Put away your purse & become debt-averse

wishingthemortgaheaway

Oooh posh in your house soaking the bread in milk, purely water here....

PurpleFairy26

Confession time, I didn't know there was a proper recipe for bread pudding my mum made it when I was small and I've made it several times since but our version doesn't seem as healthy as cranks as it had suet and golden syrup in, but just a handful/ dollop type of measurement. It is always yummy though I'll have to look out for the proper recipe, maybe an improvement :rotfl:

DawnW

My mum used to make bread pudding, which I kind of liked, because she didn't make cake often so when she did it was a treat. I have never made it though, it seems such a stodgy lump - maybe that was just my Mums though :rotfl:

foxgloves

Lol, I think the mistake with bread pudding is to view it as a cake instead of a kind of food group in its own right. It can be a useful 'on the go' breakfast as its mostly wholemeal bread (well mine is) & fruit so it's probably more comparable with the yeasted bread bun type of fare than actual cake. I particularly like it with dried apricots in it but I think it's one of those leftovers recipes where you use what you've got. It would definitely be sustaining for a long walk or exercise session.

foxgloves

Wish - I'd never have considered soaking it in water. You learn something every day!

foxgloves

Suet & syrup, PF? That's an unusual version but why not? Bread pudding clearly has its origins in thrift food. While I was still at school, I had a Saturday job in a local bakers shop. Unsold loaves went back to the bakery to be turned into bread pudding & leftover cake was made into Russian cake.
F

wishingthemortgaheaway

Oooh, what's Russian cake?

foxgloves

Well...... I worked in that bakers shop from age 15 until I moved away at age 18 to do my degree, so we're talking a long time ago. But if I remember rightly, Russian cake was what we'd call a tray bake today, although the slices were quite tall. The base & top, I think, were pastry, because the top was flat & iced with white & pink feather icing. The layer between the top & bottom was made from leftover sponge cake. It was broken into quite chunky pieces & mixed with raspberry jam. This construction was then cut into quite tall rectangular slices, similar in size to those cream slices made from flaky pastry.
Russian cake was quite popular. We didn't get it every week (I expect it depended on how many stale leftover sponge cake items we'd returned!) & customers did come in & ask for it by name.... either 'Russian cake' or 'Russian slice'. It was always red jam. I did try one but generally preferred to spaff my staff discount on almond macaroons & Chelsea buns.
We sold rum truffles too, which were made from leftover cake, very damp & rolled in a coating of chocolate hundreds & thousands.
I wonder what was 'Russian' about that Russian cake. Sponge, jam, icing, pastry, etc, seem so quintissentially British, don't they?
F x

wishingthemortgaheaway

Oooh, they sound good and the vanilla slice/ Mille fuille type pastry is one i'd like to have a go at this year.

They'd be a good thing to make when you've baked a cake and shaped it for some form of cake sculpture

foxgloves

Yes, I think that would be an interesting thing to try with sponge scraps, especially as you could freeze them until you have sufficient.