Tipsy Parson - Retro Scottish Pud

Soft sponge, boozy fruit, sweet custard and cloudy whipped cream - a Scottish pudding dream!

Tipsy Parson

A retro dessert from my Scottish heritage. I discovered this pudding in letters sent from my Mum to my Granny in the 1940s when my Mum was on national service in the WRENS. She was stationed in the south of England and was delighted to be invited for an evening meal by some relatives and offered a familiar dish. She mentioned it in her letter home and I did some research. It’s basically an economical wartime take on the traditional Trifle. It uses up the ends of old sponge cakes, some fruit preserved in liqueur, custard and cream. Anyone with a garden in wartime would have tried to preserve fruit in some way, and they might also have kept hens, so ensuring a plentiful supply of eggs to be made into custard.

I have re-created it using my own damson vodka (recipe to come at the appropriate time of year) to marinate the fruit and a bought custard rather than home made. I find making a thin spooning-texture crème anglaise style custard, which is what goes best here, rather difficult. I probably don’t have the patience. So I used a bought chilled custard instead, which worked very well.

We didn’t have a Seniors Lunch Club round on Thursday as we are “on holiday”, so I didn’t bake a cake.  We did meet on audio conference though, and we talked about what we did at Easter. Members saw their families and grandchildren, went to Church, went out for a drive or a walk and enjoyed the bright but cold weather.

I made this dessert for a party of six people in my garden this week. We huddled under rugs and cuddled hot water bottles and feasted and drank with great joy.

See my new page, The Summer of Six for suggested menus for outdoor parties for six guests.
 
Serves 6.              Timings: 1 hour the day before you serve, 20 minutes on the day you eat.

For the Genoese Sponge: (you can use bought sponge, for instance a swiss roll, but I find the bought ones are too sweet and often a bit stodgy. Your own will be light as a feather.)

• 60g plain flour
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 60g caster sugar
  
• 30g butter
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence

 

• 300g fresh soft fruit – I used 200g stoned cherries and 100g raspberries
• 4 tablespoons fruit liqueur – I used home-made damson vodka but any fruity alcohol is fine or just plain brandy or rum would also work.
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 x 500g pot of vanilla custard – I cheated rather than making my own, as the light creamy texture can be difficult to achieve
• 200ml whipping cream

 
The day before you eat, make the cake.

Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease and line a small cake tin.  Melt the butter but don’t let it bubble. Whisk the sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy. Sieve the flour and mix it in one spoonful at a time. Stir in the butter carefully and spoon the mixture into the cake tin.

Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and keep in an airtight tin. You can also bake this well ahead and freeze.

While that’s baking, stone and clean the fruit you are using and mix it with the liqueur and sugar in a bowl. Stir, cover, and leave in the fridge.

On the day of serving, whip the cream – this can be done ahead and kept covered in the fridge for 2 hours.

When you are about to eat, place some slices of cake in the bottoms of individual bowls. Spoon over the fruit, being generous with the liqueur. Dollop a large spoon of custard over each bowl and then top with whipped cream.