Sobaos Pudding With Rosemary & Crunchy Nut Topping

Sobaos are a Spanish delicacy from Cantabria in the north of Spain. A sponge cake made of butter, flour, eggs, sugar and honey, it is their preparation using only natural organic raw ingredients from the region and according to traditional methods that really make them stand out. These delicious cakes are normally eaten for breakfast or afternoon tea but as we have done here, they are also often used to create other cakes or puddings. Typically used to flavour savoury dishes, the delicate flavours and aromas of herbs also work very well in desserts. This pudding makes use of some Rosemary infused Olive Oil which delivers both the distinctive aromatic flavour of the rosemary as well as a delicious silkiness from the olive oil. Lastly, to complement and to add texture, we have finished off this pudding with a with crunchy nut topping made from some Largueta almonds flavoured with honey and cinnamon. Truly delicious!

Sobaos Pudding with Rosemary & Crunchy Nut Topping

• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 60 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
• Cuisine: Desserts

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 3 sobaos or sponge cake squares about 7cm square
• 1 tsp rosemary olive oil
• rosemary, small bunch
• 5 eggs yolks
• 125ml whipping cream
• 140g organic sugar
• 125g almonds
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 200C.
2. In a small baking dish (ours was 17cm L x 12cm W x 4cm D) form a layer with your sobaos or sponge cake squares in the bottom of your dish. Depending on the size of your dish you may have to cut your sobaos to fully cover the bottom.
3. Finely chop your rosemary leaves and add them to your rosemary olive oil (if you don’t have it, you can use an alternative high quality extra virgin olive oil). Set to one side.
4. In a saucepan bring to the boil your whipping cream together with half of sugar (70g). Add your rosemary olive oil infusion and then remove from the heat and leave to one side, for 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile mix the remaining sugar with the eggs yolks.
6. Strain the rosemary cream through some muslin cloth or a fine sieve. Don’t worry if some of the rosemary leaves make it through, they’re obviously perfectly edible. Add the strained cream to the egg sugar mixture and blend together.
7. Slowly pour your mixture into your baking dish, over your sabaos The sobaos will come floating to the top so that they sit on the surface, which is what we want. By soaking the sobaos it also means they take on all the flavour of your cream mixture as well as stopping them burning when in the oven.
8. Now we want to create a bain-marie for our pudding. Using a water bath protects the food from the direct heat of the oven and allows the pudding to cook slowly and evenly. First, sit your small baking dish in a larger one with high sides. Then bring a large pot of water to the boil and carefully pour the hot water into the larger dish around the smaller one. You want the water to come about halfway up the sides of your small baking dish. Then put your bain-marie in the oven for 60 minutes. Be sure to check on it every 15 minutes or so. The water should be just simmering. If it’s boiling, then the oven is too hot and you should reduce the temperature. If all the water evaporates before your pudding has finished cooking, then just add some more hot water. Remove from the oven after an hour, allow to cool briefly and then put it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
9. Whilst the pudding is cooling in the fridge we can make the crunchy nut topping. In a saucepan, add you honey and bring to the boil. Then add your almonds and the cinnamon, stirring well.
10. Remove from the heat and after lining a baking tray with baking paper, spread your honey coated almonds evenly over the tray. Place in the oven at 200C for about 10 minutes. Remove and leave them to cool. Then with a mortar and pestle roughly break up your honied almonds.
11. Once your pudding is ready and sufficiently cooled, add a layer of crunchy almonds to the top before serving.