Nici Wickes shares dessert that’s on high rotation at her house.
Somehow this pudding manages to be both comforting and rib-sticking whilst still being light and refreshing. Citrus has that effect, don’t you think?
Orange self-saucing sponge pudding recipe
Serves 2 generously
Pudding ingredients
70g butter, melted
1 small-medium egg
1/4 cup regular white sugar
1 New Zealand orange, halved
1/3 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 heaped tbsp ground almonds
1-2 tbsp milk, if needed
Sauce ingredients
1 cup boiling water
1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 tbsp butter
Juice from remaining 1/2 orange
1 tsp cornflour
Method
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Grease a small ovenproof dish – I used a 16.5cm round dish.
- In a bowl, whisk egg with sugar until pale and thick. Add in the melted butter and whisk.
- Blitz half the orange - skin and all (see note) - until it’s pulped and stir this into the egg/sugar mix. Add in flour, baking powder and almonds. Stir until combined. It should easily drop off a spoon. If it’s too stiff, add in 1-2 tbsp milk.
- Scrape the batter into the greased dish.
- In the batter bowl (scraped clean) mix the boiling water, brown sugar, butter, cornflour and juice from the remaining half orange. Gently pour this over the back of a spoon and on to the batter.
- Bake for 35-40 mins, or until sponge is cooked through.
- Serve with yoghurt or whipped cream.
Notes:
For very pithy fruit, use the skin and flesh of the orange but not all the pith – too bitter.
Use any citrus – mandarin, lemon, tangerine.
To make pudding gluten-free, replace plain flour with slightly less (about 1 tablespoon less) GF flour.