Plum and Raspberry Almond Sponge Pudding with Lemon Custard

For the fruit

300g plums, stoned
150g raspberries
50g granulated sugar

Place the fruit and sugar in a saucepan over a moderate heat.  Cook until the plums are soft.  Set aside to cool.

For the sponge

100g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g caster sugar
100g soft margarine
2 large eggs
2 tbsp ground almonds
2-3 drops almond essence

Place all the ingredients (except the ground almonds) in a large bowl.  Beat together with a hand-held electric mixer until pale.  Fold in the ground almonds.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Put the fruit in an oven-proof dish and top with the sponge mixture.  Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the sponge is golden.  Test the sponge is cooked by piercing it with a skewer, there should be no raw mixture on it when you withdraw the skewer.

Lemon custard

I just made a quantity of custard using custard powder.  I added the juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon to the milk when I was heating it,  mixed some custard powder with cold milk to form a paste and added it to the milk a little at a time until the custard was thickened then sweetened with sugar.