As hubby and I are huge fans of desserts, we decided to try out one. We recently purchased the Hairy Bikers British Classic recipe book from Amazon and on perusing it discovered the bread and butter with orange and raspberries recipe.

So, after doing a lockdown shop to get all the ingredients, here’s how we got on….

Ingredients

Softened butter
10-12 slices of square brioche loaf
300g raspberries
1-2 tbsp Framboise liqueur (optional)
125g caster sugar
4 eggs
400ml whole milk
400ml double cream
grated zest of 1 large orange
1-2 tbsp demerara sugar

Even though we went shopping, we did forget to buy an orange, but then hubby came up with the idea of using marmalade, so we substituted that and I have to say, it may have even enhanced the flavour!

How did I get on?

This was a very easy recipe to do – here’s the Hairy Biker’s take on it:

“We think this is one of the all-time great British puds. We’re pretty proud of this version, which is quite glam, made with slices of brioche and flavoured with orange zest, raspberries and a splash of raspberry liqueur, if you have some in the cupboard. It’s really easy to make too and you’re gonna love it!”

So first of all, it’s just a question of making up the dish; crushing some of the raspberries with two tablespoons of caster sugar in a bowl, arranged the first layer of brioche and placing the crushed raspberries on top, together with a few more whole raspberries.

Then top with the remaining brioche slices and arrange the remaining raspberries over the top.

You then whisk the remaining sugar and the four eggs together, add the milk, double cream and orange zest.  This is where we added the marmalade, which we had put in a microwave for about 20 seconds, just to soften it. Making sure all this mixture is combined well and then this liquid is poured over the brioche and raspberries. You then need to wait half an hour, I assume for the liquid to soak into the brioche, and then you’re ready to put in a oven preheated at 180ºC/Fan, 160ºC/Gas 4.  I have to admit when I used to do recipes and they said to leave for a couple of hours to marinate etc., I wouldn’t do this, I would just crack on with the recipe, now being older, and a little bit wiser(?) I always do this and have found the results to be much better, guess I should have listened to the experts!

After the half an hour is over, I used the time to do our main course, which was Cod, Pea and Potato Casserole, from their Hairy Biker’s One Pot Wonders recipe book, the bread pudding was put in the oven and 40 minutes later, there you have it: Bread and Butter Pudding with Orange and Raspberries.

Thoughts

As I said earlier, we are dessert lovers and this one certainly ranked amongst the best we have made at home. It was so easy and it smelt wonderful as it was cooking. This recipe serves six and as there is only two of us, we can enjoy this pudding over a couple of days. I will certainly make it when we can get together again as a family, it’s a good home comfort type of dessert.