Lottie says: “What is ‘clafoutis’? I tried translating it online and it means ‘clafoutis’, so that’s not helpful. But it’s essentially a set custard or batter that you serve lukewarm. This is my hot pudding chapter, not my lukewarm pudding chapter, so I eat it hot (or cold). Oh, and it’s super simple to make.”

Equipment

• 23cm (9-inch) square baking tin
• Microplane (optional)
• Stand mixer or electric whisk

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter, for greasing
• 240g fresh blueberries
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp kirsch or cherry brandy
• 3 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 60g golden caster sugar
• 65g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 150ml milk
• 100ml double cream
• Maple syrup, for drizzling

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and grease your baking tin liberally with butter.

Scatter the blueberries across the base of the tin and sprinkle with the lemon zest. Pour over the kirsch or cherry brandy and set aside.

Whisk the whole eggs and yolk, almond extract and sugar together in a stand mixer or in a large bowl with an electric whisk until light and frothy. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, and whisk again until smooth. Add the milk and cream and whisk again to combine.

Pour the batter on top of the blueberries (they will rise to the surface) and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle with maple syrup to taste. This is a dish best served warm, but be careful because those blueberries will be hotter than the sun when you bite down on them.

Lottie says: “I really don’t like bread and butter pudding. But I do like waffles and chocolate custard. That explains what we are doing here. Best served with cream or ice cream.”

Equipment

• 35 x 25cm (14 x 10-inch) baking tin or ovenproof dish
• Hand whisk

Ingredients

• 120g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 2-3 packets of toasting waffles, about 750g in total
• 100g milk chocolate
• 3 egg yolks
• 60g caster sugar
• 220ml milk
• 220ml double cream, plus extra to serve (optional)
• 150g dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids minimum), broken into pieces
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• Vanilla ice cream, to serve (optional)

Method

Grease your baking tin or ovenproof dish liberally with butter.

Unpack the waffles and butter each waffle on one side. Place in the greased tin or dish butter side up. You want the whole base to be covered with waffles, so you may need to trim some to fit. Break up the milk chocolate and scatter over the waffles. Butter more waffles and place them on top, again butter side up.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas Mark 6.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl with a hand whisk until you have a pale paste. Heat the milk, cream, dark chocolate and vanilla in a medium saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is steaming but not boiling. Remove from the heat. Pour a little of this mixture on to the egg yolk mixture and whisk vigorously to combine. Add the egg yolk mixture to the pan and whisk well.

Pour the mixture over the waffles and bake for 30-35 minutes until set but still with a slight wobble. If the wobble is more than slight (ie the pudding is runny) but the top is starting to burn, cover the dish with foil and return to the oven. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with cream or ice cream. 

Lottie says: “Who doesn’t want a bit-ter caramel in the morning? Considering this is a pretty straightforward recipe (I’m actively encouraging you to use shop-bought pastry here), these puffs went through one of the most rigorous testing processes in the book. Really, I’d like to eat tarte tatin for breakfast, but to make that more acceptable I’ve subbed in some grapefruit instead. The caramel balances out the bitterness of the fruit and is an opportunity to use up leftover caramel sauce, which I always seem to have lying around.”

Equipment

• Baking sheet

Ingredients

• 1 sheet of shop-bought ready-rolled puff pastry
• 2 grapefruits, whatever colour you can get
• Caramel sauce (see below, you need it to be cold and set when you spread it on the pastry)
• Icing sugar for water icing, to decorate (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and line a baking sheet with nonstick baking paper. Use baking paper here even if you normally use a silicone mat because I have found it helps to avoid a greasy, soggy bottom.

Unroll the pastry and cut four squares out of it (this will leave you with enough for another two squares to do whatever you like with). Score a 1cm border within the edges of each square. Place on the lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice off the ends of each grapefruit and use a sharp knife to slice away the peel and pith. Hold the now juicy, naked grapefruit in your hand and follow the line of the natural segments with your knife to slice them into a bowl. Make sure you cut in between the membranes here so that you end up with segments free from any bitter white bits.

Remove the puffs from the oven and gently use your fingers to push down the central section, leaving the 1cm border walls standing. Spread some caramel over the now indented square (I use about one tablespoon per puff ) and then arrange the grapefruit segments on top. Bake for another 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and transfer the puffs to a wire rack. If you want a little more sauce, heat the caramel in the microwave until it is a drizzling consistency, then pour it on top of the puffs. Alternatively, you could decorate with water icing (made using equal quantities of icing sugar and water mixed together until smooth) for a more shop-bought pastry look.

Caramel sauce

Ingredients

• 150g unsalted butter
• 85g light brown soft sugar
• 1 tbsp water
• 65g evaporated milk

Method

Heat the butter, sugar and measured water in a medium saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the butter has melted. Bring to a gentle boil and continue boiling, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened and darkened, which normally takes about 8 minutes for me. Don’t be afraid of it burning here. You need the sugar to melt (when you press a spatula against the side of the pan, you shouldn’t feel any sugar crystals) and that takes a bit of time, and if you don’t take it far enough, the sauce will be grainy. Once you are confident that the sugar has melted and the sauce is smooth, add the evaporated milk and stir vigorously while you bring the mixture to the boil, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Baking Imperfect: Crush, Whip and Spread it Like Nobody’s Watching by Lottie Bedlow (£20, Hamlyn) is out now