A water bath for a pudding??....

Would be what exactly????!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im on my fav website - taste, and there is a recipe for a lemon pudding mmmmm for DH's birthday and it says prepare a water bath but I have NO idea what that is.

TIA you domestic goddesses!!!!! :D

It's not exotic - if you are cooking in the oven then just put some water in a roasting pan and stand the dish containing your pudding in that, if cooking on the stove then you'll need a saucepan big enough to take your pudding bowl and some water.

Water can never get hotter than 100 degrees, so if your pudding is stood in something full of water then it's much less likely to get burnt around the edges.

When cooking a pudding on the stove (I made spotted d ick pudding a few weeks ago, and OMG it was delish!), you are supposed to weight the basin down under the water aren't you? I have a little trivet especially to keep the basin off the bottom of the pot, and had to use a smaller pot lid to hold the basin in the water. Is that normal? And how hard should the water be boiling, or just simmering? If just simmering, is the cooking time the same?

You don't need to weight it down - the weight of the pudding will ensure that enough of the pudding bowl is in the water - I just throw a few baking beans into the bottom of the pot instead of a trivet, but it's not really necessary...it just stops the bowl from rattling as the water underneath it boils.

As long as the water is boiling then it doesn't matter how hard, the cooking time will be the same - you can use a thermometer to check the water temp if you like, the only difference is how much steam you make!

Easy as Tan! Pop your pudding dish into a roasting pan, and then fill it halfway up the sides with boiling water. Works a treat!

Ok so my recipe has individual puds in ramekins so I just put them in a tray deep enough for some water in the bottom? Is that right!

Spot on