Prunes doused in rum give this tart a Christmas pud taste. The caramelised grid pattern through the icing sugar is easy to do and gives a perfect finish.

Ingredients

• 1 quantity basic sweet short pastry
• icing sugar for dusting
• Prunce mix
• 250 grams pitted prunes, chopped
• 25 grams butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ cup dark rum
• Batter
• 125 grams butter, softened
• ¼ cup caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons milk
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• ½ cup ground almonds
• ½ teaspoon almond essence

Method

1. Prepare the pastry. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured bench to about a 25-cm circle. Use to line the base and sides of a 23-cm loose-bottomed flan tin. Press the pastry firmly into the fluted sides of the tin so that the pastry edge is nicely shaped when cooked. Prick the base evenly with a fork.
3. Line the pastry shell with baking paper and three-quarters fill with baking-blind beans.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry is lightly cooked. Remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for a further 5-7 minutes or until well cooked. While the pastry is cooking, prepare the prune mix.
5. Cover the prunes with boiling water and stand for 2 minutes. Drain off all the water. Place the prunes in a saucepan with the butter, sugar and rum and cook until the prunes are mushy and glazed. Allow to cool thoroughly.
6. To make the batter, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until the mixture is quite pale. Beat in the cornflour. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the milk, lemon rind, ground almonds, almond essence and cooled prune mixture. Do not panic if the mix looks or becomes slightly separated.
7. Pour the batter into the cooked flan and level off carefully.
8. Return to the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the tart is firm to the touch in the centre.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving warm, dusted with icing sugar. Accompany with cream, cheat's custard cream or ice cream.
10. To make a caramelised grid: Dust cooled tart liberally with icing sugar. Heat metal skewers over an open flame. Drag the hot skewers through the icing sugar in straight lines. Their heat will slightly caramelise the sugar, leaving the grill lines.
11. Cheat's custard cream: Stir together 1 cup of pre-made custard with 1 cup of cream and ½ teaspoon of vanilla or almond essence.

Cooks Tips

- For baking-blind material, ruse uncooked rice or dried beans. Purpose made ceramic beads are ideal but costly. Baking blind material can be re-used. Allow the material to cool before storing in an airtight container. - If making in advance, refrigerate until required. Reheat at 180ºC for 15 minutes before serving. - For a shortcut, use store-bought sweet short pastry. Use a defrosted 400-gram black, or use 2 sheets pre-rolled sweet pastry.