Many many years ago I worked in a very nice hotel as a waitress; I really enjoyed it, I loved all aspects of it even though it was often busy and often hard, and long hours.
Because of the hours we worked we were given meals, left over whatever had been on the menu, which included starters, mains and pudding – as it was then called. One of my favourite puddings which i had never had before or since was Cabinet Pudding. I had never heard of it before, had never had it at home, or at school, or anywhere else… I had forgotten all about it until I came across a recipe for it in my little old G.E.C. Cookery Book!
- 2 oz sponge cake, cubed
- ½ pint milk
- 2 eggs
- ½ oz castor sugar
- vanilla essence
- 4 ratafia biscuits or 1 macaroon, crumbled
- 1 oz glacé cherries
- 1 gill raspberry jam sauce
- grease a pint pudding basin and put a circle of buttered greaseproof paper in the bottom, decorate with the cherries
- beat the eggs with the sugar, pour on the warmed milk and add the vanilla
- pour over the sponge and biscuits and leave until cold
- pour into the greased basin, cover with greaseproof paper and steam gently for 40-50 mins until firm
- turn out carefully onto a hot dish, and pour jam sauce round the pudding
It sounds simple and lovely… at the hotel we had small individual ones!
Lois Elsden 