I’ve made this quite a few times recently (mainly at the request of Simon, and also because making Tristan’s eyes pop out of his head is so much fun) and figured I should share the recipe.

This is the basic recipe, but it’s one of those that you can vary ad infinitum.

For this recipe you will need

  • a 1 litre (7inch) pyrex bowl
  • a saucepan big enough to hold pyrex bowl with room to spare
  • aluminium foil
  • string
  • a large mixing bowl
  • wooden spoons/electric mixer
  • 2 hours spare time

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 140g (4.5oz) sugar (granulated or caster)
  • 140g (4.5 oz) butter
  • 180g (6oz) self raising flour
  • 200g (8tbsp) of golden syrup

Method

  1. Mix the butter and sugar thoroughly in the mixing bowl
  2. Mix in the eggs one at a time
  3. Gently fold in the flour - this is your sponge mix
  4. Pour the golden syrup into the bottom of the pyrex bowl
  5. Spoon the spngee mix on top of of the syrup. Smooth the top layer so that it meets the edges of the bowl
  6. Make a 4 cm (2 inch) Z-fold in a sheet of foil and use this to cover the top of the bowl
  7. Fold the foil over the edges of the bowl and secure with the string around the rim - there mustn’t be any gaps
  8. Use more string to create a handle for the bowl
  9. Put a few centimeter (a couple of inches) of water in the bottom of the saucepan
  10. Lower the bowl into the saucepan
  11. Boil gently for 2 hours - check water level periodically, don’t let it dry out
  12. When it’s done, remove from the pan and remove the foil and string
  13. Put a large plate on top of the bowl and carefully turn over
  14. Allow to stand for 5 minutes
  15. Remove the bowl
  16. Serve