Ingredients

Step by step

1. Put the fruits into a bowl (hull and quarter the strawberries) and cover with the sugar, gin and elderflower cordial, leave to sit for at least 2 hours (or you can do this overnight in the fridge). Put the fruit and juice from the bowl in a pan and bring to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes. Then leave to cool slightly.
2. Cut the loaf of bread into about 16 slices then remove the crusts. Use a rolling pin to flatten the slices of bread. If you are making individual puddings, cut each slice of bread into 3 long fingers, 2 fingers if it's for 1 large bowl.
3. Line 8 mini pudding bowls or a 1.2 litre pudding bowl with clingfilm; make sure you get right to the edges. If it's a large bowl you might need to use a few overlapping pieces to line the bowl completely.
   Tip

   For an alcohol-free version, omit the gin, increase the elderflower cordial to 4 tbsp and add an extra 3 tbsp water.
4. Tip the fruit mix into a sieve over a bowl to drain, then keep the fruit and liquid separate. Dip each finger of bread into the juice before lining the pudding bowls, overlapping the slices of bread ever so slightly. Once all the bowls are lined with the bread, continue dipping the remainder of the bread and place to one side (this will make the top). Pour the remainder of the liquid into the bowls before filling up with the fruit. Put the reserved bread slices on top.
5. Pull the edges of the clingfilm up and over the top of the puddings. Give them a really good press and weigh them down with a plate and a food tin on top. Chill in the fridge overnight. To serve, run a knife around the inside of the bowls and turn out carefully onto plates. Decorate with a few extra berries and serve with scoops of brown bread ice cream (see related recipe), if you like.