Carrot pudding

It’s been an exciting couple of days… leading up to the general election, voting, then turning on the TV in the evening to watch the results come in! I lasted until about 3:20, I saw Jeremy Corbyn reelected for Islington North, heard his speech, then tottered off to bed… I think there are interesting times ahead…

however, I’m not going to get political here, I am going to think about Carrot Pudding, even though this is a September recipe in my National Mark Calendar of Cooking, it seems more summery than autumny. I have just received some lovely carrots which I want to use for something different… like Carrot Pudding. Carrot cake is my favourite, but I have rather given up hoping to find a perfect recipe, or a perfect cake I can buy – usually too dry or too soggy, too cinnamony, too sweet, too dense, not enough/too much frosting, icing/buttercream instead of frosting…

Back to Carrot Pudding… this sounds rather nice:

Carrot Pudding

• ½ lb carrots, washed, scrubbed, light boiled until tender, rubbed through a seine (or blitzed in a processor)
• 2 eggs, separated, whites whisked until stiff
• 8 oz butter
• 4 oz castor sugar (although I might like to try with brown of some sort)
• ½ lb fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon (I don’t like cinnamon, so I might use nutmeg, allspice or mixed spice)

1. cream butter and sugar
2. add egg yolks and beat well
3. mix in carrots, breadcrumbs and spice
4. carefully fold in whisked egg whites
5. pour into a buttered mould and steam for 2½ hours
6. serve with lemon sauce

Lemon sauce

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 large lemon, skin pared off thinly and reserved, juiced
• 1 oz butter
• ¼ pint water
• 1-2 oz sugar

1. boil the lemon peel for five minutes
2. add the sugar to your taste (or as Ambrose Heath the writer says, ‘according to your idea of sweetness‘)
3. pour into a double boiler or bain marie and add the butter, lemon juice and beaten eggs and stir very carefully until it thickens
4. strain if necessary and serve

The sauce sounds to me like the lemony part of a lemon meringue pie – I guess it’s up to you how thick you make the sauce!