Les petits chefs meet the Daring Bakers – Food Revolution Week 5

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet. The alternative was a proper steamed sponge pudding which I was excited about trying – it brought back memories of my mum’s steamed puddings when I was little…

HOWEVER –

“Circumstances beyond my control” have prevented me from completing this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge according to the recipes provided. I did want to participate though and had the brilliant idea to introduce Les Petits Chefs to the Daring Bakers by way of this challenge and Jamie Oliver’s recipe for quick steamed microwave pudding cakes. Steaming a pudding in a microwave with 9 year old boys – that’s a Daring Baker wouldn’t you agree??? 😉

The boys have been asking for a “sweet treat” so I figured this would be perfect and a great recipe for them to learn, if it works out, as it appears so easy yet looks much more involved than it really is!

We had a blast with this recipe, even washing the pudding cups was fun:

The boys also enjoyed buttering the cups:

And a particular highlight was squeezing the oranges (and eating the pulp):

We had a LOT of fun with the golden syrup:

And a highlight was definitely tapping bashing the pudding mixture down:

Then there was MUCH excitement when we checked on the puds in the microwave and saw this:

(even I was excited – I was totally expecting this to be the “not everything always works out” lesson for the boys)

And we created some very strange creatures indeed:

We ran out of time to warm extra golden syrup and pour it over and to tell you the truth, the boys were very happy with their creations as they were..  That’s the only time we veered from the recipe.

Some tips:
1. Use a whisk (which I conveniently forgot at home) to make sure there are no flour lumps in the mixture – this was today’s lesson.  Some of the puds had a few floury pockets (however this did not stop anyone from eating them!)
2. Trust Jamie’s timing for baking.  I didn’t think they were done at the end of 7.5 minutes so added an extra minute.  Not necessary – they were just heading off in the “too dry” direction (again, not a deterrent for the boys in any way!)
3. These would be awesome with jam instead of golden syrup as well.
4. Don’t “pooh pooh” this recipe because it’s made in a microwave – they are pretty impressive and I love that they are individual sized – perfect for a spectacular dinner party dessert with hardly any prep!

SO impressed with the boys this week – think there could be a Daring Baker amongst them in the future!

46 thoughts on “Les petits chefs meet the Daring Bakers – Food Revolution Week 5”

  1. I bet these were really good! I wish I had some youngsters to help me out this month! 😉 As you know, I had a “challenge” of my own that made everything crazy for the last few weeks. I think it’s great that you got it done! I would love to try making the pudding in the microwave. Cheers for Les petits chefs!

    Reply
  2. I love just about everything about this post and how you did this challenge. I love that you involved your boys. I love how excited they were to be involved. I love the recipe you chose and that it can be made in the microwave. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I will definitely give this a try!! Great job with the challenge!

    Reply
  3. Don’t fear Mardi, there’s plenty of time for the ‘not everything works out’ lesson.

    I’ve never seen an inside of a microwave that looks like that. It is a special microwave? It doesn’t seem to have a turntable?

    Reply
  4. I’m totally amazed you did a mircowave version excellent work and I love the sous chefs that are helping it is so nice when the whole family makes a recipe and the final results looks so moist and so delicious. Bravo on you effort. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

    Reply
  5. Not only does the recipe look good, I am impressed that you involved the boys. Anytime kids are invovled is a good thing, at least in my mind.

    Reply
  6. At first, I didn’t think “Steamed Microwave Pudding Cakes” sounded all that appetizing, but these look wonderful! Will have to try them out at home.

    Reply
  7. I’ve made these with my son, and they are truly to die for (we didn’t put the extra syrup over the top either, they were plenty sweet already!) Good job petits chefs!

    Reply
  8. What a wonderful and truly fun way to do a challenge! Wouldn’t mind the “les petit chefs” helping me out too.
    Oh, and please tell them the puddings look absolutely delish! 🙂

    Reply
  9. Yum! That looks like so much fun, and delicious, too! I can’t wait to get my Food Revolution Cookbook. I won’t have it until Mother’s Day and I’m dying with anticipation.

    Thanks for linking to Food Revolution Friday!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Alison Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.