Self-saucing orange sponge pudding recipe

Self-saucing orange sponge pudding by Nici Wickes. Photo / Todd Eyre

Nici Wickes shares dessert that’s on high rotation at her house.

Somehow this pudding manages to be both comforting and rib-sticking whilst still being light and refreshing. Citrus has that effect, don’t you think?

Orange self-saucing sponge pudding recipe

Serves 2 generously

Pudding ingredients

70g butter, melted

1 small-medium egg

1/4 cup regular white sugar

1 New Zealand orange, halved

1/3 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 heaped tbsp ground almonds

1-2 tbsp milk, if needed

Sauce ingredients

1 cup boiling water

1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed

1 tbsp butter

Juice from remaining 1/2 orange

1 tsp cornflour

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Grease a small ovenproof dish – I used a 16.5cm round dish.
3. In a bowl, whisk egg with sugar until pale and thick. Add in the melted butter and whisk.
4. Blitz half the orange - skin and all (see note) - until it’s pulped and stir this into the egg/sugar mix. Add in flour, baking powder and almonds. Stir until combined. It should easily drop off a spoon. If it’s too stiff, add in 1-2 tbsp milk.
5. Scrape the batter into the greased dish.
6. In the batter bowl (scraped clean) mix the boiling water, brown sugar, butter, cornflour and juice from the remaining half orange. Gently pour this over the back of a spoon and on to the batter.
7. Bake for 35-40 mins, or until sponge is cooked through.
8. Serve with yoghurt or whipped cream.

Notes:

For very pithy fruit, use the skin and flesh of the orange but not all the pith – too bitter.

Use any citrus – mandarin, lemon, tangerine.

To make pudding gluten-free, replace plain flour with slightly less (about 1 tablespoon less) GF flour.