Pear Almond Pudding

30 minutes

35-30 minutes

180ºC

Ingredients

4 large ripe pears

- peeled, cored, quartered
1 small lemon

- juice only for pears
Sponge
150g self-raising flour
50g ground almonds
175g Demerara sugar

- or soft brown sugar
1 egg
60g unsalted butter

- melted
125ml milk
200ml boiling water
Topping
Handful of flaked almonds

Instructions

Preparations:
01 Peel, core and quarter pears. Sprinkle with lemon to prevent browning. Butter 25x20cm deep baking dish.
Make sponge by hand or using an electric mixer:
02 In a large bowl mix together flour, 25g ground almonds and 100g of sugar. Add egg, melted butter and milk. Mix well.
Other:
03 In a small bowl mix remaining 25g ground almonds and 75g Demerara sugar. Set aside to be used later.
Assemble to bake:
04 Tip the cake batter into the buttered oven proof baking dish. Press each pear quarter into the sponge across the dish. Sprinkle with the ground almond and Demerara mixture all over the top. Now gently pour the boiling hot water over ALL the top. Bake in the oven 35-40 minutes.
IMPORTANT:
05 10 minutes towards the end of the bake, remove pudding from the oven and sprinkle over a good handful of flaked almonds. They will toast nicely during the final stages of cooking.
Serve:
06 Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving, then enjoy with lashings of hot custard or cold chilled, cream.

Notes

This delightful pudding can be made ahead of time and gently reheated in the oven. Cocoa powder can be used if preferred instead of the ground almonds. Do not be nervous when it comes to adding the hot water, ADD ALL OF IT, as this is necessary in order to define this delicious, moist, sticky pudding. If the pears are too hard after peeling, soften in microwave in 2 bursts of 30 seconds until slightly softened. They will then be ready for baking.