![\"IMG_1583\"](\"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_1583-300x225.jpg\")
Pouring custard over my awkwardly named dessert<\/p><\/div>\n
Like Scottish haggis, Spotted Dick is kind of a joke food, especially to Americans. Like haggis, you can also find Spotted Dick in a can (Heinz),making it\u00c2\u00a0 a not infrequent gag gift (again, especially for Americans). Unlike haggis, though, in this American opinion, Spotted Dick is really good.<\/p>\n
Why such an unappetizing name, then? “Dick” has been described as an abbreviation for dictionary, a policeman, an apron, a riding whip, a corruption of the “ding” in pudding or “dough,” a referral to the German dich<\/em> (“thick or viscous”), and, lest we avoid it, male genitalia. Americans will usually most certainly turn up their noses at ordering something with that last meaning. After all, at least US restaurants offering Rocky Mountain oysters have the decency to label bulls’ testicles \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oysters.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n But, the Spotted Dick I ordered recently was really just a sweet little spice cake with lots of raisins. As I happen to really like spice cake\u00c2\u00a0and<\/em> raisins, I was enthusiastic about this dish at the friendly King Edward Restaurant by the sea. The waitress took my order with nary a smirk.<\/p>\n The dick itself was a lovely, hot-out-of-the-oven spice cake baked in a small mold, drizzled with caramel sauce, and accompanied with a pitcher of creamy, yellow custard. I smothered the dick in the custard.<\/p>\n I could have further forced the whole issue by ordering Spotted Dick at Moby Dick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, a pub that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s down the street from the King Edward. But back home we couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even name a new mountain bike trail \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Moby Dick\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (in reference to the nearby Whale formation) because of the innuendo. At home, I would just have to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Could I please have the spice cake with caramel sauce?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Here are the ingredients and directions if you’d like to try this at home.<\/p>\n 1 \u00c2\u00bc cup unsalted butter<\/p>\n 1 \u00c2\u00bd cup sugar<\/p>\n 2 unit eggs<\/p>\n 3 unit egg yolks (so, I think you’re dealing with 5 eggs altogether here)<\/p>\n 2 tsp vanilla extract<\/p>\n 2 \u00c2\u00bd cup flour<\/p>\n 1 tsp baking soda<\/p>\n 1 tsp baking powder<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00bd tsp salt<\/p>\n 1 cup sour cream<\/p>\n 1 cup currants<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00bc cup sherry<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00bc cup rum<\/span><\/p>\n unit icing sugar, optional<\/p>\n \n<\/section>\n 1. Preheat oven to 350 \u00c2\u00b0F.<\/p>\n 2. Line two 8\u00e2\u20ac\u009d round pans with parchment paper. Set aside.<\/p>\n 3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.<\/p>\n 4. In a small bowl, soak currants in the sherry and rum<\/span>. Set aside.<\/p>\n 5. In a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar.<\/p>\n 6. Add eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla. Once combined, alternate adding flour mixture and the sour cream.<\/p>\n 7. Remove bowl from stand mixer and fold in soaked currants.<\/p>\n 8. Fill prepared cake pans with batter and bake<\/span> for 30-40 minutes, checking after 30 with a toothpick.<\/p>\n 9. Cool and top with icing sugar.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I’m not at home to bake one of these, but every forkful that evening at the King Edward was cinnamony and nutmeggy, sweet, and succulent. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go too wrong with a custard-smothered Spotted Dick, except perhaps with its name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spotted dick is a traditional British pudding made from mutton fat mixed with other ingredients, such as baking soda, flour, molasses, corn syrup, or nutmeg. You add raisins or dry fruit to this dough and you have “spots.” The dish is steamed or boiled and served with a custard sauce. Like Scottish haggis, Spotted Dick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845\/revisions\/873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Directions<\/span><\/h2>\n