“An excellent Christmas pudding for eating at any time when you have lots of people to feed,” notes gardener and chef Sarah Raven.
“It has a good balance of sweet and sour. You can swap cranberries with rhubarb. Serve with crème fraîche.”
Cranberry tart with hot toffee sauce
Ingredients:
(Serves 6)
500g cranberries, fresh or frozen
Juice and grated zest of 1 orange
200g caster sugar
150g shelled pecan nuts
1 egg, beaten well
60g plain flour, sifted
75g butter, melted
Crème fraîche, to serve
For the toffee sauce:
180g dark brown sugar
120g butter
120ml double cream
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Grease a 20cm-diameter springform cake tin.
2. Put the cranberries in a non-stick pan with the orange juice and zest and mix well in the tin. Cook them for about three to four minutes, until the cranberries pop.
3. Put the just-cooked cranberries into the prepared cake tin. Sprinkle with half the sugar and the pecans, and mix well.
4. In a bowl, beat the remaining sugar with the egg and mix very well (for four to five minutes) until the mixture pales and leaves a trail as you whisk. Add the flour and melted butter to make a smooth batter. Pour this over the cranberries in the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes.
5. To make the toffee sauce, heat the sugar, butter and cream together until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce is bubbling. Take off the heat and serve warm. This makes generous quantities of sauce, and you may have some left over for ice cream the following day. Serve the tart warm with the hot toffee sauce and crème fraîche.
Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook by Sarah Raven is published by Bloomsbury, priced £35. Photography by Jonathan Buckley. Available now.
