cranberry tart with hot toffee sauce

An excellent Christmas pudding for eating at any time when you have lots of people to feed. It has a good balance of sweet and sour.

serves 6

for the cranberry tart

• 500g cranberries, fresh or frozen
• Juice and grated zest of 1 orange
• 200g caster sugar
• 150g shelled pecan nuts (chopped)
• 1-2 eggs, well beaten
• 60g plain flour, sifted
• 75g butter, melted
• Crème fraîche, to serve

for the toffee sauce

• 180g dark brown sugar
• 120g butter
• 120ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Grease the 20cm-diameter springform cake tin.

Put the cranberries in a non-stick pan with the orange juice and zest, and mix well. Cook them for about 3-4 minutes, until the cranberries pop.

Put the just-cooked cranberries into the prepared cake tin. Sprinkle with half the sugar and the pecans, and mix well.

In a bowl, beat the remaining sugar with the egg until well mixed. Add the flour and melted butter to make a smooth batter. Pour this over the cranberries in the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes.

To make the toffee sauce, heat the sugar, butter and cream together until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce is bubbling. Take off the heat and serve warm. This makes generous quantities of sauce and you may have some left over for ice cream the following day.

Serve the tart with the hot toffee sauce and crème fraîche.

This recipe features on p.416 of Sarah's Garden Cookbook.