English desserts include puddings, tarts, sponge cakes, and trifles. Puddings are made by steaming ingredients with eggs, sugar, and flour, while tarts are made with a pastry shell and various fillings. Sponge cakes are light and dry, and trifles are made with layers of sherry-soaked sponge cake, custard, fruit, and cream.
Also known as pudding or afters, the dessert is a very popular dish in England. As such, there are many different types of English desserts. There are, however, some quintessentially English and iconic types, including puddings, tarts, sponge cakes and perhaps the most famous English dessert of all, bland.
While pudding can refer to any type of English dessert, a pudding is also a dessert where various ingredients are combined with eggs, sugar and flour and steamed. This produces a rich, fluffy blend that is usually served with a sauce. One of the most famous of these puddings is the speckled dick, made with raisins, currants, and suet and served with a custard. Another popular version is the sticky toffee pudding, which combines dates and brown sugar and drenched in a rich caramel sauce.
Tarts are also very popular English desserts and are made from a shallow pastry shell, filled with various ingredients and cooked in the oven. A very popular example of this is the custard tart filled with yellow egg custard made with sugar, vanilla and cream and dusted with nutmeg. This tart also provides the base for the Manchester tart, another popular variation that starts with a layer of jam over which a thick layer of egg custard is poured. The tart is then topped with dried coconut and often a maraschino cherry. Perhaps the most iconic tart is the bakewell, a tart consisting of a jam base, a thick almond filling and white icing topping, and a maraschino cherry or flaked almonds.
Sponge cakes are English pastries similar to American pastries, although they are slightly lighter and drier in texture. A yeast-free cake, sponge is made similar to American cake, by baking sugar, flour, and eggs together. Vanilla is the most popular flavor, although chocolate, lemon, or strawberry sponges are also available. Victoria sponge is a very well known and traditional shape, typically made with a base of sponge cake to which layers of jam and fresh cream are applied. A second layer of sponge is added and the entire cake is dusted with icing or icing sugar.
Finally, the trifle is perhaps the most typical of English desserts. Trifle is made from layers of sherry-soaked sponge cake, custard and fruit, along with liberal spoonfuls of fresh cream. Fruit-flavored gelatin is also a common addition. Though enjoyed year-round, trifle is typically served at Christmas as an alternative to traditional Christmas pudding.
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