Eve’s Pudding (a Traditional British Apple Dessert)
Eve’s Pudding is a traditional British apple dessert which entails a cake-like topping on baked apples. Served with custard, it’s another brilliant “keeper” of a recipe
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Eve’s pudding probably isn’t a dessert you’re familiar with if you live in the United States.
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Well, I’m planning to change that. I’d like to introduce you to one of Britain’s best dessert recipes. And let me bring up the elephant in the room when discussing a “really good British recipe.” At one time or another, you’ve probably heard someone talking about stereotypically “bad British food”, right?
The UK knows how to do breakfast right! Get the recipe for a Scottish breakfast sausage (Lorne sausage).
There is good and bad cuisine in all parts of the world.
First of all, I cannot tell you how much this upsets me. I almost get as angry as when someone posts a horrific pasta sauce recipe and claims it’s the “best-ever” or that it is an “authentic Italian recipe ” (you can read my tirade here).
One of my main goals in writing on this site is to enlighten the American public, and the rest of the world, that British cuisine and baking is some of the best in the world. (Updated Nov. 2023: I wrote this before the Great British Bake Off was a “thing” and Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry were famous in the USA, so clearly, they’ve helped in my endeavour!)
Delicious hot cross buns are so easy to make!
If you think I’m joking, I am not. I’d hazard a guess that many of those who bash British food have never even stepped foot on UK soil! I have caught some of those people myself, and boy, do they get an earful. For example, have you ever tried Eve’s pudding? It’s a delightfully light and tasty apple dessert which is a traditional British concoction.
What is Eve’s Pudding?
I would guess that Eve’s pudding may actually be the inspiration for American apple cobbler, as the earliest known version of Eve’s pudding is dated back to 1823. Some American cobblers have the fruit on top of the pastry, but Eve’s pudding has the pastry on top which means no soggy bottom!
Try my peach cobbler recipe, too! Make it with fresh, frozen or canned peaches all year long!
Topping it off with hot custard is almost a requirement, as it would be like wine without cheese (okay, that’s a bad example). How about: it would be like Batman without Robin, if you didn’t pour some lovely custard on top!
Eve’s pudding takes almost no time to make, so I hope you’ll try this recipe and come back to let me know what you think of this traditional British recipe. Cheers!
Eve’s Pudding
(a Traditional British Apple Dessert)
slightly adapted from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Cookery and Household Management Serves 6
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Ingredients
- Granny Smith or your choice of cooking apples
- grated rind and juice of lemon
- sugar
- butter
- egg
- all-purpose/plain flour
- baking powder
Recipe for homemade custard or you can use Bird’s Custard Powder
Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).
Make the Filling for Eve’s Pudding
Butter the inside of a pie dish, or similar sized baking dish. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl so that they are evenly mixed.
Next, place the sliced apples in a large bowl and add the lemon juice, lemon rind, and sugar. Stir until well combined. Put the apples into the greased pie dish and set aside.
Make the Topping
Cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
Next, gently fold in the flour and baking powder, until well combined, without overmixing.
Spread the mixture evenly over the apples.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the sponge is firm and golden brown.
Enjoy with custard, preferably, or fresh cream.
Most Brits use Bird’s custard which is an egg-free powder which became popular during the war. However, you can make your own homemade custard, which is an incredibly delicious dessert on its own.
Try serving sausage rolls or these shepherd’s pie baked potatoes for dinner.
Eve's Pudding (a Traditional British Apple Dessert)
Ingredients
Filling:
- 16 oz Granny Smith apples (or your choice of cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced)
- 2 tsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed, preferably organic)
- ½ tsp grated lemon rind (preferably organic)
- ¼ cup sugar (more or less to taste)
Topping:
- ⅓ c sugar
- 6 Tbsp butter (at room temperature)
- 1 egg (beaten)
- 1 c all-purpose flour (less 2 Tbsp)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).
- Butter the inside of a pie dish, or similar sized baking dish.
- Place the sliced apples in a large bowl and add the lemon juice, lemon rind, and sugar, and toss to mix evenly. Put the apples into the greased pie dish and set aside.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl so that they are evenly mixed.
- Cream the sugar and butter (for the topping) until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg.
- Gently fold in the flour and baking powder, until well combined, without over mixing.
- Spread the mixture evenly over the apples. It's fine if it doesn't cover all the fruit, and it will be more like a thick mixture than a runny batter.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the sponge is firm and golden brown.
- Enjoy with custard, preferably, or fresh cream.
Notes
- Granny Smith apples are best for this (if in the US)
- If using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt to the flour.
Nutrition
Eve’s pudding makes reference to the apple in this dish (Adam and Eve), so I don’t know what I’d call this dessert, but I have made it with a combination of apples, plums and peaches, too! Try it with your favorite pie fruits, like cherry, rhubarb or blueberry.
Delicious!!
Other simple apple recipes~
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Yay, he really really liked it! I think because i left it in the oven an extra 5 or 10 mins and it crisped up more…next gonna try the crumble.
Awesome, Reni! I was wondering how anyone could NOT like Eve’s Pudding! haha! :)
Was really worried when he said he didn’t like because of the sponge – oh boy – and it was already in the oven. I really love it when he likes something I cook as I am hardly a gourmet :-) So glad all of you great cooks are out there making it easy for the likes of me.
The joke is on me – I am making Eve’s Pudding tonight as a surprise for HIM. Well, I didn’t want to spill the beans so to speak, so I asked him if he had ever had pudding in his desert (I don’t like pudding, except plain, nothing with it) and I wanted to make sure he was ok without the pudding. Anyway after a few back and forth conversations on what pudding is (he said he didn’t know what vanilla pudding was), I finally asked, have you ever had Eve’s Pudding…he said yes and I don’t like it. I asked why? He said, because it has sponge on it and I don’t like sponge. We will see…
Glad to find a recipe for Eves Pudding using all purpose flour as we are on hiday and I’ve only got the internet and not my cookbooks and notes. There are so many conflicting formulas for adding leavening to plain flour to equal self-rising — they are all over the place.
My Mum’s tip making this pudding was to add a little of the stewing apple liquid to the sponge and to also put a lot of the liquid in with the apples in the bottom if the dish.
Happy to help, Christine! Your mum’s tips sound great! Enjoy the rest of your holiday!
This is a dish I make often and I also play around with it a wee bit. Adding white wine to the fruit, adding dried fruit to the fruit bit and even using pears and apple together with a chocolate cake topping.
There’s so many different twists you can put on it. Nectarine with raspberries at the bottom is amazing.
Ooh Eileen, the nectarine and raspberry combination sounds incredibly delicious! Must try that one! Thank you!
Eileen, these sound scrumptious! Thanks for the tips.
Made this last night and it turned out very well. My first sponge and my first custard! A bit risky for habit company over. Thank you.
Awesome, Chris!! Glad to hear it, and happy it worked out for company (sometimes I feel as though things just never turn out as well for company)! Happy baking! CC
This is one of my all time favourite puddings Christina and one which I learned to make at school. Love your shot of it in the Martini glass, gives it a very up to date feel:-)
Thank you, Camilla! My son actually would make Eve’s Pudding at university, he liked it so much (and he’s not a sweets type of guy). I am overdue to make it, it’s been too long! :)