Caramel Apple Self-Saucing Pudding

Growing up it was a real treat if my mom bought a box of Pudding Cake mix. It was like magic. Everything was beaten together, spread in a pan and like magic, it baked a cake with a lush thick sauce on the bottom.

It came in a few different flavours. We weren't picky. We'd eat them all. Dessert wasn't something we had very often when I was growing up. We might have a scoop of ice cream after supper on Friday night, and maybe on Sundays we would have ice cream with some tinned fruit on top, or our favourite . . . strawberry jam spooned over.

Other than that we got cake on our birthday (and ice cream), dessert at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter and when we had company for dinner, which wasn't very often.

Occasionally though, mom would let us have the treat of something like a pudding cake on Saturday night. She had been overweight as a child and so was very careful about what we ate.

Here in the UK another name for dessert is Pudding. In fact all desserts are called pudding, not to be confused with pudding in North America, which is a thick custard type of dessert that is cooked on top of the stove.

I can remember being asked in a restaurant not too soon after I moved over here, after Todd and I had gotten married, did we want any pudding. I thought to myself . . . hmm . . . I didn't see any on the menu, so I asked the waitress, did they have butterscotch, which is my favourite.

She looked at me like I was from another planet! Todd explained that pudding was what dessert was called over here and it came in the shape of cakes, pies, bakes and puddings! Usually slathered with additional lashings of custard sauce or pouring cream, or . . . shudder . . . both!!!

And it didn't stop there. Even ice cream was called pudding. Because Pudding was a course and not a dish. Does that make sense? I hope so.

Anyways, this is a Pudding that is actually a Pudding! haha A tasty cake pudding that makes its own sauce and it blows those pudding cakes from my childhood right out of the water.

What you end up with is a lush maple flavoured sauce, topped with a maple and apple cake, filled with chunks of sweet/tart Granny Smith apples.

Make sure you don't leave the apple in too big a chunks or they won't cook all the way through. You want it chopped coarsely, but medium to small coarse.

The sauce is a mix of maple syrup, brown sugar, butter and boiling water which gets poured on top of the cake in the baking tin. Don't mix the cake or the syrup together no matter what. They are meant to be cake and liquid on top. Make sure your dish is deep enough or the sauce may boil over.

Like magic when it bakes it forms a fluffy cake on top and a lush sauce underneath. Perfect spooned into bowls and served warm with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, or yes . . . Todd's favourite, custard. Delicious!

Yield: 6

Author: Marie Rayner

Caramel Apple Self-Saucing Pudding

A delicious apple filled pudding that sauces itself. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream on top!

ingredients:

For the cake:

175g self rising flour (1 1/4 cup)
50g soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup)
100g melted butter (scant half cup, 7 TBS)
1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
120ml milk (1/2 cup)
60ml maple syrup (1/4 cup)
1 granny smith apple, peeled and coarsely chopped

For the Topping:

240ml maple syrup (1 cup)
200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup, packed)
240ml boiling water (1 cup)
60g butter (1/4 cup)
(cinnamon sugar garnish optional)

instructions:

How to cook Caramel Apple Self-Saucing Pudding

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a six cup deep baking dish. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour and sugar for the cake part. Whisk together the melted butter, egg, milk and maple syrup. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Whisk together to combine. Stir in the apple and spread into the baking dish.
Put all of the ingredients for the topping together in a saucepan. Bring just to the boil stirring to melt the sugar. Pour evenly over top of the batter in the baking dish. Do NOT stir to mix together. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. The liquid mixture will have sunk to the bottom creating a sauce.
Dust with cinnamon sugar and serve warm, spooned into bowls and topped with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.