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Four Nations pudding

13 ratings

Bring the best of British ingredients together in this celebratory pudding. An elegant white chocolate mousse is paired with a punchy fruit compôte on top of a biscuit base laced with Welsh cakes – all finished with plenty of vibrant summer berries. For recipe shortcuts, see our handy tips below.

For this recipe you will need a 20cm/8in silicone savarin mould and 10 small 4cm/1½in semi-sphere moulds.

Ingredients

For the fruit compôte

For the Welsh cakes

For the biscuit base

For the white chocolate mousse

To decorate

Method

  1. To make the fruit compôte, chop the rhubarb and strawberries into small pieces – no bigger than 1cm/½in in size. Place in a saucepan with the raspberries, sugar and vanilla then bring to the boil. Leave to cook for 5 minutes until the fruit has softened but still holds its shape then set aside to cool. Once cooled, pipe or spoon into 10 small 4cm/1½in semi-sphere moulds and freeze for a minimum of 2 hours. Pass any remaining compôte through a sieve and refrigerate.

  2. To make the Welsh cakes, put the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Then, rub in the butter until the mix is crumbly. Stir through the currants and the egg until you have a soft dough.

  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until approximately 1.5cm/½in thick. Cut out rounds using a 6cm/2½in cutter, re-rolling any excess. Grease a large frying pan with butter and place over a medium heat. Cook the Welsh cakes for about 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown and cooked through. Leave to cool.

  4. To make the biscuit base, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Once the Welsh cakes are cool, blitz 3 of them in a food processor until they become a fine crumb.

  5. Cream together the butter, sugar, ground almonds and the egg, then mix in the melted chocolate and blitzed Welsh cakes until it forms a dough. The mixture will be sticky so roll between two sheets of baking paper until it is the thickness of a pound coin and just a bit larger than the size of the base of the 20cm/8in savarin mould. Remove the top sheet of baking paper.

  6. Transfer the remaining sheet of baking paper with the rolled out dough onto on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Whilst still hot, place the savarin mould on top of the biscuit and use as a template to cut out a 20cm/8in disc. Cut out the central circle too so you are left with a biscuit ring that matches the shape of the savarin mould. For ease, cut this ring into 4 quarters so you can add it to the base of the pudding when it is ready.

  7. To make the white chocolate mousse, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Meanwhile bring 150ml/5fl oz whipping cream to a gentle boil. Once the gelatine leaves have bloomed, squeeze the water from them and add to the boiled cream, stirring to make sure it all dissolves. Finely chop the white chocolate and place in a large bowl then pour over the hot cream. Stir until all of the chocolate has completely melted then set aside to cool.

  8. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining 450ml/16fl oz whipping cream to soft peaks then fold it into the melted white chocolate. Use a piping bag or spoon to neatly pipe the mixture into the silicone pudding mould then tap the whole thing on the work surface a couple of times to knock out any air bubbles. Gently remove the frozen fruit compôte from the moulds then insert them into the mousse, pressing them down but not far enough that they poke through the sides or top. Add the quarters of the biscuit to cover the base and press gently. Freeze the whole pudding for a minimum of 3 hours, or ideally overnight.

  9. To decorate, carefully turn out the pudding onto a large plate 30 minutes before serving, gently peeling away the silicone mould. Toss the strawberries and raspberries in the reserved blitzed fruit compôte then use to decorate, along with some edible flowers.

Recipe Tips

As a shortcut for the fruit inserts, use 200g/7oz ready-made mixed fruit compôte. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the compôte for later, then divide the rest between the moulds. If you don’t have any semi-sphere moulds, you can freeze the mixture in 10 small ice cube holes instead.

If you don’t have time to make your own, you can use 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú (approximately 3) ready-made Welsh cakes instead.

Using a silicone mould for the pudding will make it easier to remove. If you’re using a metal savarin mould, line the mould with cling film before using, then leave at room temperature for a few minutes to warm a little before turning out as above, using the cling film to help you remove the pudding.