Raspberry summer pudding

Not yet rated

This sumptuous classic raspberry summer pudding recipe from Tom Aikens makes the most of seasonal summer berries, offset by a cooling quenelle of vanilla crème fraîche. You need to prepare the puddings a day before serving, which makes them perfect for a fuss-free summer dinner party.

First published in 2016

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Raspberry filling

Vanilla crème fraîche

  • 75ml of double cream
  • 25g of icing sugar
  • 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
  • 1 tbsp of vanilla essence
  • 75g of crème fraîche

Raspberry coulis

Setting jelly

  • 2 bronze gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water

Brioche

To serve

Equipment

  • Dariole moulds 4

Method

1
To begin, make the raspberry filling. Place the berries in a pan with the cinnamon stick, caster sugar, citrus peel, vanilla pod, vanilla essence, a splash of water and the lemon juice. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 2–3 minutes, until the berries are becoming slightly soft and the juices are coming out. Remove and discard the pieces of citrus peel
2
Add the cornflour, cook out until thickened then remove from the heat and allow to cool
  • 25ml of cornflour, mixed with a little water to form a paste
3
To make the vanilla crème fraîche, mix the cream with the sugar, vanilla seeds and vanilla essence and whisk lightly, before adding the crème fraîche and mixing until thick. Reserve in the fridge until needed
  • 75ml of double cream
  • 25g of icing sugar
  • 75g of crème fraîche
  • 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
  • 1 tbsp of vanilla essence
4
Now make the raspberry coulis. Wash the raspberries, cut into quarters then mix with the sugar and lemon juice. Leave to marinate for 1 hour
5
Place in the blender and blitz, but not for too long as you want to be able to remove the seeds when you pass it through a sieve. If you blitz for too long the seeds will get pureéd into the fruit and the colour will not be as red, so 30 seconds is ample
6
To make the setting jelly, bring 100ml of the coulis to a simmer in a small pan and add the gelatine. Stir until dissolved then pass through a fine chinois
  • 2 bronze gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water
7
To prepare the brioche, remove the crusts from the loaf and cut into 2, vaguely square-shaped halves
8
Cut each square into 1/2cm thick slices. Out of the biggest slices, use 5cm cutters to stamp out 8 circles – these will be used for the tops and the bottoms of the puddings
9
Cut the rest of the slices in half to create rectangular strips, roughly 2cm x 8cm in size
10
Press a circle of bread firmly into the base of each mould, then use the rectangular strips to line the edges. If there are any gaps, use smaller pieces of brioche to fill them (make sure the bread is firmly pressed against the mould for this whole process)
11
Spoon half of the setting liquor over the brioche in the moulds to make them moist, then spoon in the raspberries. Add the rest of the setting jelly to the top, stirring it into the raspberries with a small spoon, then finally place the last circles of brioche on top
12
Apply small weights to the top of the puddings, ensuring the edges of brioche are sealed, and place in the fridge to set overnight
13
When ready to serve, remove the puddings from their moulds, place on plates and drizzle the raspberry coulis over the tops so they are nicely covered. Arrange the raspberries around the puddings and finish with a quenelle of the crème fraîche
First published in 2016

Tom Aikens is one of the most creative and talented chefs Britain has ever seen, with a restaurant empire to match.

Get in touch

Please sign in or register to send a comment to Great British Chefs.