Seasonal Fruit in a Microwave Pud

A true sweet tooth like me will always find a reason to bake something sweet and if it is sticky too, all to the good. A friend brought me some small but ripe plums, both red and yellow flesh varieties. I also have some newly harvested Gravenstein apples. Since the plums were so ripe I had to find a way to use the, right?

Call in my Bread Baking Babe friends Lien and Lynn...well their blogs anyway. I remembered a delightful microwave pudding that I found at Lien's blog, Notitie van Lien which called for raisins and golden syrup.

I love golden syrup, but apparently I've been loving it too much because there was only about a tablespoon in the jar and this recipe calls for 4 tablespoons. Fortunately I also recently visited Lynn's blog Cookie Baker Lynn and followed her links to recipes with caramel and discovered that she uses caramel ice cream topping to top bar cookies before they are baked. Seemed that I could use the jar of caramel ice cream topping in the pantry to replace the golden syrup. After all apples and caramel are a natural combo. Thank you Lien and Lynn!

Now that I'd changed both the fruit and topping it was only fair to add some nutmeg to the pud batter and to suggest less orange zest...or that lemon zest would also be OK. A touch of extra salt was added to tone down the caramel. OK, ready to bake!

This went together fairly quickly and baked extremely quickly. Since I did all the molds at one time I ended up microwaving 2 minutes and then 2 minutes. I would recommend adding only one minute at a time because I think mine could have used just a bit less time in the microwave.

Fun...check, fast...check, uses up some of the plums...check, Sweetie liked it...check (although he liked the ice cream better, but then he always does when the choice is cake or ice cream). Cake and ice cream together...it's a party after a long work week.



Microwave Pud with Caramel, Apples and Plums

Adapted from Notitie van Lien’s recipe Microwave Pud with Raisins

35 g (finished weight) peeled, cored, sliced and finely diced apples
60 g (finished weight) peeled, pitted, sliced and finely diced plums
4 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping
100 g butter, room temperature, cubed
100 g granulated sugar
grated zest from a lemon or ½ an orange
2 eggs
100 g self-rising flour
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or ¼ teaspoon already grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt


Grease and flour 4 – 6 (depending on the size) microwave proof pudding molds. I used ramekins but you could use custard cups or small coffee cups.

Mix together the diced apples and diced plums.


Divide the fruit mixture evenly among the prepared molds.

Divide the ice cream topping among the molds. (I used 4 molds and put a tablespoon topping in each mold.) Set aside.

For the batter cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the citrus zest and one egg. Mix to combine thoroughly. Add the second egg. Mix to combine thoroughly. In a small bowl combine the flour, nutmeg and salt. Add the mixture to the egg mixture and combine thoroughly. You will have a smooth cake batter.

Spoon the batter on top of the fruit and topping in the molds. Fill about halfway…any more and it may go over the top of the mold. Cover with microwave foil (I have no idea what this is, but it was in Lien’s recipe) or plastic wrap that you pierce or vent to let some of the steam out.

Place 3 molds at a time in the microwave and nuke them on highest setting for about 2-3 minutes (or steam for 30 minutes). Start with two minutes and then add on another minute if needed. You will see the puds rise and dome above the molds. They are firm to the touch and come away from the sides a bit.

Take them out of the microwave to rest for 1 minute and microwave the rest of the puds.

Take the puds out of the molds after 1 minute resting time by running a knife around the edges of the mold to loosen and then invert over a plate, scooping the topping from the mold onto the top of the pud if it sticks in the mold. Serve with additional ice cream topping if desired. (I went even further and added a scoop of caramel ice cream…just like a party!) Serve while hot!

Makes 4 – 5 puds