Brush a 1.5-litre pudding basin with oil– if you don’t have a 1.5-litre puddingbasin, use a smaller one and serve anyfruit that won’t fit on the side. Line thebasin with a double layer of cling film,overhanging the basin at the top.
Put the blackberries, cherries, grapesand sugar in a saucepan with 3 tbspwater. Cover and gently heat, stirringoccasionally, until the sugar has meltedand the fruit is syrupy.
Add the currantsand blueberries, cover and cook gentlyfor 2 mins more until the fruit is justsoftened. Take off the heat and cool.Strain the fruit into a colander set overa bowl. Leave for 5 mins to drain well,then stir the cassis or Ribena into thecaptured juices. Trim the crusts from thebread slices and discard, losing as littlebread as possible. Then use a pastrybrush to spread a little of the berry juicesover one side of each slice.
Cut a circlefrom 1 slice (or 2 semi-circles from2 slices) that will neatly cover the base ofthe basin, and push in – juice-side down.Reserve some bread so that you haveenough to cover the top of the basin,then halve the remaining slices into fatfingers – trimming to the correct lengthto line the sides of the basin. Then,juice-side down, work round the basin,overlapping the edges of the breadslightly and pressing them to stay inplace, until the basin is completely linedwith bread. Patch any gaps with scraps.Reserve a couple of spoonfuls of fruit toserve, then spoon the remainder into thebread-lined basin, squishing the fruit downto level it. Reserve 150ml of the juiceswith the reserved berries, then pour therest into the basin, concentrating onpouring it around the edges to soak intothe bread. Jigsaw the reserved bread toneatly cover the top and seal in the fruit,this time placing it juice-side up. Looselycover the top of the basin with cling film.Find a small plate that will fit snuglyinside the basin so it is in contact withthe pudding and add 4 x 400g cans toweigh it down. Chill overnight with thereserved juice and berries.To serve, unwrap and invert the basinonto a serving plate with a lip to holdany juices. Lift off the basin, holding thecling film down tightly as you pull to helpyou remove it. Peel off the cling filmround the pudding. If you’ve any whitebread patches visible, spoon over somejuice to colour it. Spoon the rest of theberries and juice onto the top of thepud and serve with clotted or singlecream, if you like.
