James Martin made a delicious steamed sponge pudding with poached spiced pears, golden syrup and custard for the festive season on Home Comforts at Christmas.

James says: “This steamed pudding is a deceptively easy recipe that will go down well with everyone you serve it to.”

The ingredients for the pudding: 200g golden syrup, 1 pear, peeled, thinly sliced from top to bottom, 175g caster sugar, 175g softened butter, plus extra for greasing, 3 free-range eggs, 175g self-raising flour.

For the spiced pears: 500ml sweet white wine, 3 star anise, ½ tsp cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces, 4 pears, peeled and cut into quarters from top to bottom, 1 orange, pared zest only and 1 lemon, pared zest only.

For the custard: 250ml full-fat milk, 250ml double cream, 1 vanilla pod, split in half, seeds scraped out using a sharp knife, 110g caster sugar and 6 free-range egg yolks.