I’m so excited that my attempt at custard didn’t curdle, I can barely type. I’d heard horror stories of the mixture splitting or ending up with a pan of scrambled eggs.

Anyway, the rhubarb crumble recipe was very quick to prepare: after roasting the rhubarb with sugar and water for ten minutes, the flour, butter and sugar topping takes five minutes and you can then throw the crumbles into the oven for half an hour while you make the custard.

Milk and cream are heated until simmering point and then poured over whisked eggs yolks, sugar and corn starch. The mixture then goes back over a low heat to thicken slowly (mine didn’t for ages, until I added more corn starch* dissolved in milk.) There are some great custard tips here.

*Apparently cornflour and corn starch are not one-for-one substitutes; I needed three times as much corn starch to get the custard to thicken.

I highly recommend this comforting winter pudding! Apples and pears are next on my crumble hit list,

Tina