My brother came round last night and brought dessert with him. This Marks and Spencer Hot Toffee Apple Pudding Bake is not something that I would have picked myself as there is no chocolate involved but I am never going to turn down a free dessert. The box describes this dessert as "moist toffee apple sponge with a Bramley apple compote, toffee sauce and sprinkled with fudge pieces".
The pudding weighs 360g and apparently it cost £2.99. One quarter is a fairly hefty 365 calories and 20g of fat.
The instructions were to place in the oven for 10 minutes at 160C or 140C if you have a fan oven...which I do. When I removed it I noticed that it didn't feel too hot, just nice and warm which was good as quite often these sorts of hot dessert are scorchio and you end up burning your mouth when eating them, or maybe that is just because I am impatient. The point that I am trying to make is that the cooking time and temperature was just right.
I was surprised that there wasn't much of an aroma coming from the pudding and I thought that perhaps it was going to taste a little bland but I needn't have worried. It is mostly sponge with a thin layer of the apple compote on the bottom which had soaked up into the sponge. The toffee on the top was also quite thin and this too had soaked down into the sponge.
The sponge was indeed moist and yet light. I was expecting a sharpness from the apple but it was actually quite subtle and was very sweet. The toffee was quite rich and despite it only being a small amount it was just enough to compliment the apple. The fudge pieces were an added bonus as they were very soft and just sorted of melted in your mouth.
I love hot desserts with ice cream and luckily my brother had this covered as he also brought some Marks and Spencer Cornish Clotted Cream ice cream with him. This set him back a fairly pricey £3.50 for a 1 liter tub but it was delicious and complemented this pudding perfectly.
Verdict
Marks and Spencer Hot Toffee Apple Pudding Bake was a lovely warming dessert, ideal for a cold winter night (despite the ice cream with it). This is definitely comfort food!
