A lovely old recipe which I’ve made on and off for years, both because it tastes delicious and because I adore the name!
It’s probably a little less economical these days, as I’ve thrown more expensive dried fruit and a little date molasses into the mix, but it’s quite flexible and can be adapted to suit what you have in the pantry. It uses one mixing bowl, a casserole dish of any size (although this will impact on the baking time) and a saucepan – no electric mixer required.
Edith’s Economical Pudding
(adapted from a recipe in Maureen Simpson’s Australian Cuisine)
- 60g (2oz) unsalted butter, very soft
- 70g (1/3 cup) white sugar
- 1 large (59g) egg
- 125g (½ cup) milk
- grated rind of 1 lemon
- 225g (1½ cups) self-raising flour
- 150g (1 cup) sultanas (or other mixed fruit – I added dried blueberries and cranberries as well)
Sauce
- 150g (¾ cup) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon golden syrup (or treacle or light molasses – I used date molasses)
- 250g (1 cup) water
- 60g (2oz) unsalted butter
- juice of half a lemon
1. Preheat oven to 180C/360F or 170C/340F with fan. Put 60g butter, white sugar, egg, milk, lemon rind and flour into a bowl and beat with a spatula or wooden spoon until combined. Make sure the butter is very soft (but not melted) before you start and this should only take a minute or two. Stir in the sultanas.
2. Scrape the batter into a greased baking dish or casserole – there was enough mix to just cover the bottom of mine. The size of your baking dish will determine how long you’ll need to bake the pudding for.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine all the sauce ingredients excluding the lemon juice. Stir over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar, and then bring to a boil for 2 – 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice. Pour the hot sauce over the top of the batter.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 – 60 minutes, depending on the width of your baking dish. The wider your dish, the thinner the cake topping and consequently the shorter the baking time. Our pudding took 45 minutes to bake to dark golden. Serve with microwave custard!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Celia, I love versatile recipes like this where you can swap out ingredients for what you have on hand. It looks scrumptious.
Have a happy week.
:-) Mandy
Thanks Mandy! This one really is simple. Now that I’ve blogged it, Pete’s asking me to make it again.. :)
Oh, this is really interesting! I’m quite interested in seeing what the texture is after baking – a nice one, Celia.
Thanks Doc! The cake rises to the top and there’s a bit of sauce left on the bottom – not a lot, as I cooked mine until it was quite brown, and a lot of the syrup was absorbed into the cake…
Yum, looks really lovely and is very interesting – as you can probably tell I’m into economical food.
The thing I like is that so often frugal also means a bit better for you, as it’s not as heavy on the butter and sugar as more modern recipes!
This is exactly the kind of pudding that my grandmother used to make. When we left Sydney for London I had to leave her cookbooks behind in storage. I miss them- and her- but reading this recipe has brought back such happy memories.
Tori, I’m glad you liked it, thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment! It is a lovely old-fashioned thing – I think back then “simple to make” was almost as important as “economical”, and the results were almost always delicious!
Well, I have to say that your pudding looks lovely, but that custard looks absolutely stunning!!! I am such a custard fiend and that looks really rich and thick. Oooh, custard!
C, we make custard almost every week in the microwave now – have you tried it? It’s so easy to do! We make two versions – one with all milk, and one with a mix of milk and cream (the latter is shown in the photo above).
I’ve never made a pudding anything like this.
It looks totally divine- the custard is indeed “absolutely stunning” as C says.
Thanks for the recipe!
Heidi, I think this style of pud is quite English/Australian. The one Pete grew up on though was the good ol’ golden syrup steamed pudding – have you ever tried that?
That looks wonderful. I must make this one very soon, clever economical Edith! It looks like it ticks all the boxes for a warming pudding and the custard on the side will make someone very happy indeed. Thanks from me too :D
Oooh, yes, I think your fella is going to love this one, Jo! :)
This makes me think of the best puddings on fall and winter days in the UK. Have been meaning to make one and now have the inspiration…once the days cool.
Hope you get a chance to try this one! :)
what a great recipe and not one i’ve seen before with the sauce poured over the batter..and as you said it’s very versatile..
Jane, I think a lot of self-saucing puddings are made in this fashion. It’s a very easy thing to knock up at the last minute too…
This must be the original self saucing pudding!
Frances, I was just saying the same thing to Jane! :) I think there’s a whole world of self-saucing puddings yet to explore..
I love these oldfashioned ‘real’ recipes. No fancy ingredients – until you and your date molasass came along- and you just know that it will come out perfect every time. However I’m sure the addition of date molasass and dried berries would not offend Edith’s thrifty soul once she tasted it!
Becca, I actually think I like it a little better with golden syrup, but we didn’t have any in the pantry this time. Will have to make sure to pick some up when I’m next at the supermarket!
Yum, I love things I can make with what I’ve got when I have a ‘dessert craving’! Will have to try this one next time :)
Hope you enjoy it, Kat! :)
I’m with you on the name. Celia – I just love it. As I also love any puddings with golden syrup sauce. The trouble for me with this one is the fruit, my kids hate it and won’t touch much with dried fruit in it, so The Husband and I pick up the slack – and, sadly, it’s starting to show.
Amanda, it’s surprising how many people don’t like dried fruit. When we were making Christmas cakes as gifts, we would always have to make a couple of different cakes for those who wouldn’t eat dried fruit…
Just what we need to warm our tummies…nothing like granny’s hearty warm pudding and home made custard to finish off the night in front of the fire.An old fashionable favourite!
Yvette, it certainly helps to keep my men fed! They like nothing better than a hot dessert.. :)
I thought Edith might have been a friend of yours! What a lovely pud :D
I wish she was, Lorraine! :)
Love that name Celia :-)
I’ve been promising myself to make a pudding all winter and I still haven’t gotten around to it. Now Edith’s Economical Pudding has to go on my list along with a marmalade one and a golden syrup one….and custard along with all!
What would life be like without custard…
Brydie, I know what you mean – I have a list of things “to make” that just seems to be getting longer… ;-)
A few weeks back I caught an ABC program that was looking at what they cooked in Britain during the war. Amazing what cooks can do with very little. I wonder if this recipe would have made it on to the dinner table?
Jason, was that the Supersizers Go program? I was watching it too, and marveling at what they could do with such meagre rations. Mind you, they had as many veg as they could eat, which must have been wonderful for them!
Ooh I bet this would be good with chocolate chips too. Yum!
Claire, it would be worth a try! :)
I like the name as well! The date molasses sound interesting :)
Tandy, it’s quite delicious, we use it in a lot of baking. I wrote about an assortment of molasses that I’d discovered here:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2010/06/08/a-study-in-molasses/
Ooh yum ,it’s sort of like a sticky toffee pudding, only with fruit in it. Great idea to use date molasses in it. I now want to go and bake a pudding, but have to go to work instead :(
Choc, don’t worry, it won’t take long when you get home! :)
I love some of these old-fashioned recipes! I have been known to browse amongst old newspapers online (via the National Library’s ‘Trove’ database) for old fashioned pudding recipes, or recipes to use with my traditional ‘date loaf’ tin, and many were developed during the war or depression to minimise eggs/butter and to use up cake crumbs etc.
Abbington, I’ve seen a lot of old recipes, but I’ve never been partial to any that use margarine, so I always sub butter instead. Some great stuff can be done with leftover cake etc, though – one which we make occasionally to use up all the leftover baked goods at home is a French bakery pudding – it changes every time!
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/10/09/le-pudding/
Yum, I’m making it tonight! Thanks for sharing. ;)
Thanks Lisa, hope you enjoy it! :)
Damn! There goes the diet. Again.
Cosmo, I don’t think it’s as evil as most desserts. And it makes quite a lot – fed eight of us! :)
Nothing like turning an economical dish into something a bit more special with some quality ingredients. It still looks deliciously rustic and delicious! Perfect for winter.
Helen, thank you! Really it was a case of using what was on hand – I ran out of golden syrup and was short on sultanas! :)
I would definitely try this pudding sometime soon. It looks so simple and beautiful :)
Thanks Tes, hope you enjoy it! :)
I’m going straight for the custard. :-)
Maz.
Hehehe…you and Big Boy, Maz.. ;-)
Hi Celia
I was just writing this down to make for the masses tomorrow…In the method there is nowhere mentioned the egg. I assume you mix them in after the first 5 ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, lemon rind and flour)? Or do you just do it altogether? For the bakers among us this will seem obvious, but others might not get it…
Have I just completely missed it?
Vix, my apologies for the omission of the egg – It’s added in with the other ingredients! It really is a “bung everything into the bowl and mix” recipe. I’ve corrected the recipe now. Thanks for picking it up! :)
Bunged everything in the bowl, and in the oven last night – the smell was delish and yummo!!. He Who Thinks He’s obeyed, swooned, Teenager grunted (translation – “thanks mum that was great!”) and Woops Wrong Planet boy is waiting for a version without the fruit (sensory issues). Hang on a minute, he copes with choc bits – ummmm?
Its a keeper! Thanks Celia.
Lisa, that is SO great, thanks so much for letting me know! I’ve got another one in the oven right now as our friend Moo is coming for dinner – smaller casserole dish this time, and I’ve used treacle instead of date molasses. It really is easy! :)
Ooo I’ve eaten too much. Yesterday, for the first time ever, I made a baked cheesecake… and I haven’t stopped eating it since it came out of the oven. I don’t even like cheesecake – it was for a birthday! So your pudding looks delicious and I would love to give it a go, but so not right now… tummy full of cake.
Ali, you’re so funny! Irresistible cheesecake, I can just see you now with a fork, tucking in… ;-)
Oh, such a seductive photo of pud – I am undone:) Since I reached a ‘certain age’ every pud I have ever had has come back to haunt my mid-rif! Lately I have been doing Zumba classes with the sole aim of making my mid-rif disappear, but I spend more time laughing; I’m sure it’s a good brain work out too. Thank you for the custard-microwave recipe – my Pete is a custard tragic and that recipe sounds so simple. I loved your post on pasta – that was interesting – what fun to have a pasta named ‘priest chokers’! Am tempted to make pasta again – I haven’t made it since it’s just been Peter and me at home.
Jan, the pudding is so filling, I made it again last night when Moo was here and there’s still some left even after Pete had another wedge tonight! No wonder it was economical, it seems to feed a horde! The microwave custard is the easiest thing, I have a 12 year old friend who makes it weekly for his family.. :)
I guessed the comment was from you. I made this recipe tonight and it prompted my husband to comment favourably – and this is from someone who NEVER comments on what I cook for him. We have a winner!!!
Aaah, that’s GREAT! Thanks for letting me know, Deb! :)
She made me your pudding just now, that was a surprise! And it was very scrum my. I like the crunchy topping and the lemon taste. she used Sicilian lemon essence. She can make it again !
You’re a lucky man, Brian the Brave! I’m so glad you liked it, and please thank my dear friend for trying it out for me! :)