Panettone Bread Pudding

Ingredients

For the bread pudding

50g softened butter

250g panettone

2 eggs

140ml double cream

230ml milk

1tbs vanilla extract

Icing sugar

For the cream

240ml whipping cream

1tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160C/gas mark 3 before taking a shallow rectangular baking dish, large enough to hold 1.5 pints, and greasing it with a little butter.

2. Cut 250g panettone into wedges (five slices should be about right), leaving the darker, outside edge of the panettone intact. Butter the slices lightly before cutting them in half and arranging them in the baking dish, butter side up.

3. Take a bowl and whisk the 2 eggs together before adding the cream, milk, vanilla extract and the sugar. Once the ingredients are well mixed together, pour over the panettone.

4. Place your oven dish into a roasting tin and pour hot water around it, until the water is around 2.5cm/1 inch up the side of the dish, inside the roasting tin.

5. Bake your bread pudding for 35 minutes, until the pudding is just set. You will know when it is ready because it will be yellow inside and nicely browned on the top.

6. To make your whipped cream, take the whipping cream from the fridge and begin whipping immediately, before adding the vanilla extract. For best results, use an electric mixer and start mixing slowly.

7. For the first few minutes, the mixture will be very frothy. Look out for trails in the cream that do not immediately disappear after you move the whisk, which should appear after five minutes.

8. After seven minutes of whisking, you should start to notice soft peaks in your cream, and if you remove the whisk from the bowl peaks will soften quickly – this means that it needs more mixing.

9. Seven to eight minutes into the mixing is usually the perfect time to stop whipping, when peaks are firm and the cream has increased in volume. If you continue whipping after this stage the cream will continue to thicken - too much whipping will cause a grainy texture.

10. If you are ready to serve, dust your bread pudding with icing sugar before placing a dollop of whipped cream on top. If you are serving your pudding later, or if you have any leftover whipped cream, cover and store in the fridge.