Green's Sweet Carmelle - 70g

Carmelle lives in that corner of the British baking aisle where puddings come in packets and nobody is embarrassed about it. It sits next to the sponge mixes and the custard, and it has outlasted plenty of fancier desserts.

People in Canada go looking for it because it tastes exactly the way it did at their gran's table, and because a homemade crème caramel from scratch is a faff that most of us are not doing on a Tuesday. This one asks very little of you and still turns out looking like you tried.

It is a small, flat packet that tucks into the cupboard and waits patiently until pudding becomes urgent. Make it up following the pack, pour it into a dish or a few ramekins, chill it until set, then turn it out. Keep it somewhere cool and dry until then.

Green's is a name most British cupboards know for its baking mixes, so Carmelle tends to travel in the basket with a cake mix or two. A tin of custard and a bottle of golden syrup rarely complain about the company either.