A crunchy topping hides soft layers of spiced fruit bread, Christmas spices, almonds, citrus pieces and zests enveloped in a smooth Baileys Irish Cream custard, Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding = comfort food heaven!
As happened this time last year when I made my Coffee Swiss Roll with Baileys Irish Cream, part of the reason/excuse for creating this Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding was to justify the fact that I buy way too many bottles of Baileys on the run-up to Christmas. After all, they are virtually giving the stuff away, it'd be rude not to (clearly I am a marketer's dream).
Bread and Pudding pudding used to flummox me. The idea of a pudding made with buttered bread just seemed plain weird.
That is until I perfected this recipe. Oh wow. PROPER bread and butter pudding is out of this world.
The flavours are Christmassy and the texture is soft, sweet and comforting intermingled with crunchy bits. The hit of Baileys then just takes it to another dimension.
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Why make this Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding?
Fruit bread is used, no need to add sultanas separately✔️
Crunchy topping, gooey underbelly✔️
Christmas spices and citrus zests throughout✔️
Soaked in a creamy, Bailey Irish Cream custard✔️
Great alternative Christmas pudding✔️
Can be made up to a day in advance, then baked when needed✔️
Ingredients
See recipe card for quantities.
See Substitutions below if you do not have all of these ingredients.
- Baileys Irish Cream
- Fruit loaf
- Orange and lemon zest
- Eggs
- Flaked almonds
- Whole milk
- Double (heavy) cream
- Golden caster (superfine) sugar
- Ground cinnamon / ground nutmeg / ground cloves
- Unsalted butter
- Chopped peel
- Demerara sugar
Instructions
Mix the spices with softened butter to form a paste.
Spread the spiced butter over fruit loaf slices, then cut them into triangles.
Arrange half of the buttered triangles in the bottom of a buttered dish. Sprinkle over chopped mixed peel, orange and lemon zest and flaked almonds.
Repeat with another layer of buttered bread, mixed peel, zests and almonds.
Mix together milk, cream, vanilla extract and Baileys. Lightly beat eggs and egg yolks together and then gently beat into the milk mixture.
Pour all of the custard mixture slowly over the bread until evenly distributed.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes, remove and press the bread down a little into the custard, so only the edges and very tops stick out. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the bread has browned all over.
Substitutions
There are quite a few ingredients in this Bailey's Bread and Butter Pudding, but the following can be used instead if you don't have everything listed:
- Fruit bread - a brioche loaf makes a great substitution, or alternatively any plain white bread. Add 50 grams of sultanas or raisins as well, sprinkling them in between the buttered bread.
- Baileys Irish Cream - you can use any Irish cream or replace it with milk and add 2 tablespoons of spiced rum.
- Spices - you can use mixed spice instead of the individual spices listed, but if you can try to add a grating of fresh nutmeg between layers, half a teaspoon will be plenty.
- Flaked almonds - almonds are added for flavour, crunch and texture, but any chopped nuts can be used instead.
- Golden caster (superfine) sugar - feel free to substitute with white caster sugar or granulated sugar
- Unsalted butter - I have made this recipe with salted and spreadable butter, both work fine.
Storage
You can make Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding up to a day before and then bake it.
Once baked, it will keep for up to 5 days if covered and refrigerated.
You can put the pudding together, add the custard and then freeze it. Simply then defrost and bake.
Serving Suggestions
Baileys Bread and Butter pudding is out of this world gorgeous with any of the following:
- a simple dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream;
- lashings of Proper English Vanilla Custard;
- or, for something extra special why not make up some Bailey's custard, it's truly divine. Here’s the recipe…
Baileys Custard Recipe
I may get around to posting this separately but, in the meantime, if you want to really pimp up your Bailey's Bread and Butter pudding, try this fabulous Bailey's custard sauce:
140g (⅔rd Cup) whole milk
140ml (⅔ Cup) Baileys Irish cream
330ml (1 ⅓ Cups) Double (heavy) cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Large egg yolks
55g (4 tablespoons) golden caster (superfine) sugar
2 ½ tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tablespoon plain (all-purpose) flour
- Beat your egg yolks, sugar and flours in a large bowl until thick and paste-like, then set aside.
- Mix together your cream, milk, vanilla extract and Baileys in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat, mixing continually with a whisk until a few bubbles just start to form on the top.
- Remove from the heat immediately and slowly pour into your egg yolk mixture, whisking continually.
- Return your Bailey's custard to your saucepan and heat, again on a low setting, continually mixing (try to use a flat wooden spatula so that you can keep scraping the base of the saucepan to prevent the custard from sticking), until the custard just reaches boiling point and one or two bubbles start to appear.
- Remove from the heat and serve immediately or cover with a sheet of cling film (plastic wrap) until ready to use as this will prevent a skin forming.
Top tips
Use stale bread OR create stale bread - this is crucially important.
My biggest Top Tip for any perfect Bread and Butter Pudding is to ensure you use stale bread, but, if you're a bit like me, you may not have the forethought to always buy in advance (shop-bought bread takes up to 7 days to turn stale), so below describes how to stale fresh bread.
To create stale bread from fresh bread
- Pre-heat your oven to 160°C Fan/180°C/355°F/Gas mark 4.
- Place a cooling rack or grill rack over a large baking sheet.
- Cut your slices of bread into 2 triangles.
- Place the triangles of bread onto the rack over the baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes
- Remove from the oven and turn the slices over and bake for another 5 minutes
- Once the pieces of bread are dry and a little crispy they are ready.
- Remove and leave to cool completely before buttering with your spiced butter.
FAQ
Stale bread soaks up the custard in bread and butter pudding but doesn't turn the pudding stodgy. Fresh bread contains too much moisture and will affect the texture of your baked pudding.
To ensure the underside of the bread and butter pudding is soft and gooey it needs to be left to stand, refrigerated, for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours before being baked, this allows the bread to soak up the custard.
Many recipes advise cutting crusts off bread for bread and butter pudding however, this isn't vital as leaving the crusts on creates colour and texture in the final pudding.
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📖 Recipe
Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding
Here's what you'll need...
- 28 cm x 19cm baking dish
- Whisk or just use a fork
- Mixing bowl or jug
Ingredients you'll need...
- 400 g Fruit bread 12 slices from a small loaf - 2 days old (see Notes below if the bread is fresh) - crusts can be used, but slice in half if thick
- 50 g Unsalted butter 3½ tablespoons - softened - plus extra for greasing
- ½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon Ground cloves
- 2 tablespoon Chopped mixed peel
- 2 tablespoon Flaked almonds
- 1 teaspoon Orange zest
- ½ teaspoon Lemon zest
- 200 ml Double (heavy) cream 13 tablespoons
- 170 ml Whole milk 11 tablespoons
- 200 ml Baileys Irish Cream 13 tablespoons
- 50 g Golden caster (superfine) sugar 3½ tablespoons -or white caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 3 Large eggs US = extra large
- 2 Large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon Demerara sugar
Here's what we do...
- Grease your serving dish with your extra butter.
- Mix your ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and ground cloves into your butter and then spread it over your bread slices (no need to cut the crusts off your bread).
- Cut each piece of buttered bread in half so you have 2 triangles from each piece.
- Arrange half of the bread slices in the bottom of your buttered dish and sprinkle over a tablespoon of candied peel, a tablespoon of flaked almonds and half of your orange and lemon zests.
- Layer over the rest of your bread and another layer of peel, almonds and zests over the top.
- Place your cream, milk, Bailieys, vanilla extract and sugar into a large mixing bowl or jug and mix together.
- Lightly beat your eggs and egg yolks together and then add them to your milk mixture and beat them together briefly.
- Pour this custard mixture gradually over your bread, ensuring equal coverage.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Heat your oven to 160°C Fan/180°C/355°F/Gas mark 4.
- Remove your bread and butter pudding from the fridge and press down a little to ensure most of the bread is coated in the custard, leave the edges and tops remaining out of the liquid. Sprinkle over your demerara sugar.
- Bake in the centre of your oven for 30-35 minutes until golden all over.
Supporting Notes
To create stale bread from fresh bread
- Pre-heat your oven to 160°C Fan/180°C/355°F/Gas mark 4.
- Place a cooling rack or grill rack over a large baking sheet.
- Cut your slices of bread into 2 triangles.
- Place the triangles of bread onto the rack over the baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes
- Remove from the oven and turn the slices over and bake for another 5 minutes
- Once the pieces of bread are dry and a little crispy they are ready.
- Remove and leave to cool completely before buttering with your spiced butter.
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