Our Chef's Recipes

Apple and Raisin Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Serves 8

For the pudding:

• 1 cup pure vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• pinch of ground clove
• 1½ tsp salt
• 3½ cups raw chopped Granny Smith apples unpeeled (4 apples)
• ¾ cup chopped roasted walnuts
• ½ cup sultanas and ½ cup raisins both soaked in Marc de Bourgogne or brandy overnight to plump up
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional topping for pudding: cinnamon sugar made from 1½ tabs sugar and 1tsp cinnamon

(Roasting the walnuts gives added flavour. Place them on a baking sheet in the oven at 125C/240F for 45 minutes.)

For the sauce:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup water
• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and cut into small pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream - warmed to hot

To make the pudding:

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F

Butter and flour a baking dish or pan with a 2 qt. capacity

Sift all the dry ingredients together. Set aside.

Blend oil and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well. Using a spatula add dry ingredients to oil mixture and combine thoroughly. Add apples, walnuts, raisins and sultanas, and vanilla essence.
Place mixture in baking dish or pan. Scatter cinnamon sugar over the top. Bake for 1 to 1½ hours or until inserted knife comes out dry. Serve at once.
If there is any pudding left at the end of the meal, refrigerate it.

Caramel sauce:

Mix the sugar and water in a heavy-bottomed pan. Cook over medium-high heat until the mixture is completely melted and begins to brown. This should take about 15 to 18 minutes. Add the vanilla bean and stir gently with a wooden spoon, cooking the caramel to a golden brown. Add the warmed cream - being careful of the eruption, and quickly stir the mixture. Leave to cool for 20 minutes, skim the surface if necessary, and strain out the vanilla. Serve warm.