After returning from a recent visit to Gully Gardens in Angaston, South Australia with bags of beautiful dried fruit and reading about the history of fruit in the Valley, I couldn’t resist making this simple pudding, which was based on a traditional recipe from ‘Barossa Food’ by Angela Heuzenroeder; ‘Backobst with a Champagne Crust’. In the early German Lutheran settlement years, dried fruit (backobst is the German translation) looked a little less appealing than it does today with the apricots more black than deep orange and pears more dark brown than golden yellow in colour. This pudding can also be easily adapted to using cooked fresh fruit just as well.
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
200 g mixed dried fruit (figs, apricots, apples, peaches & pears), roughly chopped
250 ml – 375 ml boiling water
1 pinch bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch salt
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 sml egg
60 g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
60 ml (1/4 cup) milk
80 g wholemeal spelt or wheat flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp demerara sugar (optional)
Cream or ice cream or yoghurt, to serve
Method
- Gently simmer the dried fruit in 250 ml boiling water with the bicarbonate of soda, salt 1 tbsp sugar and lemon juice for 15 minutes until the dried fruit has softened and is tender.
- Preheat oven to 180˚c
- Beat the egg together with the 60 g caster sugar with a whisk until well combined.
- Add the milk, flour, baking powder, melted butter and vanilla extract and beat until a smooth, soft batter.
- Transfer the cooked dried fruit to a small baking dish. Add a little extra boiling water until the liquid level is the same level as the fruit.
- Spoon over the batter and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake a further 5 minutes until golden.
- Serve hot with cream, ice cream or yoghurt.
