“What are you making?” my mum asked me. “Pudding” I replied. “Yeah, but what are you making?” she said “pudding!” I responded. “But you can have anything for pudding! Cake, ice cream, pie…” Now I see where our wires are getting crossed “It’s just pudding, actual pudding. It’s its own thing” I tell her. “Oh, okay” she says “but what is it you’re making”. I don’t think she’s gonna get it you guys!
That conversational circle went on for quite a while. Pudding in the UK is a synonym for dessert (if you read the Harry Potter books and wondered why they always ended meals with “pudding”, now you know they weren’t just overly fond of this custard like dessert!), we don’t have pudding like the US does either – the closest we have is custard which isn’t all that dissimilar really. We do have a type of dessert referred to as pudding and those are usually sponge based and steamed in a basin. However, I love America’s pudding – and not just in my cookies. It was only a matter of time until I made my own!
I love neapolitan ice cream, who doesn’t? We were one of the houses where the vanilla would somehow be the only flavour left though – oh the disappointment of opening up the ice cream tub only to see vanilla left! These days I’d be happy to eat up that vanilla ice cream, vanilla is not as boring as young me thought (if it’s done right anyway!). Did anybody else mix up their neapolitan ice cream to make a brown, gloopy mess though? Oh, to be back in those simpler times! Of course, in my adulthood, I can make as much neapolitan yummyness as I want! So when I was trying to decide what flavour pudding I should make with some left over egg yolks, I thought to myself “why settle for just one?” and so neapolitan pudding it was! Being an adult is swell!
I know neapolitan is normally made with strawberry, but I prefer raspberry plus I had some fresh raspberries just itching to be used! Of course, you can make yours with strawberries, just do a straight switch. I do love the distinct layers in this pudding, it was fun to make and fun to look at – but I will admit, I couldn’t resist mixing it all up into dull brown mess when I ate it. There’s still a little kid inside of me after all!
I do love the little pudding packs you can buy in the grocery store, but you can’t beat the homemade stuff! It isn’t hard to make either, it doesn’t even take very long – you just have to be patient while you wait for it chill (which is usually the hardest part, for me anyway!). Then you just spoon it into your presentation glasses – or just mix it all up in a bowl and cut out the middle man 😉 Either way, it won’t take you much effort to get to the point of yummy goodness! And you really will notice the difference in flavour and I think you’ll agree it was worth it.
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I’m bringing these fun puddings to Fiesta Friday this week 🙂
- 1/3 cup caster sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp good quality vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup caster sugar + 2tbsp
- 1 1/2 tbsp cornflour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
- 1/3 cup caster sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp cornflour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
- Place the raspberries and 2 tbsp sugar into a small saucepan. Heat on medium low heat, stirring, until fruit starts to break down, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer mixture to food processor and blitz for a couple seconds until smooth. Pass through a sieve if you want to get rid of the seeds.
- In a small saucepan, off the heat, whisk together the sugar, cornflour, salt and cocoa (when making chocolate layer).
- Add the milk a few tablespoons at a time, whisking constantly, until all combined and cornflour is dissolved.
- Whisk in the eggs.
- Whisking constantly, cook over a medium heat until it starts to bubble. Turn heat down to low and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, still whisking constantly. You want the mixture to be thick so it coats the back of a spoon, continue to cook on low until you get the right consistency if it's not thick enough after 3 minutes.
- Pour pudding into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve.
- Stir in butter and vanilla if making vanilla layer
- Stir in raspberries if making raspberry layer.
- Place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding to stop a skin forming, and place in fridge to chill for at least 3 hours.
- Place the chocolate chips in a food processor and blitz to a coarse mixture. Stir into cooled chocolate pudding.
- Spoon into glasses in layers to serve.
- Pipe the pudding layers into glasses for neater presentation.
- If you'd like to make just one flavour pudding, just triple the ingredients of the flavour you want
- Will keep in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days.
Sharing with…
Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Project Parade, Inspire Me Wednesday, Create It Thursday, Foodie Fridays, Pure Blog Love, Fiesta Friday, Super Saturday, Show Me Saturdays, Scraptastic Saturday, Bewitchin’ Projects Party, Inspiration Monday, Motivation Monday, Sweet and Savoury Sundays, Frugal Crafty Home, Time to Sparkle
These puddings look unbelievably good! The whole “pudding” thing alway used to confuse me whenever I visited my relatives in the UK. But once it finally clicked that pudding = dessert, it all made sense! Plus, I finally knew what Nigella Lawson was talking about.
Thank you Claudia! Haha yes, it’s funny how we speak the same language but wires can get crossed so easily!
We always had neapolitan ice cream in the freezer, the first to go was the chocolate part for some reason then strawberry and vanilla yes sadly left for last or not eaten at all. I love your puddings, pudding is so sweet and creamy, a wonderful dessert and your lovely layered pudding looks and sounds delicious.
Chocolate would still always be my first choice, but give me all three together and I’m way happier! Thank you Suzanne 😀 x
What a pretty dessert! Interesting definition of pudding. It tickles me how we have the same language but definitions are different.
Thank you Julie! Haha yeah, it’s weird how different English can be depending on where you are!
I was a vanilla Ice cream girl… pretty boring right? I always went for the vanilla ice cream side of the tub, but when it came to pudding I was a chocolate pudding fan all the way!! These look delicious! So glad I found them on Foodie Fridays!
I love vanilla these days, I think as a kid I was just all about the chocolate (I still am, but I can appreciate the yummy vanilla too!). Thanks so much Dini
Wow! There you are again, you sure know how to tease the palate. This pudding is awesome! I do happen to know the term “pudding”, as I lived in England and my family still live there, so I visit often……yet it’s funny for me to say “pudding” all over again when I go visit. 🙂
I spend a lot of time in the US so I’ve adapted a lot to their way of talking, so I forget that a lot of the time people don’t know what i’m going on about when I’m back in the UK haha!
Thanks so much Loretta x
I have never made my own pudding …this looks so yummy! Maybe I will give it a try soon 🙂
It’s really easy and definitely worth it, I hope you do give it a go 🙂 x
hahaha that story with your mom made me laugh! I never knew that pudding was synonymous with dessert in the UK. That does explain a lot! In my house, strawberry was always the one left over in the neapolitan ice cream carton! I would dig my spoon in always hoping to get just vanilla and chocolate! This pudding is so pretty! I love it <3
You had a bit of a challenge then, since the strawberry is usually in the middle haha! I think these days strawberry would be at the bottom of the three for me too. Thanks Lina 😀
Ahh..this post sparked memories of my childhood love of neopolitan ice cream! Your recipe for the pudding sounds delectable. Love the individual servings…perfect for a gathering like Fiesta Friday!
Don’t let the individual servings make you stop at just one though hehe 😉 Thanks Nancy!
These look gorgeous Michelle!! I love Neapolitan icecream, having 3 flavors at once makes me very happy indeed 😀 So I think I’m in love with this pudding xx
😀 Thank you Naina! xx
Is it easy talking to your Mum, Michelle? This pudding looks so delicious to me. Thanks for sharing. <3
It is, she’s the best! Even if she doesn’t always understand my baking haha
Thank you Jhuls x
Oh yum. I’m a grown up and I still think vanilla is boring. 🙂 But this looks so yummy. Homemade pudding is sooooo much better than the boxed powder. Oh, and let your US readers know that cornflour is “corn starch ” in the states.
Thank you!
I’ll make sure to note that, thanks for letting me know!
Home made puddings are definitely the best. Thanks for sharing not one but three different ones. And gorgeous presentation Michelle 🙂
Thank you 😀
This looks SO good. I’ve not made pudding from scratch before, but I think I need to try! My kids love pudding. Pinned!
You really should, your kids will love it and it’s really easy! Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments x
I’d be confused too with all those different meanings of pudding. I do love my “American pudding” though. And this Neapolitan version looks great! Thanks for linking up at Show Me Saturday. Hope to see you there again this week!
Custard here is pretty similar to american pudding if it’s flavoured, but nothing’s quite like pudding!! Thanks Ginger 🙂
I’m a huge chocolate fan and the one who scoops out the chocolate first. I agree it’s a let down to open the container to find only vanilla. lol Thanks for sharing and linking up to Scraptastic Saturdays. This post will be shared via FB, Twitter and Pintest. Have a wonderful week.
Thank you!
These might be my new weakness!!
Haha, they’re definitely mine! x
these look gorgeous!! love the idea of replacing strawberry with raspberry, too– yum!
Thank you!
These are adorable. Thanks for sharing your fabulous recipes at Foodie Fridays. Hope to see you again this week.
Blessings,
Shari
Thank you Shari x