Rhubarb sponge pudding

Name: Rhubarb sponge pudding
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 100g soft butter; 100g caster sugar; 3 eggs; 100g self-raising flour, sifted; 300g ripe rhubarb stalks; 300g cooking apples; 2 tbsp orange juice; 100g extra caster sugar; 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Jill Dupleix

October 19, 2011

Old-fashioned winter puddings: Rhubarb sponge pudding.Quentin Jones

Time:1-2 hoursServes:8

Sir Winston Churchill once looked down at his dining table and commanded, "Take away that pudding. It has no theme." Quite right. A pudding must have a reason to be. It must earn its place on the table by dint of either nutrition, glamour or flavour.

Ingredients

100g soft butter
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
100g self-raising flour, sifted
300g ripe rhubarb stalks
300g cooking apples
2 tbsp orange juice
100g extra caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Beat the butter and caster sugar in a bowl until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Gently fold in the flour until you have a thick, smooth batter.
Cut the rhubarb stalks into 2cm lengths. Peel and core the apples, then cut into small chunks. Arrange rhubarb and apple loosely in a buttered 1-litre pie or baking dish, add the orange juice and scatter with the extra caster sugar and cinnamon.
Spoon the batter mixture on top of the fruit and bake for 50-55 minutes, until the top is golden and cakey. Serve with ice-cream.