#sponge pudding

what to expect: a warm, hopefully fluffy sponge that gets its flavour and moistness from the jam seeping up into the batter

100g sugar

100g margerine/softened butter

2 eggs

100g flour

2 tsp baking powder

20ml milk

2-3 tbsp jam

mix sugar and margerine until fluffy (as sweet and fluffy as a cute kitten preferably), beat in the eggs (this step is not suited as a vent for aggression though because too rough beating will end with shell pieces in the batter) and fold in the flour + baking powder (like origami but tastier). then gently mix in the milk (gently, the batter is your baby)

spoon the jam (i recommend strawberry but do whatever) into a greased pudding bowl (abt 1 litre volume, not too big... one of those bowls that can go into the the oven but has like a high-ish edge? idk.)

anyway just put the jam in the bowl and spread it on the bottom before pouring the batter on top and smoothing the surface flat (like a jam sandwich but there's no bottom bread and the top bread is sponge batter). then loosely cover the bowl with cling film and put into the microwave at full power for 5 1/2 minutes (idk why the half, that's just what my mother does because that's what my nana does and so that's what i do)

leave it to stand for 5 minutes and then dig in! you can spoon it from the bowl directly or cut it into pieces and take it out, whichever you'd like

side notes:

idk if it tastes nice re-heated, i have, in all my life, only ever eaten this sponge fresh out of the microwave and there was never any left over but i imagine it is nicest while still warm

the recipe is meant for 4 people but it's also meant as an after-dinner dessert so i'm sure, if you count it as a full meal, less people can manage to finish it off easily, too 😔