Elizabeth Hewson’s self-saucing banana pudding
It’s the sort of pudding that needs to be scooped into a bowl – and the sort of pudding where seconds are essential
I’m a pudding lover. In fact, I once ran a pudding club for pudding enthusiasts to eat and share titbits of pudding history (more on that another time). So I was rather alarmed when I realised I had yet to share a pudding recipe here. Therefore, this occasion calls for something magical, and there is nothing more magical than a self-saucing pudding.
Some other delicious puddings to try:
- A custardy dessert equally good for breakfast
- Elizabeth Hewson’s excellent olive oil cake
- Lennox Hastie’s upside down orange cake
This banana and caramel pud is as straightforward as puddings come – a simple batter that gets poured into a baking dish, which you then sprinkle with sugar. It’s at this stage that you start to second-guess me, the recipe writer: I ask you to pour boiling water all over the pudding, resulting in a sludgy brown mess that floats on top of your batter. It does not make sense. But by the time it comes out of the oven, trust me, you’ll have a perfectly puffed treasure chest of pudding floating on top of a sticky, golden sauce. What kind of sorcery is this? It’s the sort of pudding that needs to be scooped into a bowl – and the sort of pudding where seconds are essential. Enjoy.
Banana, caramel & coconut self-saucing pudding
Ingredients
- 135g (1 cup) plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 100g (½ cup) firmly packed brown sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 large ripe bananas
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 270ml coconut milk, shaken
- 85g unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- Topping
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 250ml (1 cup) boiling water
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Coconut or vanilla ice cream, or cream, to serve
Method
- Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Lightly butter a 2.5-litre ceramic baking dish. Set aside. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl; stir in brown sugar and salt. In another big bowl, mash one of your bananas. Add the egg, 250ml coconut milk (reserving 20ml), melted butter and vanilla to the mashed banana and stir well. Add your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir to combine. Pour batter into dish.
- Cut remaining banana in half lengthways and place on top of the batter, cut side up. Sprinkle over the brown sugar. Mix the boiling water, maple syrup and salt in a jug and carefully pour this over the back of a spoon over the pudding to hit the surface gently and evenly. (The spoon helps break the fall of the water, so it doesn’t disturb the batter too much.) Place pudding into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the pudding is puffed and floating in a bubbling caramel sauce. To check if sponge is cooked, simply touch the top; it should spring back. Remove from oven and leave to sit for a few minutes. Drizzle with remaining 20ml of coconut milk and serve with ice cream or cream – or both. Serves 4-6