Dense and moist, this rich persimmon pudding recipe is cake-like with spicy Autumn seasonings of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Topped with a hard sauce, whipped cream or a buttery caramel sauce, it's the ideal holiday dessert your family and guests will want to enjoy yearly.
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Why you'll love this recipe
There's a reason that persimmon pudding recipe is a traditional dessert during the fall and winter months. It's because it's so good!
This is the type of dessert your grandmother might have made and traditionally served at Thanksgiving. It makes a great pairing with pumpkin, apple or pecan pie. A touch of whipped cream is all it need to complete the dessert. If you like more decadence in your desserts pour a bit of caramel sauce on top. See if this won't make your mouth water.
Ingredients
For the ingredient measurements please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Persimmon pulp -- we purchase frozen Indiana persimmon pulp from small country stores.
- Eggs
- Sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Sweetened condensed milk -- NOT evaporated milk.
- Butter - melted
- Baking powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. For the complete directions just scroll down to the bottom it is in the recipe card.
- Beat the eggs and pulp together.
- Mix in the sugar.
- Whisk the baking powder, baking soda, salt, with the flour. Add the dry ingredients to wet.
- Pour in the melted butter.
- Stir in the spices.
- Add the sweetened condensed milk.
- Pour the pudding into greased baking pan.
- Bake for 1 hour or until sides a brown.
It can be stored at room temperature for about 8 hours. After that it should be kept in the refrigerator for a day or two. After that, refreeze and it will keep for about a month. Reheat the dessert until slightly warm to enjoy.
It can be eaten like a kiwi fruit. Cut the fruit in half and spoon out the the sweet flesh. It's a versatile winter fruit and can be used in both sweet and savory dishes.
Put the fruit dessert in an airtight container.
They taste like a combination of mango and toasted sweet pepper with a bit of a cinnamon background. The texture is silky and slippery a lot like mango.
Yes but they're only edible when they look very wrinkled. They will almost look rotten but this is when they're at their peak. The flesh is a bright orangey-pink. Do NOT eat the fruit before it is extremely ripe, they are very sour.
Tips
It's much easier to buy the persimmon pulp at your Farmer's Market and Country stores. It is already cleaned and in the perfect quantity needed for the recipe. We used the American persimmon and it was delicious. The persimmon pudding is famous in Indiana and it even has its own festival.
- Add toasted nuts if you like.
- When using wild persimmons make sure they are very ripe.
- If you cannot find persimmon pulp, figure one large, soft persimmon will yield from ¾ to 1 cup puree (made by processing the pulp in a blender or food processor).
- To lower the calories, you may use egg substitute, sugar substitute and fat free condensed milk for the amounts shown in the recipe.
Storage
You may store the dessert at room temperature for 8 hours but then it should be refrigerated. After two days, just put the left over in an airtight container and freeze.
When you're ready to enjoy it again, just warm it up a bit to enhance the autumn spices.
Related Recipes
Italians love desserts with seasonal fruit. Two of our very favorite Fall desserts are:
- The Italian Plum Torte that has a delicious plum sauce on top.
- Slow Cooker Polenta Cake with Caramelized Pears. This is an easy rustic cake that is beautiful served on a tray.
You can serve this dessert with hard sauce or whipped cream. We had some extra caramel pecan sauce we decided to put on top. If you're unfamiliar with hard sauce it's a topping that's actually not hard and not a sauce. The recipe is a traditional old-fashioned British dessert topping that includes butter, sugar and flavored with rum or brandy or an extract.
No matter how you finish off your pudding-cake I know you'll love it.
Tutti a tavolo è pronto!
Un caro saluto e alla prossima.
When you make this please be sure to tag me on Instagram @allourway -- I'd love to see your photos.
If you love this recipe please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating! Thank you!
Recipe
This is a classic Autumn dessert that families served during the holiday season. The pudding is more cake than smooth dessert and rich with fall spices. You may eat it plain, with hard sauce, whipped cream or a caramel sauce. It's all delicious.
📖 Recipe
Tried and True Persimmon Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 cups Persimmon pulp
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 3 eggs large
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour Keep ½ cup separated from the 1 cup.
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ cup melted unsalted butter
- 2 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk
Equipment Needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325℉. Lightly grease a 9 X 9 baking dish plus a smaller baking dish. 1. (See notes below)
- Whisk 1-¼ cups of the flour and the baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl.
- In a larger bowl mix together the persimmon pulp and eggs until well combined.
- Add the sugar and continue to mix.
- Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones and stir until well combined. Slowly add the remaining ¼ cup flour.
- Stir in the melted butter.
- Combine the sweetened condensed milk with the wet ingredients.
- Combine the nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger and sprinkle into the pudding and mix well.
- Pour into the prepared pans.
- Bake for about 1 hour - until the top is golden brown and the sides begin to pull from the sides.
- Cool slightly and serve warm with hard sauce or sweetened whipped cream.
Notes
- You may use a 13 X 9 inch pan but we like to make them so that we can freeze in the baked sizes. It freezes well and it's so good we even eat it partially frozen. You may even use two loaf pans if you like to slice your pudding-cake.
- If you like add toasted nuts to it.
- You can make it lighter in fat and calories by: Using Splenda for the sugar amount, using egg substitute for the eggs and using the lower calorie sweetened condensed milk.
- You can use less flour if you want your Persimmon pudding more moist and gooey.
Nutrition
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Michelle
It says you use sugar in the directions, however, in the recipe ingredients, sugar is not listed. Please advise
Marisa Franca
Hi Michelle! Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention. I put it in the recipe card. I had it in the blog but not in the important place. Thank you for keeping me on my toes. xoxo
Amanda Dixon
This is such a fabulous pudding cake! The spices gave the perfect warmth, and it was unbelievably rich and moist. This really added a special touch to our Christmas celebration this year. Definitely recommend making this!
Jovina Coughlin
This recipe looks yummy. I should use persimmons more often. Have a Merry Christmas.
Ramona
I have been saying for a long time that I need to bake something with persimmons but I never got to. I will be making this over the holiday season. Recipe saved, thank you so much for sharing 😉
Choclette
I think persimmons make a lovely cake. Not sure why more people don't use them. Love the spices in yours and intrigued by the use of condensed milk too. Sounds delicious.
Merry Christmas