Anne Morgan Delia Smith’s pudding recipes range from a 12-minute chocolate fondant to an 8-hour steamed Christmas pudding. Every one of these uses simple ingredients, clear steps, and works first time if you follow the method. I have made all 14 and listed them in the order I would cook through the year.
The warm sponge puddings come first for autumn and winter. Then the lighter custard-based ones, the cold summer pudding in the middle, the individual dinner party puddings, and the Christmas pudding last because it needs weeks to mature. Every entry links to the full recipe with ingredients and method.
1. Sticky Toffee Pudding
The one most people order in restaurants but never make at home. Delia’s version uses dates soaked in bicarbonate of soda to keep the sponge moist, then the whole tray goes under the grill with toffee sauce poured over so the top caramelises.
Serves 6, prep 20 minutes, cook 30 minutes, 450 kcal per serving. The grill step at the end is what makes this different from every other sticky toffee recipe online.
2. Eve’s Pudding
If the sticky toffee felt like too much, this is the simpler option. Bramley apples on the bottom, a plain Victoria sponge on top, baked in one dish. No sauce, no grilling, no fuss. The apples collapse into a sharp, soft layer under the golden sponge.
Serves 6, prep 15 minutes, cook 45 minutes, 380 kcal per serving. This is the pudding I make when I have Bramleys in the house and nothing else planned.
3. Apple and Almond Pudding
The grown-up version of Eve’s pudding. Same Bramley base, but the sponge has ground almonds and orange zest, which makes it denser, moister, and fragrant. You turn this one upside down onto a plate so the apples end up on top.
Serves 8, prep 20 minutes, cook 60 minutes, 485 kcal per serving. The hour-long bake is needed because the almonds make the sponge heavier. Do not take it out at 45 minutes like Eve’s or the centre will be raw.
4. Rice Pudding
A completely different kind of pudding: no sponge, no fruit, just rice baked slowly in milk with a whole grated nutmeg on top. The evaporated milk is the secret. It gives the rice a caramel richness that plain milk cannot match, and the skin that forms on top is the best part.
Serves 4, prep 5 minutes, cook 2 hours 15 minutes, 380 kcal per serving. You stir once at 45 minutes and then leave it completely alone. The lowest-effort pudding on this list.
5. Bread and Butter Pudding
Layered buttered bread with currants, candied peel, and a light egg custard with lemon zest. Delia’s version uses much less cream than most modern recipes, which lets you actually taste the citrus and spice instead of just richness.
Serves 6, prep 15 minutes, cook 40 minutes, 330 kcal per serving. The candied peel and currants are what make this the old fashioned version rather than a modern one.
6. Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding
If you liked the plain version, this is its darker, richer cousin. No fruit, no lemon. Instead: 75% dark chocolate, 425ml double cream, and rum. The bread soaks for two days before baking, which is what gives it the dense, fudgy texture.
Serves 6, prep 15 minutes plus 2 days soaking, cook 30 minutes, 550 kcal per serving. Serve small portions. This is the richest pudding on the list by far.
7. Bread Pudding
Not the same as bread and butter pudding at all. You break stale bread into pieces, soak it in milk, mix it with butter, brown sugar, mixed spice, and dried fruit, and bake it into a dense, spiced slab. It is closer to a fruit cake than a custard pudding.
Serves 6, prep 40 minutes, cook 75 minutes, 310 kcal per serving. Equally good hot with cream or cold the next day cut into squares with a cup of tea.
8. Summer Fruit Pudding
The only cold pudding on this list. White bread lines a basin, cooked summer berries go inside, more bread on top, and a heavy weight presses it overnight. You turn it out the next day and the whole thing is stained deep purple with fruit juice.
Serves 8, prep 30 minutes plus overnight pressing, no baking, 200 kcal per serving. Make it the day before you need it. Frozen berries work just as well as fresh and cost a fraction of the price.
9. Lemon Surprise Pudding
One batter separates in the oven into two layers: a light lemon sponge on top and a pool of hot lemon sauce underneath. The surprise is that you did not make them separately. The water bath is what makes the magic happen.
Serves 6, prep 20 minutes, cook 45 minutes, 280 kcal per serving. It feels like a trick every time. If you are nervous about meringues or custards, start here because the oven does all the clever work for you.
10. Queen of Puddings
Three layers: a baked breadcrumb custard on the bottom, warm raspberry jam in the middle, and a cloud of golden meringue on top. It looks like a school dinner pudding but Delia’s version, with lemon zest in the base, is light and sharp and nothing like the stodgy canteen version.
Serves 6, prep 30 minutes, cook 50 minutes, 350 kcal per serving. You bake it in two stages: the custard first, then the meringue. The base must be fully set before you add the jam or everything collapses.
11. Little Sticky Toffee Puddings with Pecan Toffee Sauce
The individual ramekin version of the sticky toffee, with a pecan toffee sauce instead of the plain one. The pecans toast under the grill and go crunchy in the hot sauce. These are the ones Delia recommends for dinner parties because they freeze perfectly and reheat in minutes.
Serves 8, prep 20 minutes, cook 33 minutes, 420 kcal per serving. If you already love the tray bake at number 1, these are worth trying for the sauce alone.
12. Sticky Gingerbread Puddings with Ginger Wine and Brandy Sauce
Same individual ramekin format as the toffee puddings, but with three types of ginger: stem, fresh, and ground. The ginger wine and brandy sauce has a heat that toffee sauce does not, and the treacle in the sponge makes it darker and more intensely spiced.
Serves 8, prep 20 minutes, cook 43 minutes, 410 kcal per serving. These freeze just as well as the toffee ones, so you can make both and offer guests a choice.
13. Melting Chocolate Puddings
Individual fondants where the outside sets firm and the inside stays liquid. You break through the top with a spoon and the fudge-chocolate centre oozes out. 200g of 75% dark chocolate, equal weight in butter, and four whole eggs plus four extra yolks give it the richest flavour on this list.
Serves 8, prep 20 minutes, cook 12 minutes, 470 kcal per serving. The fastest bake here, and they freeze unbaked so you can keep them ready and bake from frozen in 15 minutes whenever you want them.
14. Christmas Pudding
The grand finale. Suet, dried fruit, dark brown sugar, rum, barley wine, and stout, mixed the day before and steamed for 8 hours. Make it in October or November, store it under the bed, and steam again on Christmas Day. The long maturing is what gives it the deep, dark flavour that no shop-bought pudding can match.
Serves 10, prep 30 minutes, cook 8 hours plus 2 hours 15 minutes on the day, 380 kcal per serving. The 8 hours sounds terrifying but you check the water twice and do nothing else. It is the easiest hard recipe I have ever made.
