Diplomat pudding

Diplomat pudding is very, very close to my heart. It’s the very first recipe I learned as a pastry apprentice in 1976. I find that these are at their best when they’re just warm, not cold, and definitely not fridge cold.

Ingredients

For the creme anglaise

• 250 ml (10 fl oz) milk
• 250 ml (10 fl oz) single cream
• 4 eggs
• 150 gm (5 oz) caster sugar
• 1 vanilla bean

For the pudding

• 4 slices brioche
• 4 slices good quality loaf bread
• icing sugar for dusting
• 30 gm (2 tbsp) golden raisins
• 30 gm (2 tbsp) sultanas
• 60 ml (3 tbsp) dark rum
• apricot jam, to glaze

Standing time: 5-10 minutes

Instructions

Preheat oven to about 180°C. Take the crusts of the breads and discard, then cut bread into large dice, dust with a little icing sugar and toast in oven until crisp.  

After removing bread from oven, reduce heat to 140ºC.

Mix the cream, milk, sugar and egg together then pass through a sieve; add the vanilla seeds from the bean. Place the raisins and sultanas in a pan and cover with cold water, bring to a boil then strain. Put them into a dish to cool and add the rum to macerate.

Butter 6 individual sized ramekin dishes.

Put the bread pieces into the ramekins. Addraisins, sultanas and rum to the milk mixture then ladle this into the dishes over the bread. Cover with a buttered piece of foil and then bake in a bain-marie at 140ºC for 30 minutes or until set. Leave to cool for at least five minutes.

Turn out of the dishes and glaze with a little warmed apricot jam.

This is a great way to use up any last slices of Michel’s easy sandwich loaf.

Diplomat pudding is very, very close to my heart. It’s the very first recipe I learned as a pastry apprentice in 1976. I find that these are at their best when they’re just warm, not cold, and definitely not fridge cold.