Golden Syrup Steamed Pudding

I love golden syrup steamed pudding. It's one of my abiding memories of visiting my Nan and our family in Cambridgeshire - winter or summer, there would always be a steamed pudding on the table, lovingly steamed by Nan for probably around 4 hours!

But I've never made one myself...until this weekend. Leigh found a recipe for me and I gave it a go today. Despite not really being able to check how it's getting on during cooking it came out really well. My only amendments to the recipe are that I had to add 5 tbspns milk to make it a dropping consistency (I stuck to my guns assuming that 'dropping consistency' was the key, rather than sticking to the recipe's 1-2 tbspns milk) and the whole things needs more syrup!

(sadly I forgot to take a photo of it before anyone got their spoons in!)

Ingredients :

1. *   3 rounded tbsp Golden Syrup
2. *   115g butter or margarine
3. *   115g Caster Sugar
4. *   2 medium eggs, beaten
5. *   Grated zest 1 lemon
6. *   175g self-raising flour, sifted
7. *   1 - 2 tbsp milk

Method :

1. Grease a 900ml pudding basin. Put the golden syrup in the bottom of the basin.

2. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs, a little at a time and beat well after each addition.

3. Add the lemon zest. Using a metal spoon, fold in half the flour, then fold in the rest, adding sufficient milk to give a dropping consistency.

4. Spoon the mixture into the basin, cover with greased baking parchment or foil, and secure with string. Steam over a pan of boiling water for about 1½ hours until well risen and firm to the touch.