Queen of Puddings

Ingredients

2 cups full cream milk

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

4 egg yolks

2/3 cup or 140 g white breadcrumbs

2 lemon zest

100 g red fruit jam

For the meringue

4 egg whites

2/3 cup caster sugar

Method

Separate the egg whites and yolks. Keep aside the egg whites for the meringue.

Mix yolks and sugar in a bowl. Whisk it well till creamy.

Boil cream, butter and lemon zest and add to the egg yolks.

Cook on double boiler like a crème anglaise for 5 minutes to achieve a custard consistency, coating the back of a spoon.

Grease the mould well with butter and sprinkle in breadcrumbs.

Pour anglaise on top; allow it to absorb for 15-20 minutes.

Bake at 170°C for 20-25 minutes in a water bath. Make meringue with egg whites and sugar till stiff peaks are formed.

Assembly

Once the pudding is baked, cool it to room temperature and evenly spread jam on top. Ensure that you use the best quality jam to make the Queen of Puddings.

Take meringue in a piping bag and make gentle peaks on the pudding and flash under a salamander. Alternately you can give colour with a blowtorch.

Trivia

Aptly named the Queen of Puddings, this dessert dates to the 17th century, but food historians speculate that its moniker came hundreds of years later, in honour of Queen Victoria. A pudding deluxe, it consists of a custardy bread base, topped with jam and a billowy layer of golden-tan meringue.