Saucy orange, cardamom and almond pudding

Serves 6 Desserts and puddings

Advertisement

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C F/Gas 4. Grease an ovenproof pudding dish approx 23cm x 17cm and 5.5cm deep.

Split open the cardamom pods, remove the seeds and finely grind them. Tip into a mixing bowl with 100g of the sugar and the softened butter.

Separate one of the eggs, putting the white in a bowl,
and mix the yolk and the other whole egg with a fork in another bowl. Put the flour, baking powder and ground almonds in a large bowl and mix together. Whisk the egg white with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form, then gradually add the remaining 30g sugar and whisk until meringue-like.

Without washing the beaters, whisk the sugar, butter and cardamom in the bowl until creamy. Add the egg with the yolk, a little at a time, then fold in the flour mixture and orange zest using a wooden spoon. Mix in the 4tbsp orange juice and the milk. Fold in the whipped egg white gently, to avoid losing any volume, and spoon the mixture into the greased pudding dish.

For the sauce, split open the cardamom pods, remove the seeds and finely grind them. Put the cornflour in a bowl and mix in 4tbsp of the orange juice to make a smooth paste. Put the remaining juice in a pan and bring just to the boil, then stir into the cornflour mixture until smooth. Scatter the sugar evenly over the surface of the pudding, then mix the ground cardamom into the sauce and gently dribble it evenly over the top – it may look like too much but it will sink through the mixture to create a sauce in the bottom.

Scatter the flaked almonds over the pudding and bake for 40 minutes until golden and just cracking on the surface. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for around 4 minutes.

Dust with icing sugar and serve while hot with cream or yoghurt, if using.