How did yesterday’s attempt at spotted dick work out? Pretty well for a first try. The baking parchment worked fine as a wrap for the dough, 45 minutes was long enough to cook it and the taste was very pleasing. I managed to exercise some self-discipline and have kept a few slices; I want to see how long they last and to experiment with baking with a blob of custard on top.

What would I change? I think some lemon zest would be a good addition to work against the fat in the recipe. I should chop the fruit smaller – I am aiming at presenting miniature disks of the result and want to be sure that each one has some fruit in it. I would like to get the tea flavour stronger, perhaps replacing the milk with black (or milky) tea. I think the liquid content could be reduced to yield a dough that is easier to shape and I would like to a more even cylinder to yield consistent slices.

Gosh! That is a lot of variables. In truth, I will probably only have time to do one or two more tests so I will have to take the risk of adjusting several things at once. However, as a bottom line, I at least know the basic idea works and that I can produce something tasty along the lines I intended.