooking apples, as that is what we had growing in our garden.
However, cooking apples tend to be very sour so you may find you need to add a little sugar to the apples when you are cooking them.
Do I need to add cinnamon to the apples?
The simple answer is no, you don’t need to add cinnamon to the apples when you are cooking them. In fact a traditional recipe for Eve’s Pudding would leave them out entirely.
However, I love the marriage of cinnamon with apple, as do my family, so I like to add it. If you don’t want the flavour of cinnamon in the pudding, simply leave it out.
Why use Stork margarine instead of butter?
For almost everything I cook or bake, I use butter in place of margarine. However, there is one exception and that is when it comes to sponge cake.
Whether we are talking about a Victoria Sponge or the sponge topping on this Eve’s pudding, I use Stork margarine.
I won’t even try and explain the science behind it as I simply don’t know. However, I’ve experimented with both and can confirm that Stork margarine produces a lighter sponge cake with a far better rise, than butter.
Can I make this pudding ahead of time?
Eve’s pudding can be made ahead of time and heated up when you are ready to serve. However, I love nothing better than serving it hot from the oven, when the crust is at it’s best and the sponge topping is warm and fluffy.
So instead what I tend to do is cook the apples before hand, place them in the dish and cover.
I then weigh out the dry ingredients for the sponge topping and rub into breadcrumbs. Ready to add the wet ingredients and mix to a batter just before I am ready to pop into the oven to bake and enjoy.
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Additional recipe suggestions:
If you like this recipe then try some of our other great bakes:
- Classic Apple & Blackberry Crumble
- Spiced Apple Cake
- Apple Pie
- Baked Nectarines with Hazelnuts & Yogurt
- Plum & Apple Galette
- Pumpkin Cake
- Rhubarb Crumble
- Rhubarb & Ginger Clafoutis
- Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding
These are all great traditional puddings that you can enjoy with cream, ice cream or warm custard.
My Mum’s Eve’s Pudding
Ingredients
- 5 firm eating apples (peeled, cored and cut into quarters)
- 1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 8 oz self raising flour
- 4 oz caster sugar
- pinch salt
- 4 oz stork margarine
- ¼ pint milk
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Peel, core and quarter the apples and place in a saucepan with a small amount of water. Place on the hob over a medium-high heat with the lid on and cook for 4 minutes, you don’t want to cook the apples, merely soften them slightly. Take off the heat and stir through the ground cinnamon before transferring to an round oven proof dish (approximately 20cm in diameter).
- Place the flour, sugar, salt and margarine in a large mixing bowl and rub together with your fingers until you have the consistency of breadcrumbs.
- Measure out the milk and add the egg, beat together to combine well. Add to the breadcrumb mixture and beat with a wooden spoon, the mixture should be of a thick consistency and can look a bit lumpy, this is normal. Spread the mixture over the top of the apples, ensuring the dish is completely covered.
- Place in a pre-heated oven at 170CFan for 50-60 minutes, check the mixture is cooked through by inserting a skewer into the sponge, if it comes out clean the cake is cooked. Remove from the oven and serve.
Notes
• Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only •
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Janice Pattie
A lovely comforting recipe such a great way to use apples and it’s lovely that it’s your Mum’s recipe.
Lesley
Thank you Janice, this is one of my favourites, a proper pudding that reminds me of my childhood. Lesley
Julie McPherson
Doesn’t this look yummy, I would definitely have mine served with custard. Commenting as BritMums Baking Round-up Editor. 🙂
Lesley
I agree Julie, I love Eves Pudding and custard, proper pudding. Lesley x
Monika Dabrowski
This looks so delicious and easy to make too, I wonder if using butter instead of the margarine would work too. #CookBlogShare
Lesley
Hi Monika it’s a very quick pudding to make, one I use when I fancy something sweet but don’t have a great deal of time. You can easily use butter, I have when I’ve not had Stork, but the sponge is a bit heavier. I tend to use Stork to keep the sponge light. Lesley
Corina Blum
My mum also used to make a fantastic eve’s pudding when I was younger. It’s funny but it’s one of those recipes that seems to be a bit forgotten about these days but as all the apples and other autumn fruits like plums are just coming into season now it would be a great time to make one.
Lesley
Hi Corina, same here I hadn’t had it for years then a friend asked me if I’d make her one and I said I’d get recipe from my Mum as it’s my favourite. So simple to make with any fruit. Lesley x
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder
I was introduced to Eve’s pudding few years back by my English father in law as being Polish I had never had it before. I must admit it was love at first sight 🙂 (with the pudding that is) lol. Comfort food in a bowl and lots and lots of custard is a must. Pinned x
Lesley
Thanks Jo. This was a favourite when I was growing up and since I started making it for my own kids I’ve found they love it too. So simple to make. Lesley x
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie
Aw, this is a blast from the past for me too! My dad used to make eve’s pudding all the time when we were kids – very similar recipe, though no cinnamon and a few more apples – plus he would use cooking apples so it was quite tart, but went well with lashings of custard (Bird’s custard, of course!) Thanks for linking this up to #CookBlogShare! Eb x
Lesley
Thanks Eb, funnily enough the cinnamon is very much my addition to the recipe. Like your Dad my Mum used whatever apples were available and as we had a tree of cooking apples in the garden, more often than not she used those. I’m waiting for a pudding to come out of the oven right now as it’s been such a miserable day. Lesley x