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06/25/1999 Archived Entry: "Berry Day: Summer Pudding and Blueberry Buckle"

Summertime and the fruit is ripening. Just down the street from me there’s a mulberry tree shedding its bursting purple fruit and staining the sidewalk. I keep wondering why the birds and squirrels aren’t eating them up before they fall. Instead, I’ve noticed that some of the neighborhood’s taller commuters are picking handfuls of berries on their way to the subway, popping fistfuls into their mouths as they walk.

Apropos all the berries I’m seeing, I had Alexis, my summer intern, prepare a Summer Pudding this week. I make Summer Pudding every year, several times during the season, so I was stunned to see that I had never written it out – so I could pass it along to you. It was time I did and had somebody make it from my recipe. (That’s called “testing.”)

Summer Pudding is an English idea: a mold of white bread and sweetened, stewed berries. The berry juice soaks into the bread that incases the fruit. In the end, you can unmold it, like a filled pastry. It’s impressive, even though almost no work at all. In England, black currants are one of the usual berries, but even an English traditionalist would admit that any berry will do. I use what I can get, which generally does not include currants. This week it was strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, which aren’t as juicy as other berries. So our Summer Pudding didn’t have quite enough juice to soak and stain all the bread evenly. It didn’t matter. It was fabulous anyway. I served it with some lightly whipped, unsweetened cream. You couldn’t even see that there were white spots on the bread. It’s great topped with vanilla ice cream, too – as you can imagine.

Another of my favorite summer fruit desserts is the Peach Crostata, which you can find on this web-site in the section of recipes from Soup Suppers. (Yes, my soup book has more than soup recipes. It also offers salads and appetizers and desserts to make a main-course soup supper complete.) I get many requests for that Peach Crostata recipe, and I was told in a recent e-mail from one of you that I should make sure to say that it is excellent with plums, too.

Another fruit dessert I absolutely must make every year is my Connecticut neighbor’s recipe for Blueberry Buckle. No one seems to know how this simple, light, crumb-topped coffee cake came to be known as a buckle, but it is certainly amusing to say.


Summer Pudding


1 loaf sliced white bread, crusts removed
1 quart strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 pint blueberries, washed and drained
1/2 pint raspberries
1/2 cup sugar

A few hours before you make the pudding, place the bread on a cake or oven rack to dry out a bit. (Even several-day old white bread is usually too soft.)

Take an 8-inch square baking dish, about 2 inches deep, or any pan of similar volume. Line the bottom and sides with the slices of bread in an attractive fashion, cutting the bread to fit. Since the pudding will be unmolded, the bottom and sides will show. (There is no need to butter or grease the pan.) Be sure that there are no spaces between the pieces of bread.

In a medium saucepan, combine the berries and sugar. Bring to a boil, covered, over medium heat, stirring once or twice, then let cool completely. The fruit should be soft.

With a slotted spoon, place the fruit in the prepared dish. Cover the fruit with a final layer of snugly fitted slices of bread.

Drizzle the remaining fruit juices over the top layer of bread and especially around the bread that lines the sides.

Cover with waxed paper and place a weight on top, something that fits the pan, such as another pan, or a small board. A good weight is a can of tomatoes.

Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or up to several days.

To unmold, run a sharp knife around the sides of the pan. Place a serving plate over the pan with the pudding, turn it upside down and jerk the pudding sharply so it will fall onto the plate.


Josie’s Blueberry Buckle
Makes a 9-inch square cake

1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups blueberries

For the topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon or 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon and powdered cardamom
1/4 cup butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

In a medium-sized bowl cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg. Mixture should be light and fluffy.

Mix and sift the flour, salt and baking powder.

Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the egg mixture, starting with the flour and incorporating well after each addition.

Fold in the berries.

To make the topping: Mix the flour, sugar and spices and cut in the butter just until it is well distributed throughout. Sprinkle on top of the cake.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.