Pear and ginger Eve’s pudding with brown sugar custard

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Grease the baking dish.
2. For the sauce, melt the 90g butter in a medium pan. Add the sugar and ginger syrup, then cook over a medium-high heat, stirring often, until the mixture has turned into a toffee-coloured sauce. Pour over the base of the baking dish.
3. Finely grate the fresh ginger into a mixing bowl (squeeze the juice from any ungrated fibrous ginger left in your hand into the bowl, then discard the fibres). Peel, quarter and core the pears, then cut each piece across into two. Add them to the bowl with the grated ginger and any juice and toss together, then spoon evenly over the sauce in the baking dish.
4. For the sponge, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl using a hand-held electric mixer for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour with the second and third egg. Sift over the remaining flour with the baking powder, ground ginger and a pinch of salt, then very gently fold in using a large metal spoon in a figure-of-eight motion. Gently fold in the stem ginger syrup, ground almonds and chopped stem ginger.
5. Spoon the sponge mixture evenly over the top of the pears and bake for 1 hour, covering the dish loosely with a double thickness of foil halfway through, once the pudding has turned a rich golden colour.
6. Meanwhile, make the brown sugar custard. Bring the milk and cream to the boil in a small non-stick pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together briefly, then whisk in the cornflour. Pour in the hot creamy milk, whisking, then return the mixture to the pan and stir over a low-medium heat for a few minutes until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the wooden spoon. Don’t let it boil. Stir in a pinch of salt. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
7. Remove the pudding from the oven and leave it to sit for 5 minutes, then sprinkle with caster sugar and serve with the warm brown sugar custard.