Fruit Sponge pudding

This recipe is so quick it is crazy. Great when you think, oh bugger! what am I going to do for a dessert or needing an afternoon tea cake within the hour.  Serve with whipped cream,  gourmet ice cream and/or vanilla custard you can't go wrong.  I used stewed apple simply because that is all I had on hand and I had to use the apples up, but blackberry is probably one of my favourite alternatives, but add a little sugar to the blackberries if tart.

Fruit Sponge pudding

Ingredients

1 cup of self-raising flour (this is one cup of plain flour with 1 teaspoon heaped of baking powder)

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

3/4 cup of caster sugar

60g of melted butter

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup of milk

1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence    

           

1 x 425g tin of apricot halves, stewed apple, 1 - 1 1/2 cups of frozen or fresh berries (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry etc) let your imagination run wild.

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius, spray around 1 litre capacity baking dish with vege oil or use butter to grease.

Sift flour, baking powder into a medium mixing bowl and stir in the caster sugar, make a well in the centre and add the melted butter, eggs, milk, and natural vanilla essence.  Mix well to combine.

Pour batter into the baking dish and place in oven for 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and add the desired fruit to the top, the apricots drop hollow side down into the cake mixture, for the berries/apple drop spoonfuls into the cake mixture.  Bake a further 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown and bounces back.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before removing from dish if serving immediately.

Serve with cream , ice cream, and/or custard.