Advertorial: sweeten the season with delicious desserts

"What’s for pudding?” was a staple inquiry for Catriona Flaherty growing up in Dublin. She remembers coming home from school, descending the three steps into the back kitchen and asking her parents that very question.

This universal query became the inspiration for the business that Catriona founded in 2014 with her son, Rory, in Kilmessan, Co Meath.

They identified a gap in the market for chilled desserts, and within a number of months, What’s For Pudding? sticky toffee pudding won gold at the Blas na hÉireann Food Awards. This same dessert impressed Dunnes Stores, and What’s For Pudding began producing for Simply Better in 2016.

“We started developing sticky toffee pudding and a similar chocolate pudding for Simply Better in 2016, and we quickly won a Great Taste Golden Fork for the sticky toffee pudding. It all evolved from there,” says Rory.

What’s For Pudding? produce a number of delicious offerings as part of the Simply Better range, including sticky toffee triple chocolate pudding, rice pudding, lemon curd pudding, Bramley apple pudding and mixed berry pudding.

Irish ingredients

Rory explains that What’s For Pudding? share the same ethos as Simply Better: a focus on “Irish ingredients, attention to detail and handmade products”.

“We use Irish free-range egg, Irish cream and Irish butter. We use Irish Jersey Milk for the rice puddings. The mixed berry pudding includes Irish berries, blackberries and strawberries.”

What’s For Pudding? have also introduced a Christmas crown for the festive season.

“It’s a centrepiece dessert. It’s slightly spiced and has an autumn flavour. It’s a twist on sticky toffee.”

Rory serves his Christmas crown with ice cream or pouring cream.

The Simply Better dessert range makes your job easier at Christmas, Rory reassures.

“It’s less stressful if you have a dessert that’s ready and you can reheat and serve it as your own,” he says. “Be assured that whoever else is sitting at the Christmas table will be very satisfied.”

“When you’re buying from the Simply Better range, you’re getting a really high-quality product,” Rory says.

“The best ingredients made locally here in Ireland supporting local jobs.”

This is What’s for Pudding?’s third Christmas in their new purpose-built kitchen. Rory says it is six times bigger than their former site, and working with Simply Better has allowed them to grow.

“Simply Better have given us recognition as a very small company. They’ve given us confidence in what we produce. They’ve given us support to get really great puddings out to everybody.”

Despite steady growth, What’s For Pudding? remains loyal to the local community.

“We’re in a rural area and we’ve a great team of local women working here, some two generations of mother and daughters. We’re very hands on and do all the baking here.”

Further down the country in Co Kerry, Prestige Foods are also satisfying the sweet cravings of families nationwide.

Co-founder John O’Connor, identifies first and foremost as a chef and it was these skills, his training in Ireland and France, and his passion for the food business that helped him to grow Prestige Foods to become the award-winning business it is today.

John’s journey started in Listowel, Co Kerry where he operated a delicatessen and began to expand by selling to other food outlets in Kerry. He approached Xavier McAuliffe to invest in the business and out of this, Prestige Foods opened in late 2003.

As part of his plans to expand nationwide, he approached Dunnes Stores and other Irish retailers. Since then both John and Dunnes Stores have built a great working relationship, and Prestige Foods has grown from six to 70 full-time employees.

Award-winning

Prestige Foods produce 10 products for the Simply Better range. It started with their award-winning handmade raspberry sherry trifle, a product they have been making since 2013. This year they have added a twin-pack raspberry sherry trifle for those who want to enjoy a trifle all year round.

In addition to this, they have also launched both a family size and twin pack handmade Madagascan vanilla and raspberry panna cotta, handmade mango and passion fruit mousse and handmade Madagascan vanilla baked cheesecake. To complete the range they have created a Belgian chocolate brownie trifle, a recipe that was inspired by Simply Better brand ambassador Neven Maguire.

“With each of the desserts, we use only the best of dairy cream from the pastures of north Kerry," says John.

“The handmade raspberry sherry trifle is super, it is a Simply Better trifle,” says John. “It delivers on quality and flavour. It’s made with a lovely raspberry compote, topped with custard made using Irish dairy cream. It’s all natural and fresh, and to finish it off, it’s topped with dairy cream.”

John talks passionately about the Simply Better handmade Madagascan baked cheesecake “It’s a New York-style baked cheesecake. It’s Madagascan vanilla, Irish cream cheese and an Irish butter biscuit base. It’s natural and delicious.”

When John is serving the baked cheesecake at home, he serves it with a chocolate ganache.

John describes the mango and passion fruit mousse and raspberry panna cotta as lighter desserts.

“They can be enjoyed at any time of the year, and they make a welcome change to the traditional pudding at Christmas time.”

Expanding the range of Simply Better desserts has been a labour of love.

“The Simply Better team are a joy to work with and we work very closely with them,” John explains.

“We all sit down and discuss what they’re looking for. Then we’ll go away and spend a few weeks putting ideas together and use our 20 years'' of experience to make delicious desserts.

"It’s about a six-month journey from start to finish, with tastings along the way.”