The Seafood Restaurant Cookbook
Summer pudding recipe
Rick Stein and Jill Stein | 01 Jul 2026
Recipe from The Seafood Restaurant Cookbook
by Rick Stein and Jill Stein
It’s very tempting when putting together a pudding menu to focus on creamy things, special Michelin-starred-type desserts, and hearty British staples like bread-and butter pudding. In order to balance that out, we’ve recently felt we needed something summery, fruity and light on our dessert menu – this gorgeous summer pudding is it.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 115g caster sugar
- pared zest of 1 small lemon
- 225g raspberries
- 115g red currants
- 90g blackcurrants
- 25g white currants (or more red currants if you can’t get white)
- 4–6 thin slices of white bread from a large loaf, crusts removed
- double cream, to serve
- fresh berries, to decorate (optional)
You will need
- 150–200ml individual pudding
- moulds x 4
Method
- Put the sugar and 75ml of water into a pan and leave them over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the pared lemon zest, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the zest and blend 1½ tablespoons of the sugar syrup with 50g of the raspberries. Press the mixture through a sieve into a bowl to remove the seeds. Add the red currants, blackcurrants and white currants to the remaining syrup in the pan and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 175g of raspberries and the sieved raspberry sauce.
- Tip the fruit into a sieve set over a bowl to collect the syrup. Dip the slices of bread briefly into the syrup and set two aside for the lids. Use the other slices of bread (you may not need them all) to line the bases and sides of the four pudding moulds, overlapping the pieces slightly to make sure there are no gaps.
- Spoon in the fruit equally between the moulds and then spoon ½ tablespoon of the remaining syrup over each portion. Cover each neatly with the reserved syrup-dipped bread, then wrap the tops of the puddings with cling film. Place a small plate on top of each and secure that with something heavy (a tin of beans is good) to weigh the plate down. Transfer the weighted moulds to the fridge to chill overnight, along with any remaining syrup.
- To serve, carefully run a knife around the inside edge of each pudding mould. Invert each pudding on to a serving plate, spoon over any remaining syrup and serve with double cream, and with fresh berries, if you wish.
Jack's chef notes
Mum has always wanted to bring back classic puddings for the modern era and this is exactly that – a classic summer dessert, beautifully served in individual portions for a modern touch.
Charlie's wine notes
A wine that is overly sweet will dominate a summer pudding, so a lightly sweet Moscato d’Asti from Piedmont, Italy, is my choice here.
