This sumptuous classic raspberry summer pudding recipe makes the most of seasonal raspberries, offsetting the puddings with a cooling quenelle of vanilla crème fraîche. You need to prepare the puddings a day before serving, which makes them perfect for a fuss-free summer dinner party.
To begin, make the raspberry filling. Place the berries in a pan with the cinnamon stick, caster sugar, citrus peel, vanilla pod, vanilla essence, a splash of water and the lemon juice. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 2–3 minutes, until the berries are becoming slightly soft and the juices are coming out. Remove and discard the pieces of citrus peel.
Add the cornflour, cook out until thickened then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
To make the vanilla crème fraîche, mix the cream with the sugar, vanilla seeds and vanilla essence and whisk lightly, before adding the crème fraîche and mixing until thick. Reserve in the fridge until needed.
Now make the raspberry coulis. Wash the raspberries first and cut into quarters. Mix with the sugar and lemon juice and leave to marinade for 1 hour.
Place in the blender and blitz, but not for too long as you want to remove the seeds when you pass it through a sieve. If you blitz for too long the seeds will get pureéd into the fruit and the color will not be as red, so 30 seconds is ample.
To make the setting jelly, bring 100ml of the coulis to a simmer in a small pan and add the gelatine. Stir until dissolved then pass through a fine chinois.
To prepare the brioche, remove the crusts from the loaf and cut into two, vaguely square-shaped halves.
Cut each square into 1/2cm thick slices. Out of the biggest slices, use 5cm cutters to stamp out 8 circles – these will be used for the tops and the bottoms of the puddings.
Cut the rest of the slices in half to create rectangular strips, roughly 2cm x 8cm in size.
Press a circle of bread firmly into the base of each mould, then use the rectangular strips to line the edges. If there are any gaps, use smaller pieces of brioche to fill them (make sure the bread is firmly pressed against the mould for this whole process).
Spoon half of the setting liquor over the brioche in the moulds to make them moist, then spoon in the raspberries. Add the rest of the setting jelly to the top, stirring it into the raspberries with a small spoon, then finally place the last circles of brioche on top.
Apply small weights to the top of the puddings, ensuring the edges of brioche are sealed, and place in the fridge to set overnight.
When ready to serve, drizzle the raspberry coulis over the tops of the puddings so they are nicely covered. Arrange the raspberries around the puddings and finish with a quenelle of the crème fraîche on top.
Recipe created for BerryWorld by Tom Aikens at Great British Chefs
