My husband loves bread pudding. He will have it as a dessert with custard or cream but will also eat it as a cake.
I looked into the origins of bread pudding and according to the internet, it used to be called Wet Nelly, and is a dish born out of poverty.

During the bombing raids of the Second World War, Liverpool was devastated. The years following were stricken with poverty and food rations. When people have very little, they make the best they can out of that very little. And Wet Nelly, is just that, a delicious bread pudding made with very little.
My grandma used to make it with stale bread, and lots of fruit. These days, bread seems to last longer and stale bread can always be used for toast. I go to the ‘reduced to kill’ section of the supermarket, where there is often loaves of bread past their sell by date.

This is such an easy, no frills, recipe. By the time the bread has soaked the milk up, the other ingredients can be weighted out, and its just a matter of mashing it all together.
It’s very filling. I would like to say it’s nutrious, with all that fruit, but given the quantity of bread and sugar, I am not sure.
I tend to leave out the suet as it seems to stick together quite well, and I often forget to put the sugar on top after it’s been cooked.
To make it really decadent, you could use brioche buns or chocolate brioche buns!
I hope that you enjoy it!!

Ingredients
8oz old bread, brown or white, crusts removed
1/2-pint milk
4oz dried fruits (sultanas, raisins, currants)
2oz suet
2-3tbspn mixed spice
2oz soft brown sugar, you can use ordinary caster sugar
1 beaten egg
Grated nutmeg (optional)
1 tbsp. granulated sugar

Method
Break the bread into small pieces and put into a bowl
Pour over the milk and leave for 30 minutes
Heat the oven to 180C
Beat the bread and milk mixture together with a fork
Grease a 7” tin sandwich tin
Add all the fruit , brown sugar , suet ,egg and spice to the bread and mix really well to combine (you may need to get your hands in!)
Pour into the prepared tin and flatten the top
Sprinkle a little nutmeg over the top
Bake in centre of the oven for 1-1.5 hours
Take out of oven and sprinkle over the granulated sugar
Leave to cool in the tin.