This month’s Cake Slice Bakers cake from ‘Cake Keeper Cakes’ by Lauren Chattman was the Cinnamon Pudding Cake. This is one of those odd – not to mention slightly scary – recipes that involve making a simple batter and then pouring gallons of hot liquid over the top of it.
I told you the concept was scary.

However, it was delicous to eat, simple to make and exciting to observe the transformation from batter swimming in brown liquid to risen, cinnamon-butter-brown sugar scented pud.
There was discussion amongst the Bakers about how best to eat it and some feedback that as a ‘cake’ it was erring on the side of dryness. The recipe reminded me so much of sticky toffee pudding and our other favourite (which I must blog about), lemon layer surprise pudding, that it didn’t occur to me to serve it as a cake.
Instead, I could use my dinky 4.5″ pudding basins, halve the recipe and serve them hot as pudding/dessert/afters.
A dollop of thick cream wouldn’t have been a terrible idea, but in its absence, it stands very happily as a luscious and substantial dessert that uses no odd ingredients – a store cupboard recipe if ever there was one.

Preheat the oven to GM4/350/180. I used my top oven which runs a little hot, so GM4-5 is probably more accurate a description.

Take 4 dinky 4.5″ pudding bowls (they have a capacity of just over one cup) and grease them with butter.

To make the sauce, put 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp brown sugar, one cup of water, 1oz unsalted butter and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan. The original recipe calls for less water than this, but the quantity I used was more in-line with similar recipes.

Bring to the boil

and then set aside whilst you see to the batter.

Now I altered the method here slightly. The original recipe tells you to cream butter and sugar, then add the cinnamon-y flour alternatively with vanilla-y milk, but frankly, it’s so near a pancake batter that I decided to make it that way.

So, combine 1 cup plain flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt together in a bowl, then stir in 1/2 cup light brown sugar. Make a well in the middle.

Combine 1/2 cup milk, a splash of vanilla extract and 1 lightly beaten egg (the egg wasn’t in the original recipe, but the general consensus was that it was a good addition) and pour into the well along with 2oz melted butter.

Whisk together to combine and divide amongst the individual pudding basins

So far, so good. Now pour the sauce over the batter. Yes really. I turned a spoon over and touched it to the inside of the basin, then poured the sauce over that to avoid making a hole in the batter when pouring it in.

It looks terrifying, doesn’t it?

Into the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are risen, firm and golden.

The pudding basins are, obviously, extremely hot, so let them sit for 5 minutes, then serve them on a plate or soup bowl, in our case, with a teaspoon.

See that sauce lurking beneath?

How nice was it?

This nice:

(and there’s one left over! Yay!)

Edited to add: The three of us split the remaining one tonight. It was cold (the pudding, not the night – although it was a very cold evening. ANYWAY,) and nowhere near as good as it was hot. The sauce had thickened and was an odd texture – almost gelatinous and the flavour was not as intense, so my advice is to eat it hot. That is all.

Check out the Cake Slice Baker’s blogroll to see everyone else’s take on the recipe.

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Cinnamon Pudding Cake by Lauren Chattman

Print the original recipe

PRINT MY VERSION/QUANTITY (opens in a new window)

The Topping:
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 cup water
1oz unsalted butter
pinch of salt

The Cake:
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2oz unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to GM4/180C/350F
Butter 4 small ovenproof pudding basins of 4.5″, just over 1 cup capacity and place them on an oven sheet/tray.

Into a small saucepan, place the topping ingredients. Bring to the boil – stirring occasionally – then set aside off the heat. Transfer to a jug for easier pouring later.

Into a bowl, put the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk together to combine.
Stir in the sugar and make a well in the middle.
In a jug, whisk together the milk, vanilla extract and egg, then pour this into the well.
Pour in the melted butter and combine with a hand whisk to get a smooth batter.

Divide the batter equally amongst the four basins.
Pour the topping sauce over the batter – pour over the back of a spoon to avoid stirring it all up too much – then put the basins (on their tray) into the oven for 20-25 mins, until golden, risen and firm. A toothpick will come out pretty much clean.

Sit for 5 minutes, then serve – warning your guests that the basins and the pudding is extremely hot. You can let the puddings sit to cool, but the sauce thickens significantly and we decided we would rather have a nuclear-hot dessert with a runny sauce!

This is our new favourite ever dessert. I need to give you some perspective to enable you to grasp the enormity of this… Ian has a thing for cream brulee – if it’s on a menu, he’s going to order it – he’ll even sacrifice a decent main course to justify having such an indulgent dessert.

He ate one small bowl of this banana dessert with a dinky, melting ball of ice cream and declared that it just might be his favourite. That, dear friends, is profound. If anything, it occupies the same territory as a fruit crumble, but frankly, it’s in a league of its own.

I saw this recipe whilst perusing Bake or Break. It is a recipe from a magazine called Southern Living. Now, there’s no chance of me getting that shipped over here once a month, but if this is an example of their recipes, then holy tastebuds, Batman.

The title is misleading, because you do not make this with banana bread; rather it uses the same kind of ingredients that you would use in banana bread, but waves the Fairy Godmother wand over it. Amazingly, it takes no longer to make than banana bread, but has wow factor – wow factor that banana bread will never achieve.

Banana bread is a satisfying way to use up brown bananas, but this dessert is a good reason for speeding their demise by whatever methods are necessary.
A light, thin sponge base, brown sugar sweet, soft bananas and a brown sugared, pecan, oaty crisp topping all nestled together and topped with a milky vanilla ice cream. I could weep at the memory.

Start with the crisp topping – stir together 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and work in 4oz butter until crumbly, then stir in 1 cup porridge oats and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Sit it to one side for a moment.

To make the base, whisk 1 cup of self raising flour, 1 cup caster sugar, and 1 cup milk just until blended. It’s essentially a pancake batter. Whisk in 4oz melted unsalted butter. Pour into a greased 11″ x 7″ dish and lay the slices of 4 bananas over the top.

Now spoon over the crisp topping – seriously, this is all just a matter of moments.

Bake at 375F/190C/GM5 for 40-45 minutes until golden and wonderful

As you can see, there are 3 layers comprising of a thin layer of sponge, the baked bananas and the crisp topping. Together? Bliss.

For the love of Batman, don’t forget the vanilla ice cream.

The recipe.

When is fudge called butter tablet? No idea, but this Ballymaloe fudge has become a firm favourite. Slightly more crystalline than the smooth fudge you get commercially, it has a deep brown sugar flavour, a snow-like juddering melt, rich with butter and heady with vanilla. It keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge and is perfect to give as a gift. It even converted a fudge refuser into a fan. That can’t be bad.

My Mum would commit murder to get her hands on this fudge. Worth knowing in case you need someone dispatched.

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Melt 225g unsalted butter in a large saucepan over a low heat and add a tin of evaporated milk, 200ml water mixed with 2-4 tsp vanilla extract. Stir with a whisk. Sit with a heatproof whisk. You are going to be stirring from this second until the fudge is in the tin, so find your happy place.

Add 900g brown sugar. I have experimented with all sorts of brown sugar and all have worked well. In this batch, I used up some opened packets, so there’s a mixture of light muscovado, soft brown sugar and demerara. If your sugar even implies lumpiness, do yourself a favour and sieve it first. Tiresome, I know, but better than beating the lumps out. Keep stirring.

Stir with the heatproof whisk until the sugar has melted. Keep stirring.

Increase the heat to bring to a simmer once the sugar has melted and stir, stir, stir until you reach the soft ball stage, 240F / 116C on a sugar themometer. Be careful. I know, I know, but really, be careful. When it splashes it hurts. Keep stirring.

Ah! We’re there!

I used my funky new digital themometer after the sad demise of my old one and I’m afraid I have to say that the temp didn’t get to softball, but when I dropped a blob into a saucer of cold water, it was firm, yet malleable, so I don’t know what to tell you. Hmm. Whilst it is science, it’s also art. I’ve checked the themometer and it is correct, so think of the temperature as a guide more than a law.

Use your cooking intuition. When the texture changes and the temperature is approaching the softball range, test it in the water. If it falls apart and/or disintegrates, then it isn’t ready. It does take a long time for the temperature to get up there, so to speak, so be patient and zen out at one with your fudge making. And your stirring.

Remove from the heat, place on a pot holder or folded cloth and carry on stirring, observing the gradual change from liquid to fudge. Call Ian in and get him to stir it for 5 minutes if your arm gets tired. He won’t mind.

Once it looks a little paler…

… and starts to hold its shape, you’re there.

Pour it into a buttered tin – 9 x 13″ and quickly spread it out.

I like to press my little spatula on to the surface and lift it up so that you get a rough surface. I think it tastes better that way.

Cool it in the tin, then turn it out and cut into even, or uneven squares. or you could cut it into bars and wrap it up that way. Either way, cut it, stick it in an airtight container in the fridge, eat lots, give away lots and then remember to take a photo of it when you have 2 pieces left.

Yeah. It’s that good.

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Ballymaloe Fudge

PRINT THIS RECIPE (opens in a new window)

225g unsalted butter
1 x 410g  can evaporated milk
200ml water
900g light brown sugar (or a combination of brown sugars – soft brown, light muscovado, even a sprinkle of demerara)
2 – 4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Shallow or swiss roll tin 9 x 13″

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat.

Add the evaporated milk, water, sugar(s) and vanilla extract. Stir with a whisk until the sugar has dissolved.

Increase the heat until the mixture simmers. Stir constantly until it reaches the soft ball stage. In the absence of a sugar themometer, test this by putting a blob of fudge into a saucer of cold water. It should be firm but malleable.

Remove from the heat and * stir until it thickens, pales slightly and reaches the slightly gritty consistency of fudge. Once you are seeing the change from liquid to solid starting to happen (and don’t fret; you’ll see it happening, although it might take several… many minutes),  pour into the tin.

Spread the mixture evenly into the tin and, if you like, spike the top up a bit by touching the top with a spatula and lifting up. Equally, you could do some elegant wave effect, but whatever you do, get on with it because with each second that it cools in the tin, the less co-operative it will be.

Let it cool in the tin. Turn the whole slab out and then cut it into even, or uneven, squares, bars, or whatever you like.

* the original recipe instructs you to remove the pan from the heat and sit the pan in cold water. When I did that, the fudge cooled before I could get the texture right. I have far more success leaving it at room temperature and stirring to get the consistency correct.
Store in an airtight tub in the fridge. Keeps for longer than we have ever managed to. Great, great, great gift!