Top five puddings
Gooey, sticky, crumbly, creamy: whatever your favourite foods and flavours, there’s a dessert for everyone. We’re spotlighting five of our top kitchen creations today, with many of them traditional British puddings that round off a meal quite nicely.
1. Sticky toffee pudding
Comfort food at its best, the humble sticky toffee pudding is a childhood favourite for many of us – the sort of thing we’d see on a school dinner menu or have served up at home after a roast dinner. It’s a classic sponge cake stuffed with juicy dates and smothered in a thick toffee sauce, both indulgent and delicious.
The key to a good sticky toffee pudding is the sugar, where it’s best to use dark brown muscovado sugar to get that rich, caramel taste. The sponge should be light and fluffy, and you need a good amount of dates to add sweetness and nuttiness (though some of our clients prefer it without). We’re commonly asked to prepare this dessert in individual portions (see above), but the sponge can also be baked in a tin and sliced – it’s really up to you.
2. Carrot cake
It’s not unusual to use vegetables in a cake – whether it’s a courgette and lemon sponge, beetroot brownies or pumpkin muffins. But carrot cake is considered one of the most popular, partly because it’s so easy to grow your own carrots, and partly because it’s a food shop staple that you’ll likely have in your fridge anyway. It’s also got firm roots in our past – the famous cook and writer, Mrs Beeton, described a suet carrot pudding in one of her recipe books.
Carrot cake is a surprisingly versatile treat, with lots you can add, and a few twists you can try:
- Sugar: While carrots provide a bit of sweetness in your carrot cake, you’ll still need plenty of sugar in it – like the treacle taste of muscovado or a gentle substitute, like honey.
- Sponge: As with all sponge-based cake, the lighter, the better, so be prepared for lots of whipping and whisking.
- Spices: Carrot cake wouldn’t be complete without a bit of spice. Ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon can all add flavour, or you can use mixed spice instead. If you can get your hands on fresh nutmeg or ginger to grate into your cake mix, a little goes a long way.
- Fillings: From crunchy walnuts to buttery pecans (and even an adventurous peanut butter take), carrots pair beautifully with nuts for both taste and texture. Many people enjoy raisins, sultanas and even apricots studding their cake, or a few handfuls of mixed peel. Finally, for a citrus kick, you could try adding the zest and juice of an orange (either to the cake itself or the topping).
- Frosting: Cream cheese icing is the norm on a carrot cake, but plenty of people prefer it plain and served alongside greek yoghurt or creamy mascarpone. ‘Naked’ wedding cakes are very popular at the moment, and a layered carrot cake works well for this – you can add the merest scrape of icing or dusting of icing sugar around the sides when assembled.
- Additions: As well as soaking any dried fruit in spirits (rum is an ideal pairing), you can add a splash of alcohol to the mix when wet.
We’ve crowned our carrot cake (pictured) with mini iced carrots, a handful of candied walnuts and edible gold glitter for that glitzy finishing touch, but going simple with just a swirl of cream cheese icing always goes down a treat. When making afternoon teas for our clients, carrot cake is a common request!
3. Cheesecake
You probably saw our recent ode to the cheesecake on last month’s blog (which you can read here). The classic cheesecake was originally created with curd cheese, before the New Yorker Arnold Reuben (the same man behind the Reuben sandwich) swapped it for cream cheese. Nowadays, cheesecakes can be made with quark, ricotta, tofu, cottage cheese and all manner of substitutes, which means it can be adapted for different dietary needs.
Cheesecakes are typically vanilla or fruit-flavoured, though you can experiment with chocolate, toffee and salted caramel. For the base, try to complement the main flavours – for instance, using ginger biscuits for a vanilla cheesecake, or crushing oreo or bourbon biscuits for a whipped chocolate one. And as for whether to bake or not to bake? It’s really down to you – the main difference being in the texture of the cheesecake (firm versus fluffy).
Our sliced cheesecake (pictured) is flavoured with zingy lemons and topped with sugar-dusted berries for a sophisticated dessert, but we’re often asked to create individual cheesecakes for light bites and buffets.
4. Meringue
When it comes to desserts, sometimes it’s about having something small and sweet, rather than a towering showstopper or rich and hearty pudding. Some of our clients even prefer to have sweet canapés for an event, where a perfectly whipped meringue is ideal.
Made from egg whites and sugar, a meringue should be fabulously crisp on the outside, slightly chewy in the middle and topped with your preference of cream, yoghurt or ice cream, plus an array of fresh berries (see our mouth-watering example above). Meringue can also feature in desserts like lemon meringue pie or baked alaska, which gives you options if you want something more substantial to feed your guests.
5. Roulade
If you follow us on social media, you’ve probably seen our recent post about our gorgeous summer fruit roulade (pictured). But a roulade – French for ‘rolled’ – isn’t always made from sponge. Alternatives include using meringue for a crumbly exterior, or a mix of goat’s cheese, egg whites and flour (plus sweet or savoury additions) for a soft, bread-like texture. In other words, as long as it’s rolled, it’s a roulade.
Whatever roulade you prefer, by their very appearance – a tightly-coiled curl – they make an impression. Our summer berry roulade comes dotted with blueberries and raspberries and sprinkled with edible gold dust to make it extra special, but you could drizzle yours with melted chocolate or a dusting of icing sugar instead.
Chat with us about your event
Now you’ve seen what we can expertly whip up, we’d love to help you find the perfect pudding for your event. Be it a wedding, sit-down meal, relaxed garden party or family affair, our talented chefs will make it a meal to remember. Get in touch with our team here, and don’t forget to take a look at our gallery for inspiration.
