Berry and Mascarpone Summer Pudding

That sounds pretty yum, doesn’t it?

And it is!

I wrote yesterday about our trip to the Pick Your Own, so inevitably, we had quite a lot of strawberries.

Hubby had seen a recipe card in Waitrose, and decided to give this a go.

It does use up a LOT of fruit, and we had to supplement our strawberry harvest with some bought fruits, so maybe making this later on in the year when the raspberries are out too might make it a more economic option…
It is however delicious, and I like to twist of putting the mascarpone in the middle. I have come up with a couple of little tweaks that I think I would do if I was doing it again. So here is the ‘tweaked’ version:

This is what you need:

175g golden caster sugar
1 star anise or cinnamon stick
1kg (yes, that does say 1kg…!) mixed summer berries-we used strawberries, blueberries and raspberries
9 slices Soft White Medium Sliced Bread, 800g loaf, crusts removed
150g mascarpone
2-3 tbsps icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract or the seeds of a vanilla pod

This is what you do:

Put the sugar, spice and 4 tbsp water in a large pan. Heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then add the berries and cook for a couple of minutes until they begin to soften and release their juices
Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then strain the berries to separate the fruit from the juice
Line a 1.5-litre pudding basin (or large bowl) with clingfilm
Cut 8 of the bread slices in half lengthways, on a slight angle, so that each piece has a wide end and a narrower end
Dip the slices of bread in the juice then use to line the basin, overlapping the pieces so there are no gaps
Whip the mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla extract/seeds together
Place a third of the berries into the bottom of the basin then spoon the mascarpone into the centre and cover with the remaining fruit. Fold over any overhanging edges of bread. Cut the last piece of bread into a round and place on top, then drizzle with a little of the reserved juice
Cover the pudding with clingfilm and sit a small plate on top. Stand some cans on the plate and chill overnight
Remove the clingfilm, turn out the pudding and slice
EAT!!!