Baking an Old-Fashioned Roly-Poly Pudding

I have never tasted, nor baked a roly-poly pudding in my life. Yet this pudding featured in a couple of conversations over the past few weeks and so my curiosity was peeked. Whenever I get curious about something, I simply have to try it and this was not the exception to the rule. Let me show you how I discovered a very old style pudding and learned why it used to be so popular.

I found a great recipe in the time-honored Kook En Geniet recipe book.

I would stick close to the recipe as it was unfamiliar territory to me.

I started by sifting the dry ingredients together in a large bowl; 2 cups (500 ml) flour and 2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder.

I added 125 ml of butter to this, but since my butter was hard and cold, I grated it into the flour mixture. This is a very good tip to remember for when you are working with cold and hard butter.

I then worked the butter into the flour with my fingers until the mixture had a fine crumbly consistency. This sounds like hard work, but really it is a matter of minutes.

I beat two eggs and added 1/4 cup (60 ml) of milk to it.

This was then added to the flour mixture.

Everything was now kneaded together until it formed a ball.

I let the dough ball rest while I prepared the sauce. I boiled water and poured 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) into a measuring jug.

I added a cup (250 ml) of sugar.

I also added 2 tablespoons (25 ml) butter. This was dissolved by stirring the mixture.

I now sprinkled my work surface and my rolling pin with flour. This would prevent the dough from sticking to it.

I rolled the dough into a square (almost).

I now spread apricot jam over the dough.

I was not too sure how much would be needed and was scared of this rather tasteless dough that did not have vanilla or sugar or anything else to make it tasty. As a result I was very generous with the jam. I learned that I did not need this much after all. Feel free to keep the ratio down in yours.

I now rolled the dough into a rather loose roll.

I did not have a large enough baking dish and simply cut my roll in half to fit into the baking dish prepared with non-stick spray. I then emptied the sauce over the roll(s).

The pudding now had to go into an oven preheated to 180°C where it would bake for an hour.

My generous helping of jam seeped out and this reached a high temperature in the oven which gave this burnt appearance, Fortunately it tasted caramelized and not burned. Note to self: be moderate with the jam!

When I cut the roll, I realized that I should have rolled it more tightly. It would have risen beautifully anyway. Instead, I now sat with a rather flattened roll.

The sauce and the pudding was absolutely delicious and a thin custard would be a wonderful accompaniment to this pudding. I do believe that next time I will boil the sauce for a few moments to allow more caramelization to take place in the oven without over baking it. All in all a very easy and simple pudding that everyone enjoyed, reminiscent of jam tart-lets.

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