By Andrew Lewis
It’s difficult to beat treacle sponge pudding on a winter’s day, and this super-fast take on the recipe will get you out of the kitchen in record time. This is a very filling dessert, and the quantities below will make enough pudding for four or five hungry people.
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Ingredients

1/2 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
3 tbsp treacle or jam, if you prefer
1 tbsp hot water
English custard or fresh cream

Directions

Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric hand mixer, then beat in the eggs and flour.

Step 2: Grease a medium (roughly 1 1/2 pint) bowl, and pour in the treacle. Microwave the treacle on medium power for 30 seconds, or until the syrup has melted.
Step 3: Add 1 tbsp of hot water to the flour/egg mixture and mix in.

Step 4: Pour the flour/egg mixture into the bowl with the hot syrup, cover the top of the bowl with Saran wrap, and microwave on full power for 3 minutes, or until done.
Note: Microwave wattages vary; please watch your mixture carefully to make sure it does not overcook in the microwave. Also make sure your saran wrap is microwave safe. Not all plastic cling wraps are safe for microwave use.

Step 5: Leave the pudding to cool for 5-10 minutes, and then turn out onto a serving plate. Add a little extra treacle if you are feeling particularly decadent.

This is a full-bodied dessert that deserves to be served with English custard or fresh cream. A few summer berries will help to cut through the sweetness of this dish, and a strong, sweet coffee will finish the meal perfectly.

Emergency Custard:
If you don’t have any custard powder on hand, you can mix up a batch using cornstarch, an egg yolk, milk, and vanilla essence. Mix 1 cup milk with 2 tsp cornstarch and bring to a boil while stirring. Remove from heat and beat in egg yolk and 1 tsp vanilla essence. Return the mixture to the heat, and continue stirring until it boils.
About the Author:

Andrew Lewis is a journalist, a maker, an ardent victophile, and the founder of the www.upcraft.it blog. He is currently studying for a PhD. in archaeometrics and 3D scanning at the University of Wolverhampton.