Rum-Soaked Raisin Bread Pudding

by Selina Periampillai, featured in The Island Kitchen

Published by Bloomsbury

Introduction

Think of plump, boozy raisins clothed in a soft, sweet, warm bread pudding with a golden crust. The orange zest, floral vanilla, caramelised sugar and hint of rum make this dessert an indulgent celebration of island flavours. Itʼs great to use any leftover or stale bread for this, whether it is baguettes (typically used), a sliced white loaf, croissants or brioche. Cut into generous portions, the pudding can be served warm or cold.

As featured in

The Island Kitchen

Image of Selina Periampillai's Rum-Soaked Raisin Bread Pudding — Photo by Yuki Sugiura

Ingredients

Serves: 8-10

50 grams raisins
75 millilitres golden/spiced or dark rum
500 grams stale, day-old baguette (broken into pieces)
850 millilitres full fat milk
60 grams light brown muscovado sugar
3 medium eggs
100 grams unsalted butter (melted)
1 vanilla pod (split lengthways and seeds scraped out, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
zest of 1 orange

For the caramel

150 grams caster sugar

Method

Rum-Soaked Raisin Bread Pudding is a guest recipe by Selina Periampillai so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe

Place the raisins and rum in a small bowl. Leave to stand for 15 minutes: the raisins will plump up as they absorb the alcohol.
Place the bread pieces in a large mixing bowl and cover with the milk. Leave the bread to soak in the milk for 5 minutes, then use your hands to squeeze and squelch the bread to mash it all up.
In a small bowl, whisk the muscovado sugar and eggs together until they are a pale brown colour.
Pour the egg and sugar mixture into the soaked bread and add the melted butter, vanilla, orange zest and rum-soaked raisins and their leftover liquid. Beat well with a wooden spoon until combined. Let this stand for 20 minutes to soak up the flavours.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4.
Next make the caramel. Place a medium pan over a medium heat. Scatter in the caster sugar and 2 tablespoons water. After a few minutes the sugar will start to dissolve around the edges. It’s important not to stir the sugar as it may crystallise. Swirl the pan for even melting. Once the sugar has melted, increase the heat to medium-high.
Continue to cook the sugar, gently swirling the pan to encourage even colouring – it should start to go a golden brown colour. At this point take it off the heat and pour it into the bottom of a baking dish around 24cm in diameter (be careful as the caramel is very hot and it may spit). Gently swirl your dish to make sure the caramel spreads evenly on the bottom.
Using a spatula, place the bread mixture on top of the caramel and spread all the way to the edges of the dish, smoothing the top.
Bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the bread pudding comes out clean. Cover with foil if it starts to brown too quickly.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Run a knife around the sides of the dish to carefully detach the pudding. Place an upside down plate or large serving board on the pudding dish and invert it. Carefully remove the pudding dish – the layer of caramel will be on the top. Cut into portions to serve.