Chunky Apple and Mincemeat Sponge Pudding

This is a winner for a family Sunday lunch. Because it's a light sponge, it's not as devastatingly calorific as a suet pud. It also has the advantage of being blissfully simple, taking only 5 minutes to mix from start to finish then it sits happily steaming for 2½ hours, needing no attention apart from a top-up of hot water.

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This recipe first appeared in Sainsbury’s Magazine.

Method

All you do is place the butter, sugar, flour, salt and half the lemon zest in a large mixing bowl, then break in the eggs and whisk the whole lot together, preferably with an electric hand whisk, until you have a good, soft creamy mixture. Next fold in the apple chunks.

Add the remaining lemon zest to the mincemeat, along with the rum, and mix well before spooning into the bottom of the pudding basin. Then pile all the pudding mixture on top and level it off with the back of a spoon.

Now take a double square of foil and smear it with a little butter. Make a pleat in the centre and fix it over the pudding, tying it securely around the rim with string. Place the pudding in a steamer fitted over a saucepan of boiling water and steam for 2½ hours. Check halfway through cooking that the water in the pan isn't getting too low.

Serve the pudding hot and steaming with lots of proper home-made custard sauce.