Sponge Pudding

My real food hero is my mum, who armed me with enough basic cooking skills to be able to fend for myself and know what will work by eye. Unfortunately, that makes getting recipes down to share more difficult as I often don't use scales. 

One of the most useful basic recipes I had when I left home was sponge pudding (second only to emergency bread, which I use regularly on the days I realise I have no bread for packed lunch). Even better is it works in the microwave for a fairly instant pud!

It's taken a while to perfect it without the egg or the wheat, but the boys never refuse it as a pudding option, and if there is any left, it's great in their packed lunch the next day.

Basic recipe:

60g Dairy and Soya Free Spread (e.g. Pure/Vitalite)

30g Sugar

105mls Milk Substitute (4 + 3 tbsp)

1 tsp Vanilla Paste

110g Gluten free/Wheat free Self Raising Flour (depending on the blend, you may need to adjust the fluid to get a dropping consistency) or 120g Self Raising Flour (if you don't need it to be wheat free)

Flavour options:

Fruit - add a couple of handfuls of frozen fruit to the bottom of the bowl and cover with the sponge mix (as in these photos)

Banana - add a mashed banana after whisking in the milk

Jam - add a couple of tablespoons of jam to the bottom of the bowl and cover with the sponge mix

Blueberry - add a handful of blueberries (or any other fruit) to the mix

Ginger and Chocolate Chip - add small pack of chocolate buttons and finely grated preserved ginger (or a little ground ginger) to the mix

Syrup - add a couple of tablespoons of syrup to the bottom of the bowl and cover with the sponge mix
Chocolate - swap 10g of the flour for cocoa powder

Whisk spread, sugar and vanilla together.

Whisk in 4 tbsp milk substitute (1 tbsp at a time) until well combined (don't worry if it looks curdled, just keep whisking until it comes back together).

Add the flour and the rest of the milk and mix until just combined.

Stir in other flavours/fruit/chocolate chips etc if using.

Spoon into a greased microwavable bowl (over jam/fruit/syrup etc) and smooth the top.

Microwave for 4-6 minutes (or until risen and spongy to the touch and just coming away from the sides of the bowl). It can also be cooked like a sponge in a normal oven, I'm just never organised enough to start it in time for pudding!

Usually I scoop straight from bowl, but it can be turned out onto a plate to serve

Spoon into bowls and serve with suitable custard/cream/ice-cream…

Enjoy!