Plum Duff

Butter the inside of a 1 litre pudding basin with butter and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the chopped plums and apple, orange juice and zest, rum and eggs and mix together well. Begin adding the milk gradually and stir well. Keep adding milk until the mixture drops easily from the spoon when lifted from the bowl. Spoon the mixture into the buttered pudding basin.

Take a double sheet of foil and form a pleat across the middle. Cover the top of the pudding and tie well in place with kitchen string. Form a handle with string to make it easy to lift the pudding out of the steamer when cooked.

Partly fill a large pan with boiling water and place a steamer on top. Bring the water back to the boil and place the pudding in the steamer, cover and steam for three hours. Check the water every thirty minutes to make sure it doesn't boil dry.

When serving, remove the foil from the pudding and loosen the pudding carefully from the edges of the basin.