Name: Traditional Irish soda bread pudding with Irish cream
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 4-6 large slices white soda bread (about 1/2 loaf, but it depends on how big your loaf is); 2 eggs; 1 cup whole milk; 50 g seedless raisins or sultanas (this is about a handful (as a measurement)); 1 tbsp butter (plus extra tablespoon for greasing your baking dish); pinch of fine salt; 50 ml Irish Cream (to add to milk and bake with); 1 tbsp sugar; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 150 ml heavy cream (double cream) (cream that can be whipped); tiny pinch of fine salt; 1 tbsp Irish Cream ((or more to your liking))

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A great twist on a traditional bread pudding using Irish soda bread and Irish cream. Easy to make recipe – great to serve as pudding or sweet treat after dinner.

Pretty much every country has a way of using old bread and turn it into something delicious. It can’t get much better than to combine traditional Irish soda bread with the sweetness of Irish cream or Baileys.

Why make this recipe?

Great version of the traditional bread pudding made with soda bread
Make with or without Irish cream for an extra rich flavour
Super tasty (and filling!) pudding

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My top tip on making this recipe successfully

If you have the time, leave the soda bread to soak up the cream mixture. It will make the final soda bread pudding much lighter and more baked together like a yummy cake!

Any specialist equipment needed?

I use a large glass Pyrex dish or baking tin to make this soda bread pudding recipe. Ideally you want slightly deeper tray or baking dish, so that you can build up the soda bread layers and have enough space to add your fillings.

What makes this Traditional Irish soda bread pudding with Irish cream special

This bread pudding recipe is prepared in a similar way as any other bread pudding, with the addition of the Irish cream.

You have two different choices here, you either add the Irish cream in (instead of the milk/cream) or you use a plain cream and add the Irish cream on the top as you take out the bread pudding from the oven.

You can also whisk some extra cream and add a bit of Irish cream to that too. It really depends on how much alcohol you want in your pudding.

Since most alcohol evaporates once the temperature goes above 60C, if you add the Irish cream in at the beginning you end up with just the flavour (but not the actual alcohol). Perfect if you want to serve this pudding to children, but not so much if you want this to be a special treat for your friends.

If I’m completely honest, I usually decide on what I actually have in the cupboard. Irish cream is much more affordable than the branded Baileys, which means you can be a bit more heavy handed with the volume.

Another way to add the Irish cream in (without baking with it) is to whip some cream to serve your bread pudding with and add a generous table spoon to the cream. It will be light, but deliciously sweet with a hint of alcohol.

Ingredients & Possible substitutions

white or wholemeal soda bread
eggs
milk (any kind)
raisins or sultanas, currants or any dried currants substitutes
butter
salt
Irish Cream or Baileys
sugar
vanilla extract (optional)

How to make traditional Irish soda bread pudding with Irish cream

Preheat the oven to 180C (or 350 F) – medium gas oven heat.

Prepare a deep baking dish by spreading butter around the bottom and sides

Whisk the eggs with sugar and pinch of salt until light.

Add the milk, Irish cream, vanilla essence to the eggs and whisk until incorporated.

Arrange your bread slices into the baking dish. You can arrange them sideways (sort of stack them standing up) or you can do layers. I usually do layers, so I add a layer of bread, sprinkle a little bit of the seedless raisins, pour the egg mixture on top to moisten the bread and then carry on with the next layer. Depending on your baking dish you should have enough to do about 3 layers.

Once you’ve used up all the bread, egg mixture and the raisins, leave the baking dish for a 10 minutes or so, so that the egg mixture can soak up into the bread before it starts to bake (this makes the bread pudding really soft).

Place in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes until it’s golden in colour and nicely baked on the top.

Serve with whipped cream (ingredients above) or just pour a bit more Irish Cream on the top. It’s also perfect with vanilla icecream.

How else you can make this recipe?

This recipe is not gluten-free, but if you use gluten-free soda bread you can make it gluten-free very easily. You don’t need to change the rest of the ingredients, just follow the recipe as it is.

You can also substitute the cream, butter and milk for a plant based cream and milk and make this recipe dairy free. Unless you can get dairy free Irish cream, I’d leave it out or add a dash of rum or brandy for a hint of flavour.

These days, there are some really good alternatives of plant based creams and you can pick up any plant based milk you like. The only one I’d probably not use, is coconut milk because the coconut flavour will come through quite strongly.

MORE PUDDING RECIPES

What can you serve soda bread pudding with?

This Irish Cream Soda Bread Pudding is best served on it’s own (as it has already plenty of flavour), but you can also add vanilla custard or vanilla or other creamy ice creams, such as my homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream Recipe.

Any kind of fruit coolies (thick fruit juice), fruit curds or fruit sauces would also work well. Here are some of my favourite recipes that will work perfectly with this soda bread pudding recipe.

Serving size & can I scale up or down this recipe?

This recipe makes enough for 4 large portions or 6 smaller ones.

You can easily scale up or down this traditional soda bread pudding recipe, just double up all the ingredients.

When you do this, make sure that you use twice the size of the baking dish (or use two). Don’t bee tempted to use much deeper dish to make up too many layers as the bread pudding might not bake through. If you increase the dish size (double/tripple), the baking time will be the same.

Can this recipe be made in advance?

This soda bread pudding recipe is best served straight from the oven, but you can make it a day in advance and heat it up just before serving.

How to store soda bread pudding if you have any leftovers

Cover the soda bread pudding dish and store it in the fridge after it has cooled down completely. Because of the added cream and alcohol, this Traditional Irish soda bread pudding with Irish cream is not really suitable for freezing as it can change texture and dry out.

How long will the soda bread pudding last?

This Traditional Irish soda bread pudding with Irish cream has a good shelf life and it will easily keep for 2-3 days in the fridge (covered and in a suitable container). The pudding might dry out a little the longer you keep it, so once it’s warmed up again, serve it with extra cream or ice-cream.

How to re-heat this recipe

Either take out a portion and heat it up for 30 seconds in the microwave or place the whole tray back to preheated oven (180C or 350F) for about 10 minutes.