Golden Syrup Sponge Pudding (& Custard)

Simply served with lashings of custard

Snr Breadman has a soft spot for one particular pudding - Syrup Sponge and Custard. Mr Gingerbread also likes it, oddly, with a scoop of ice cream in his custard (urg).  Moving on, this great standby pudding can be knocked out in a jiffy, whatever a jiffy may be, *wanders off and Google's it to discover it means an 'unspecified period of time'*.  It's mouthwatering aroma will get lot of Brits reminiscing about school dinners and cold Autumn days.

This is effectively a gorgeous, great, gloopy, dollop of golden syrup in the bottom of an oven proof dish, with a sponge mix tipped over the top. No problem. Note - do not use a loose bottomed tin, a monumental mess will ensue*.

So here is a simple recipe for this traditional British treat, usually easily done with things already in the cupboard.

Ingredients

6 overloaded, oozing tbsp of golden syrup

100g butter, plus extra for the dish

100g sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla essence

100g self-raising flour

Custard , to serve

You can halve this recipe to make a smaller one

Method

Butter a 1-litre baking dish (Pyrex works well too), and dollop the syrup in the bottom. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl until combined. Beat in the eggs one by one, then the vanilla essence. Add the flour and stir until just mixed. Scrape into the dish, on top of the syrup.
Either cover with cling film and microwave on medium for 7 1/2 minutes or bake in the oven at 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 oven for 30 minutes until risen and golden. 

Serve with lashings of custard.

*16 year old me used a loose bottomed tin to make pineapple upside down cake. The oven smoked for months afterwards.