Steamed Apricot Frangipane Puddings

Plush apricot and almond cakes with a chilled vanilla custard

Until very recently, I thought pudding referred to chocolate (or vanilla) custard made on a stovetop with boiled milk. I had no idea that a whole other kind of pudding existed.

As soon as I saw my first steamed pudding, I was smitten. It is a simple cake served upside down with domed edges on top, swimming in a pool of custard. As a soft-textured cake + custard lover, it was right up my alley. This was back in the fall, and–quite frankly–I hadn’t thought about it until I was looking at my vintage cookbooks for strawberry shortcake inspiration for my other most recent recipe. In both of the cookbooks I consulted, on the same page as the shortcake, there was an image of steamed pudding with fruit (either scattered in the pudding or on top like an upside-down cake). I thought, why not make a steamed pudding with one of my favorite summer flavor combinations, apricot and frangipane?

This ended up being a truly fantastic idea (if I do say so myself) because I incorporated the custard into the frangipane cake batter itself. For home baking, adding the pastry cream is usually skipped because it’s a whole other thing to make. Bakeries, however, have pastry cream on hand, so it’s easy for them to just mix it in. The addition of pastry cream adds a lush texture to the frangipane you wouldn’t otherwise get. In my recipe, I’ve used the pastry cream both for the frangipane cake base and for the custard the pudding is served with. And the results are excellent.

This cake is a hybrid of a financier cake and frangipane. It still has that softness and intense almondiness that we love about frangipane, but it is a little more cake-like (and a little less dense/gooey). The steaming helps us to get that soft texture AND keeps the sides of the cake from browning, like you get with a frangipane tartlet. It bakes on top of an apricot so that when you flip the whole thing out, there is a tender, floral, and tart roasted apricot on the top of the cake. Pairing this with the remaining chilled vanilla custard makes the whole dessert come together sooooo elegantly. It is a perfect summer dinner party dessert, and takes a fraction of the time an apricot and almond tartlet would (it tastes quite similar), especially when served with a sablé or shortbread cookie on the side :)

PS. If you are someone who likes not-too-sweet or soft desserts, this is the one for you.

This recipe is for 6 steamed puddings

Ingredients