You great pudding

White chocolate and cranberry bread-and-butter pudding with satsuma and cranberry suzette

Ingredients Serves 8–10

n 10 slices of stale white bread

n 2 tsps ground mixed spice

n 150g semi-dried cranberries

n 150g butter, softened

n 200g white chocolate buttons

n 2tbsps demerara sugar

For the custard:

n 500ml milk

n 500ml double cream

n 80g caster sugar

n 4 eggs

n 6 egg yolks

For the satsuma and cranberry suzette:

n 6 satsumas

n 75g semi-dried cranberries

n 200ml fresh orange juice

n 200g caster sugar

n 100g butter

Method

First make the custard: beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and heat to a simmer; remove from the heat, pour over the egg and sugar mix, and mix well.

Butter an ovenproof dish. Remove the crusts from the bread and butter all the slices on one side. Cut the slices in half. Start by spreading a layer of the buttered bread to cover the bottom of the dish, slightly overlapping the bread. Sprinkle with a good pinch of mixed spice, some cranberries and some of the white chocolate.

Pour over some of the custard to cover the first layer. Repeat this process in layers until you have used up all the ingredients. Press down firmly, cover with clingfilm and then set in the fridge overnight to give the bread chance to soak up all the custard.

Make the satsuma and cranberry suzette by segmenting the satsumas, place the sugar in a non-stick pan and heat until it turns to a golden caramel colour. Remove from the heat and add the butter.

Shake the pan to mix it in, pour in the orange juice and return to the heat, bring to the boil and reduce until it reaches the consistency of a nice caramel sauce. Add the cranberries and satsumas and just warm through.

Remove the bread and custard mix from the fridge and sprinkle with some demerara sugar. Bake in the oven at 160C for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it feels firm to the touch (take care not overcook). Remove from the oven and spoon over the warm satsuma and cranberry suzette sauce. Serve with custard. I sometimes flavour the custard with cloves to give a real taste of Christmas.