Summer Pudding

Summer pudding is a quintessentially British dessert made from wonderful fresh ingredients only available in the summer months. It is redolent of a private dinner at a smart country house, maybe somewhere in the Surrey hills near Shere, with the taste of an exquisite first course still lingering, a bottle of chilled champagne still half full, and the prospect of more enticing conversation to come as the evening…
Ingredients
- 1 punnet strawberries, large ones halved
- 1 punnet raspberries
- ½ punnet blackcurrants
- ½ punnet redcurrants
- 1 loaf of white, pappy sort of bread or brioche, crusts removed and sliced
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 lime, finely zested
- 2–3 mint leaves, finely chopped
- 1 bottle of the best quality blackcurrant cordial you can find, in reserve
Steps
- Butter inside of pudding bowl, about 5 inches in diameter, liberally. Bowl should not be wider than the bread slices. Optionally line bowl with cling film first for easy release.
- Combine blackcurrants, redcurrants, mint leaves, lime zest, sugar and about 3 tbsp water. Poach about 5 min on lowest heat.
- Add strawberries. Poach 1 more min.
- Turn heat off. Add raspberries. Cool.
- Cut a circle of white bread matching top diameter of bowl. Cut another matching bottom diameter.
- Slice white bread with sharp knife into squares or oblongs roughly the height of the bowl, to line the sides.
- Lay smaller bread circle in bottom of bowl. Stand bread oblongs up sides, overlapping slightly.
- Pour fruit mixture to top. Bread should soak up juice and turn very red; if juice is insufficient, top up with cordial.
- Place large bread disc on top. Press down well.
- Top with weight that fits in bowl to press everything down tight. Refrigerate at least 40 min.
- Release bread from side of bowl with knife. Invert onto plate. Reshape with wooden spoon if needed.
- Decorate plate with more summer fruit, mint leaves, and fresh whipped cream or crème fraîche. Serve.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Summer Pudding” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-10-26, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Summer pudding.jpg by Sarah, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.






