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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At some time or another, you’ve probably heard someone talking about stereotypically “bad British food”, right?
There is good and bad cuisine in all parts of the world.
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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 “authentic” (you can read my tirade here).
One of my main goals in writing this blog 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.
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!
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 Laurel without Hardy, 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
(printable recipe below)
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 lb Granny Smith or your choice of cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- grated rind and juice of 1 lemon (preferably organic)
- 6 oz (3/4 cup) sugar (separated into 2 equal amounts-about 1/3 plus 1 tbsp)
- 3 oz (3/4 stick) butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- 4 oz (1 cup minus 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Recipe for Homemade Custard or you can use Bird’s Custard Powder
Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).
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, half of the sugar (3 oz). Stir until well combined. Put the apples into the greased pie dish and set aside.
Cream the remaining (3 oz) 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.
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Eve's Pudding (a Traditional British Apple Dessert)
A classic British dessert made with apples a sponge cake like topping.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Granny Smith or your choice of cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- grated rind and juice of 1 lemon (preferably organic)
- 6 oz (3/4 cup) sugar (separated into 2 equal amounts-about 1/3 plus 1 tbsp)
- 3 oz (3/4 stick) butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- 4 oz (1 cup minus 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).
- 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.
- Place the sliced apples in a large bowl and add the lemon juice, lemon rind, half of the sugar (3 oz), and stir well. Put the apples into the greased pie dish and set aside.
- Cream the remaining (3 oz) sugar and butter until light and fluffy, 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.
- 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)
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 servingAmount Per Serving:Calories: 283Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 102mgCarbohydrates: 59gFiber: 4gSugar: 8gProtein: 8g
Nutrition information is only an estimate.
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 fruit, like cherry, rhubarb or blueberry.
Delicious!!
Other simple apple recipes~
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Hi Christina, I have a question. When you say grated lemon rind, do you mean zest only or the whole rind grated please? Thank you for your help.
Hi Holly, you can’t really grate the entire rind (with the pith), so zest only, yes :) Enjoy, it’s a delicious dessert!
thank you CHRISTINA for all the good recipes leaving in the CARIBBEAN i love to have yummy foreign recipe EVE’S PUDDING IS A YUMMY.
Very happy to hear it! Thank you, Chantal!
Thank you! My dear Mum used to make this for us! She wasn’t very good in the kitchen, like my Granny, but this is one she did very well, and here I am at 74 in America, excited to try this in the morning! Thank you Christina for helping keep such fond memories very much alive!
These are my favorite types of comments, Patricia! I love it when people re-connect witht their past through my recipes. Thank you for letting me know and enjoy the Eve’s Pudding! CC
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[…] history, it’s my theory that these American desserts were born from their British ancestors. Eve’s Pudding, which is a classic British apple dessert could actually be called an apple cobbler. Crumbles have […]
I made this last week as a special dessert to enjoy while my son was home from the Air Force. Enjoy it we did! It was easy to make, even the custard seemed fool-proof. I like this better than Apple Pie, since I am not a fan of pie crust. I willl certainly make this again. And go for the 3 T. of sugar in the custard-you won’t be sorry!
So glad I stumbled on your site! My husband will be so happy I finally found such a good recipe for his favourite dessert – sticky toffee pudding!
Yay! I’m sure he’ll be elated! Let me know how he likes it :)
This is one of my favorite pudding recipes. It’s so simple and so fast to make. It’s such a good recipe if you wanna quick dessert and didn’t have the time or ambition to make something more complex.
I am from the US and my husband is from England and he doesn’t like cinnamon in anything so this is a great dessert. He likes lemon while I prefer not such a tart flavor and this is perfect!
It’s one of the easiest, ever, Tanya! I agree. Yep, Brits are not big on cinnamon! :) Glad you both enjoy Eve’s Pudding!
Hi Christina, oh god so true I don’t think I know anyone who truly likes the stuff. I’ve got a relation who pops over to the USA on a regular basis work oriented, he’s made some very good friends but they get angry with him (in all good fun)when he tells them they couldn’t make apple pies for toffee, he ribs them about the stuff cinnamon it’s in everything,then he goes on to say ,the cheesecake is something else.
Too funny!