NURSERY PUDDING

Nursery puddings are generally made from a concoction of fruit,
stale sponge or soft white bread and some kind of custard or
cream. There are dozens of variations to be found in really old
cookery books; this recipe is nursery pudding in its simplest form,
but it could also be made with fresh fruit and a proper home-made
custard sauce. I’ve taken the easy route here and used a tin of mixed
summer fruits in natural juice and blancmange made from the
packet. (The instructions for making blancmange are on the box
but I’ve included them here too.)
Stewed apples in sweet, spicy syrup with vanilla blancmange
or custard would be another good combination, as would sliced
bananas sprinkled with brown sugar and nutmeg, with chocolate
blancmange or custard.
The amount of sponge cake used here – and this also applies
to the Quick Queen of Puddings recipe – is the equivalent of a
sponge made with 2 oz (50 g) each of butter, sugar and flour with
one egg; i.e. one half of a Victoria Sandwich, or an average shopbought
sponge cake.
1⁄2 lb (225 g) of sponge cake
1 tin of mixed summer fruits in natural juice
1 sachet of strawberry blancmange
3 dessertspoonfuls of sugar
1 pint (600 ml) milk
Method
1. Empty the contents of one sachet of pink blancmange into a
large bowl with 2 spoonfuls of sugar and mix to a paste with a
very little milk from 1 pint (600 ml).
2. Bring the rest of the milk slowly to the boil until bubbles are
forming on the surface then pour a little of the warm milk into
the bowl with the blancmange paste and keep stirring as you
pour the rest of the milk into the bowl.
3. Pour the blancmange back into the pan and bring to the boil
over a low heat, stirring all the time, and simmer for about one
minute until the blancmange is thick, smooth and creamy, just
like custard.
4. Pour the blancmange back into the bowl and leave to cool by an
open window for about 10 minutes, whisking with a fork from
time to time. (The blancmange doesn’t have to cool completely;
lukewarm is fine.)
5. Meanwhile, cut the sponge cake into neat 1⁄4 inch (5 mm) slices
and cover the bottom of a medium-sized baking dish, a couple
of inches (about 5 cm) deep, then spoon all the juice from the
tin of fruit into the dish to soak the sponge.
6. Cover the sponge with the fruit then pour on the slightly cooled
blancmange and sprinkle the last dessertspoonful of sugar
evenly across the surface to stop a skin forming. Refrigerate for
an hour or two until the blancmange is set.