Treacle sponge

Name: Treacle sponge
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Unsalted butter; Caster sugar; Egg; Egg white; Plain flour; Baking powder; Whole milk; Golden syrup

335 kcal a serving, against 482 for the traditional version. That is 147 kcal off, or 30%, with 5.2g of protein. Serves 6. 1 hour 20 minutes.

What the traditional version is

The proper version is a simple steamed pudding: beat soft butter with sugar, eggs, and flour, pour in a cloud of baking powder, then spoon a thick raft of golden syrup into the bottom of the basin.

What changed, and what each change costs

Butter to half-fat, half replaced with extra milk

The ton of butter in the original gives you a tender crumb and that almost fudgey texture, but it's pure fat.

What it costs you. You lose the depth and density of the crumb. The sponge is fluffier but less rich - closer to a birthday cake than to pudding. Still, it doesn't taste mean, just less extravagant.

Whole eggs to an extra egg white

Egg whites pack in protein and give bounce, while yolks bring richness and fat.

What it costs you. A bit less yellow and marginally less savoury. No one's coming here for the colour, but if you feel cheated, you're probably a pudding purist already.

Golden syrup layer halved

You don't need 180g of syrup to get the sticky effect. Halving the syrup slashes the sugar but leaves you with enough to remember what you're eating.

What it costs you. There isn't a river of syrup pooled around your sponge. You'll need to be quick if you want to catch any with your spoon. The last mouthful is just sponge, and if that sounds tragic, maybe save this for a special occasion and do it properly.

Full-fat milk in the sponge

Swapping water or whole milk for some of the butter makes the texture lighter and keeps the mix workable.

What it costs you. No huge loss here, unless you're one of those people who insists all puddings should be so rich they stain your nerves.

Sponge steamed in the oven, not on the hob

The traditional method means nervously topping up water and hoping you don't soak the pudding. Oven-steaming's less romantic but more reliable.

What it costs you. Purists will miss the ritual, but the end result's the same as far as texture goes.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Unsalted butter
Caster sugar
Egg
Egg white
Plain flour
Baking powder
Whole milk
Golden syrup

How it starts

Grease a 1-litre pudding basin (use a smear of your butter).
Cream together the softened butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture is noticeably paler and just about fluffy.
Beat in the whole egg, then the egg white.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish British.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	482	335
Protein	5.5g	5.2g
Fat	22.7g	12g
Saturated fat	13.4g	7g
Carbohydrate	66.9g	53.2g
Protein per 100 kcal	1.2g	1.6g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish British prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, eggs, milk.

The method is in the book

No one's fooled: the real treacle sponge is half syrup, half butter, and all regret. This is lighter, softer, and won't leave you needing to lie down in a sugar fog. The syrup's more of a suggestion than a sauce, but the nostalgia's still there if you shut your eyes. If you want the full, sticky flood at the bottom of your bowl, you'll have to save up your calories and do it the old way - but I think you'll surprise yourself with how much you still enjoy this one. Anyone who claims not to miss the real thing is telling tales.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish British, along with 56 more. Buy the paperback