Spotted dick is one of our favourite nursery puddings, best enjoyed with lashings of custard or sweet white sauce. It has been in the news lately because of its dubious name. Those of use who were brought up with this deliciously stodgy pud don’t give it a second thought, but smutty remarks, usually made by young male customers, has prompted a name change to Spotted Richard at at least one café.

It seems likely that the original spotted dick, and other similar recipes with less colourful names such as raisin roly poly, plum bolster and, my favourite, spotted dog, were log-shaped, wrapped in a flour-dredged pudding cloth and cooked directly in boiling water.

There are countless others for a round pudding, or a dumpling as it was originally called, with more prosaic names such as currant dumpling, scrap bread pudding and half pay pudding, all dating back to the middle of the 19th century.

Anyway, whatever you call this sweet sponge pudding with dried fruit, it is one of countless old-fashioned British puddings that were designed to fill us up. They came into their own in times of hardship, particularly postwar when meat was scarce and too expensive for every day.

These days spotted dick is a restaurant favourite, but I wonder how many people realise how easy it is to cook this economical dish at home?

I made two versions, one echoes the most commonly given recipe and is made with suet, self-raising flour, currants, sugar and water. I served it with warmed golden syrup and home-made custard and it swept me back to childhood Sunday lunches, but the dense texture and intense sweetness, not to mention the very rich and probably extremely unhealthy combination, left me wanting to update what is in effect, a simplified, light Christmas pudding.

Pudding two was fine-tuned to be lighter and more interesting to eat. I upped the quantity of dried fruit, using a mixture of currants and raisins soaked in whisky and golden syrup.

Instead of pure suet, I used a combination of butter and a small amount of suet, cut out the sugar, adding milk and egg instead of water to bind the mixture. It ends up sloppier and more like a cake mix than a firm, stiff suet pudding but cooks to a golden colour and is more sponge than suet pudding, yet retaining a firm texture.

Instead of custard, I went for another childhood favourite — a pale lemon sauce. My mother used to make it with cornflour, but mine is richer and made with plain flour, more like a sweet, lemon-flavoured béchamel and much easier to make than custard (unless, of course, you use Bird’s powdered custard or cheat and buy it fresh).

It takes exactly two hours to cook this lovely pudding, making it almost do-able for a family supper, but I particularly think of it for wintry Sunday lunches. Like Christmas pudding, it can be made ahead and reheated; just be sure that the pudding is securely covered with foil and cooked in boiling water, topping up with boiling water as necessary.

PLUMP SPOTTED DOG

Serves 6, generously
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 2 hr

Ingredients
25g soft butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
125g raisins
125g currants
2 tbsp brandy or whisky
225g self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
75g butter
50g shredded suet or vegetarian alternative
2 eggs
A little milk
You will need a 2 pt/approx 1 litre pudding basin, tinfoil and string

Method
Lavishly butter the pudding basin with soft butter. Spoon 1 tbsp Golden Syrup in the base of the basin. Place raisins, currants, brandy or whisky, 1 tbsp Golden Syrup and 1 tbsp water in a suitable pan and cook gently, stirring as the liquids heat up, then cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and continue cooking for a few more minutes until the fruit is plump with the liquid. Tip on to a plate to cool. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Cut 75g butter over the top and rub it into the flour. Add the suet and mix thoroughly. Whisk the eggs until smooth and make up the quantity to 150ml with milk. Stir the sticky fruit into the flour mixture and add the egg gradually, using a knife (or fork if you are superstitious) to mix into a damp, cohesive dough with dropping consistency.

Turn it into the prepared basin, smooth the top with a knife and smear with any remaining soft butter. Make a central pleat in a large piece of tinfoil and place loosely over the top. Tie securely, going round twice, with string under the rim of the basin, then loop a handle across the top of the pudding. Roll the excess foil up and over the string and lift the pudding into a large pan with a well-fitting lid. Pour boiling water two thirds of the way up the basin. Cover with the lid and boil for 2 hours. Check after 40 minutes or so and top up with more boiling water. To serve, lift the pudding out of the pan. Remove the foil and run a knife round the inside edge of the pudding. Rest for 5 minutes then place a plate over the pudding and quickly invert to reveal the syrup-capped, golden, fruit-speckled plump dog. Serve with hot lemon sauce.

LEMON SAUCE

Serves 6
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 20 min

Ingredients
750ml milk
2 lemons
50g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
Tiny pinch of salt
2-4 tbsp caster sugar

Method
Put the milk into a pan. Pare the lemon paper-thin and add to the milk. Heat through until hot but not boiling. Meanwhile, in a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour until well blended. Cook over a very gentle heat for 2-3 minutes.

Now carefully pour in the milk, beating all the time. Cook at a gentle simmer, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon, for a few minutes until smooth and lightly thickened.

Add 2 tbsp sugar and the tiny pinch of salt. If you have a diffuser pad, set the pan on this, but let the sauce cook very gently for a good 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the juice from one lemon. Taste and decide whether you need more lemon or more sugar. Strain into a jug to remove the lemon zest.

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