Old Fashioned Blueberry Pudding with Rosewater Sauce
Old-Fashioned Blueberry Pudding – This nostalgic cake is bursting with sweet blueberries, while the delicate rosewater sauce adds a touch of floral flavor. It’s an easy-to-make recipe for a special occasion.
Why We Love This Blueberry Pudding Recipe
As a little girl, I was captivated by the Little House on the Prairie books. Laura would describe the preparation of daily meals in great detail and weave a feast for the senses with smells, crackling sounds, and hearty dishes you’re dying to try. Needless to say, I HAD to buy The Little House Cookbook. What fun it’s been flipping through the pages of frontier recipes—dishes cooked over an open flame and churned to perfection.
This Old Fashioned Blueberry Pudding with Rosewater Sauce is inspired by the blueberry pudding Almanzo’s mother made after a long day of berrying in the book Farmer Boy. I didn’t use the exact recipe in the cookbook, because it was developed before most homes had reliable ovens. Therefore, it was cooked in a tin can submerged in water on the stovetop.
This oven-friendly “pudding” is not a custard as we think of pudding in the United States; it’s more of a British-style hefty cake that you scoop up with a spoon. It’s dense, hearty, and not overly sweet, with a cornbread-like consistency. A pudding of this variety would have been served with milk, or a sweet sauce, poured over the top to moisten it.
Although rosewater is now generally considered a middle-eastern ingredient, it was widely used for flavoring in early American days, because people could make it easily from wild roses.
Admittedly, I’ve tried rosewater in several dishes and beverages and haven’t been impressed, but the combination of rosewater, nutmeg, and butter in this silky sauce is exquisite. Poured over the rustic and tart blueberry pudding… sigh. I honestly could not get enough of it!
Ingredients You Need
For the Old Fashioned Blueberry Pudding:
- Butter – divided and melted
- All-purpose flour – or your fave gluten-free substitute
- Granulated sugar – either white sugar or coconut sugar, if you prefer
- Baking powder – to make the cake fluffy
- Cinnamon – use high-quality cinnamon for the best taste
- Salt – to balance the sweet flavors
- Milk – use dairy or favorite non-dairy milk
- Eggs – at room temperature
- Fresh blueberries – frozen can be used in a pinch
For the Rosewater Sauce:
- Powdered sugar – also known as confectioners’ sugar
- Salt – to balance the sweet flavors
- Nutmeg – makes it taste comfy & cozy
- Rosewater – use food grade
- Butter – melted
- Vanilla extract – pure, not imitation
How To Make This Blueberry Pudding
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Use 2 tablespoons butter to grease a large baking dish. (9×13 or a smaller deeper dish.)
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, remaining butter (melted), and 2 eggs.
- Mix the wet mixture into the dry mixture until well combined. Then stir in the blueberries, withholding a large handful for the top.
- Pour the batter into the baking dish and sprinkle the remaining berries over the top. Bake 40-60 minutes (depending on the depth of the dish) until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the ingredients for the rosewater sauce and set aside.
- To serve, scoop the warm pudding onto plates and drizzle with rosewater sauce.
Get the Complete Printable Blueberry Pudding with Rosewater Sauce (Old Fashioned Blueberry Cake Recipe) Below. Enjoy!
Recipe Variations
- Lemon-blueberry – Add a tablespoon of lemon zest to the batter for a zesty citrus flavor that pairs beautifully with the blueberries. You can also replace the rosewater sauce with a tangy lemon glaze for a bright, refreshing taste.
- Mixed berry – Swap out half of the blueberries for a mix of raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries to create a more diverse berry flavor.
- Coconut – Shredded coconut can be incorporated into the batter for a tropical flair. You can also replace regular milk with coconut milk for added richness and subtle flavor.
- Almond – Fold in some chopped almonds or use almond extract in the pudding batter.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store this blueberry cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
I recommend using fresh blueberries for a fresher vibrant flavor, but frozen berries will work. If you use frozen, they need to be thawed out and patted dry with a towel before adding to the batter.
Looking for More Desserts? Be Sure to Try:
- Raspberries Lemon Cupcakes
- Apple Pie Cream Cheese Wontons
- Buttermilk Lemon Cake
- Fresh Blueberry Pie with Almond Crust
- Lemon Blueberry Cake (Pound Cake Recipe)
- The Fluffiest Fluffernutter Pie Recipe
- Easy No-Bake Key Lime Pie (Lime IceBox Pie Recipe)
- No Bake Lemon Icebox Pie Recipe
- Homemade Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Get the Complete Printable Blueberry Pudding with Rosewater Sauce (Old Fashioned Blueberry Cake Recipe) Below. Enjoy!
Old Fashioned Blueberry Pudding with Rosewater Sauce
Ingredients
For the Old Fashioned Blueberry Pudding:
- 5 tablespoons butter divided
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 2/3 cups milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 pints blueberries
For the Rosewater Sauce:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 4 tablespoons rosewater
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Use 2 tablespoons of butter to grease a large baking dish. (9×13 or a smaller deeper dish.)
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, remaining butter (melted) and 2 eggs.
- Mix the wet mixture into the dry mixture until well combined. Then stir in the blueberries, withholding a large handful for the top.
- Pour the batter into the baking dish and sprinkle the remaining berries over the top. Bake 40-60 minutes (depending on the depth of the dish) until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the ingredients for the rosewater sauce and set aside.
- To serve, scoop the warm pudding onto plates and drizzle with rosewater sauce.
Hello Sommer,
Since you originally posted this, your girls have become young women! Here in April 2020, I was searching for a recipe using blueberries and rose water, and found this recipe, and YOU! I reveled in your excerpts from the Little House books. I, too, grew up with Laura Ingalls Wilder, and read the books aloud to my children. Now, our daughter has read them to her own kids, and Laura is still mesmerizing! Her exquisite rendering of details opens a window to a life we just haven’t experienced. From our entitled culture of plenty, we might label hers a life of “deprivation”, but instead we read her pages and find… abundance, where little things are BIG, and they are celebrated: each grain of brown sugar brought from town, each intricately-cut paper shelf lining, each hand-made bullet poured by Pa into molds as the girls watched raptly. Writing now from this strange time of “social-distancing” we’re in, I hope we can hearken back to savoring, slowing, rejoicing over those little things. At any rate, my family will be enjoying this Old Fashioned Blueberry Pudding with Rosewater Sauce for our Easter brunch. Thank you so much! Blessings to you and your family!
I keep making this blueberry pudding ever since I discovered this recipe of yours. Always comes out fabulous. This even more remarkable because I never make desserts and am generally very bad at making desserts. Thank you so much for keeping this recipe on here after all these years.
I follow you on Twitter.
I’m a FB follower.
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What a beautiful serving set. I would love to try out the old fashioned blueberry pudding recipe in it.
I love that series! I might have to re-read pretty soon after this post! Such a beautiful and simple/ fresh dessert! Perfect!! Happy Reading!
I use to read Little House books. I’ve always been drawn to that era in time. Your dessert looks and sounds delish!
Hmmm!! That sounds and LOOKS yummy. I shall do this pudding !!! Thanks for psting this ld fashioned recipe!
Oh may there are so many options. Blackberry cobbler, my famous lasagna, or Red Cooked Pork. I have jsut found your website! I LOVE IT!! Thanks for sharing so many good recipes!