Cranberry Pudding

I have found that most of my favorite recipes were ones my Mom made when I was a kid. Maybe those food theories are right? This one is perfect for the fall holidays.

It is called a pudding though it is really more like a cake with sauce. In other cookbooks, I have found similar recipes that call for the cake to be steamed. Probably if I actually did it some day, I would find it is not as impossible as it sounds. But, so far I have avoided that method of cooking cake. This is a regular bake-in-the-oven cake.

The recipe is from a cookbook my family tenderly and fondly calls the "Fall Apart Cookbook." Favorite Recipes of The Great Northwest published by Favorite Recipes Press, Inc in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1965. Yes, I was born and a big sister by then.

And, no, the eggs weren't forgotten. This recipe doesn't call for eggs.

Cranberry Pudding

1 cup sugar
2 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp. margarine, melted
2 1/2 cup whole cranberries uncooked (fresh/frozen) - I never have this many cranberries, living in Japan, so I divide the cranberries I have in two and make two batches.

Sift together first three ingredients. Add milk, margarine and cranberries. Pour into greased 8x10 inch pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. Pour warm sauce over pudding.

Kim's note: I don't have an 8x10 inch pan, so make it in a deep single layer round cake pan. 350F is around 170 C. Watch the top so it doesn't get too brown.

The sauce is a MUST! - though you can adjust the sugar for taste.

Sauce

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup evaporated milk - not available here - I use cheap or fake cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat sugar, margarine, and milk together just until blended. Add vanilla. Yield 12-16 servings.

Kim's note: While the cake is hot, I leave it in the pan, poke it all over and around the sides between the cake and the pan, with a nice chopstick. Then I pour the sauce slowly all over the cake, letting it seep in nicely. You could also pour the sauce over slices of the cake, I'm sure. The TARTNESS of the cranberries is set off nicely with the sauce. My Japanese friends love this cake too. It is a nice cake! HAHAHA!

FYI - Foreign Buyer's Club sells frozen cranberries in their Deli section on the Net.

This recipe was contributed by Carol Carson from Mill City, OR.