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Bakewell Pudding
Mix a pint of milk with the yolks and whites of four eggs beaten separately. Add three ounces of finely-sifted sugar, three ounces of butter, which should be first melted, and one ounce of well-pounded almonds. Lay three-quarters of a pint of bread-crumbs in a dish with a little preserved fruit over, and fill up with the mixture. Bake one hour in a moderate oven. Probable cost, about 1s. 6d. Sufficient for four or five persons.
This is a baked breadcrumb custard over jam rather than the almond-and-pastry version most people now think of as a Bakewell. It works, but the measurements are all imperial-by-volume and the oven direction needs a number.
- A pint, and a pint of crumbsA pint of milk, and three-quarters of a pint of crumbs -- The imperial pint is 20 fl oz, so use about 2 1/2 US cups of milk. Three-quarters of a pint of breadcrumbs is a volume measure: roughly 1 3/4 cups of fresh crumbs, perhaps 3 to 4 oz by weight.
- Moderate ovenConventionally taken as about 325-350F. An hour at that heat suits a custard of this depth; the centre should be just set with a slight wobble.
- Preserved fruitThis means jam or preserved whole fruit in syrup — raspberry or strawberry is traditional for a Bakewell. Spread two or three tablespoons over the crumbs; drain syrupy preserves so the base does not go to liquid.
- Cool the butterButter poured in very hot can curdle the eggs. Let it cool to lukewarm and whisk it in with the milk.
- Beaten separatelyThe recipe beats yolks and whites apart; folding the whites in last is the usual reading, and gives a lighter top than a straight set custard. Fold gently and get it into the oven promptly.
- AlmondsOne ounce of pounded sweet almonds is about 1/4 cup of ground almonds. Do not substitute bitter almonds or almond flavouring for the whole quantity — a few drops of almond extract alongside the ground nuts is closer to the intended flavour.
- YieldAs stated, four or five servings. Serve warm rather than hot; it firms up as it cools and is easier to spoon out.
Bakewell, in Derbyshire, gives its name to two related sweets: the pudding, a jam-lined case filled with an egg-and-almond mixture, and the later tart with frangipane and icing. The origin is traditionally traced to a mid-nineteenth-century Bakewell inn kitchen where a cook is said to have misread instructions and spread jam under the filling rather than into it — a story repeated for well over a century but not documented at the time. The version here belongs to a large family of Victorian breadcrumb puddings, in which stale bread stood in for pastry or flour and stretched a small quantity of eggs, butter and expensive almonds across four or five people. The costing of about 1s 6d follows a familiar Victorian convention of pricing almost every dish, so a household could compare the expense of a pudding against the rest of the day's meals.