“An excellent Christmas pudding for eating at any time when you have lots of people to feed,” notes gardener and chef Sarah Raven.

“It has a good balance of sweet and sour. You can swap cranberries with rhubarb. Serve with crème fraîche.”

Cranberry tart with hot toffee sauce

Ingredients:(Serves 6)

500g cranberries, fresh or frozenJuice and grated zest of 1 orange200g caster sugar150g shelled pecan nuts1 egg, beaten well60g plain flour, sifted75g butter, meltedCrème fraîche, to serve

For the toffee sauce:180g dark brown sugar120g butter120ml double cream

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Grease a 20cm-diameter springform cake tin.

2. Put the cranberries in a non-stick pan with the orange juice and zest and mix well in the tin. Cook them for about three to four minutes, until the cranberries pop.

3. Put the just-cooked cranberries into the prepared cake tin. Sprinkle with half the sugar and the pecans, and mix well.

4. In a bowl, beat the remaining sugar with the egg and mix very well (for four to five minutes) until the mixture pales and leaves a trail as you whisk. Add the flour and melted butter to make a smooth batter. Pour this over the cranberries in the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes.

5. To make the toffee sauce, heat the sugar, butter and cream together until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce is bubbling. Take off the heat and serve warm. This makes generous quantities of sauce, and you may have some left over for ice cream the following day. Serve the tart warm with the hot toffee sauce and crème fraîche.

Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook by Sarah Raven is published by Bloomsbury, priced £35. Photography by Jonathan Buckley. Available now.