Summer Fruit Pudding with Brioche

I wanted to make a summer fruit pudding with a twist - I remember making a bread and butter pudding with brioche when I was working in France, so thought I would give it a try with summer fruits. I also wanted to create a yummy but not-too-fattening party dessert!

I made this for a family party and it went down so well I had to make another the next day so that we could all have some more!

The little helper did not help with this one - given that it involves boiling syrup and lots of purple liquid! He did however enjoy eating it with yoghurt on for pudding the next day.

Serves 8-10

Equipment:

1 x 2lb loaf tin
cling film
2 x medium sized pans
thick cardboard, cut to the size of the loaf tin
something heavy to weigh the pudding down with - tins of beans or a bottle of wine work well

Ingredients:

1 x 500g bag of frozen summer fruits
roughly 250g of fresh fruit - I used 1/2 a punnet of strawberries, 1/2 a punnet of raspberries and a pack of blueberries.
1 x 400g brioche loaf (unsliced)
1 x sachet of Green's vegetarian Quick-gel
200 ml water
100g sugar
To serve: an assortment of fresh strawberries/raspberries/blueberries.

Notes to ingredients:

The fruit
All fresh fruit can be used, redcurrants, blackcurrants, blackberries etc. If using fresh fruit, reduce cooking time of the harder fruits, before adding the softer fruit (strawberries/raspberries/blueberries etc.)

The brioche
For a lower-fat version, you could try using unsliced white bread, slightly stale would work best. For a more indulgent version, try maderia cake.

The jelly
You could use a normal jelly (like rowntree's) in blackcurrant or raspberry flavour, or leaf gelatine - make it up to the packet instructions and then add to the fruit mix.

Cooking instructions:

Empty the frozen fruit (or fresh hard fruit) into a pan with 80g of the sugar, and a few spoons of water, about 50ml. Allow the sugar to dissolve and the fruit to soften (10 minutes). Add the soft, fresh fruit and turn off the heat.

In the meantime, empty the quick-gel sachet into a pan, with 20g of the sugar and add 200ml of water. Simmer until the liquid thickens (10-15 minutes). Once thickened, add to the fruit mix and stir through. Allow to cool slightly while you prepare the brioche.

Slice the brioche into 3 thick long slices, about 1.5cm thick, trimming the crusts off.

Line the loaf tin with cling film, leaving an excess for covering the pudding over once completed.

Spoon a little fruit juice into the bottom of the tin and place the first slice of brioche on top. Spoon over half of the fruit mix. Place another slice of brioche on top. Spoon the remainder of the fruit over, retaining some liquid for the next layer. Place the last layer of brioche on top, and spoon over the last of the liquid.

The loaf tin will be quite full now, so carefully wrap over the cling film and secure by twisting the seams together.

Place the cardboard on top, and weigh the pudding down. Watch out for any liquid spilling out of the seams!

Allow the pudding to cool completely and then place in the fridge overnight.

To serve:

Unwrap the top of the clingfilm and place a long plate over the pudding. Invert the pudding onto the plate and peel off the rest of the clingfilm.

Pile an assortment of fresh fruit around the pudding, and you're done. Serve with your choice of cream, creme fraiche, ice cream, yoghurt etc etc.

Enjoy!