Pudding Club - An Edinburgh First

It’s Sunday afternoon and despite being out last night, I’m not suffering from an alcohol related hangover.  I am however still trying to get my blood sugars back to a normal level after the amazing experience of Edinburgh’s first Pudding Club last night! The plan for the pudding club was similar to that of the many supper clubs that run in Edinburgh but with one key difference: the meal would consist solely of puddings.  Ingenious! Three courses of cake, cheesecake and ice-cream – what better way to spend a Saturday night!!

The groundbreaking Pudding Club idea was conceived by fellow Cake Lady Wendy from Inside Out Chef.  Usually to be found in the kitchen creating bespoke outside catering options including freezer fills, afternoon teas and picnic hampers, Wendy turned her talents to puddings, puddings and more puddings for the night.  And what a menu!

We started with a trio of shooters.  Starting with the wonderfully creamy strawberry panna cotta, I made my way to the sparkling wine and pomegranate jelly and onto the chocolate mousse.  The mousse was honestly to die for. If we’d not been in “polite” company, I’m sure many of us would have resorted to licking the glass clean!

With excitement (and sugar levels!) rising, the first of the many main course dishes was brought out to a choir of appreciative cries from my fellow diners. Drizzled in a wonderfully sweet toffee sauce, the sticky toffee pudding didn’t stand a chance around a table of Edinburgh Cake Ladies.

The three pillow-sized fruit-topped pavlovas were equally endangered as myself and my fellow diners dived in.  Unfortunately, I’m not the biggest fan of cream but this didn’t stop me tucking into the light meringue underneath and the fresh fruit (one of my five a day!) on top.  I had to refrain from picking through the remains to find the left over crispy bits bearing in mind that I still had cheesecakes and ice-cream to devour.

And devour we did! Almost defeated by the previous courses, we took it slowly on with the  rum and raisin baked cheesecake and the blackcherry cheesecake.  And I couldn’t fault either. Having not had baked cheesecake since being in New York over four years ago, I was very much looking forward to the rum and raisin option.  Wendy’s was as amazingly  creamy and light as I remember the best New York cheesecakes!

And despite the hopes of my fellow diners that I wouldn’t be able to finish my three courses (and they would therefore have to “help” me out), I made it to desert: red ripple ice-cream, ginger ice-cream and my favourite, key lime pie ice-cream.

I hear that Wendy might be planning another pudding club later in the year so make sure you keep an eye on her website for more details.  I’m off to do some exercise so I don’t feel too guilty!

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