Bread & Butter Pudding

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 4 and lightly grease your baking dish (ideally 20cm x 25cm x 5cm).

2. Combine the sultanas, sugar, orange zest and cinnamon together in a bowl, and mix well.

3. Meanwhile, butter both sides of the bread and cut into triangles (dip triangles into melted butter if easier). Lay half of the slices in the bottom of your baking dish so that they are slightly overlapping. If you’re not a fan of crusts, simply remove them at this stage!

4. Sprinkle half of the dried fruit mixture over the overlapping bread pieces, layer the rest of the bread on top and finish by sprinkling the remaining fruit all over. 

5. For the custard combination, heat the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan until it’s just below boiling point. While that’s bubbling away, whisk the eggs and caster sugar together in a jug.

6. Slowly, pour the warm milk mixture over the eggs, stirring until smooth.

7. Now, pour the custard mixture over the assembled bread pudding. Leave to soak for an hour, or longer in the fridge if you prefer.

8. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake for approximately 40 minutes, until golden brown and slightly puffed up. Enjoy hot or cold!

Don’t be afraid to change it up! You could add mixed spice instead of cinnamon, use raisins (or other dried fruit) instead of sultanas, or use a lemon instead of an orange! You could also spread jam or marmalade ono the top layer of bread, squeeze some orange/lemon juice over the bread or even use an alternative to the bread – like hot cross buns at Easter!