Dinner-Hall Legends v the Chilled Aisle: A 2026 Pudding Taste Test

There is a particular shade of pink that can only mean one thing. For anyone who went to a British primary school, it is the colour of Friday lunchtime, a ladle with a drip on it and a tray that has seen things. Pink custard is not really a flavour. It is a memory with a spoon in it.

In 2026, the chilled aisle is a very different place. Supermarket desserts now come in glass ramekins and look like they have a mortgage. Salted caramel ganache, pistachio cream, lemon posset, sticky toffee pudding with a dusting of something expensive. We wanted to know whether the old school puddings, made properly at home, could hold their own against the polished stuff.

The Contenders: Three Dinner-Hall Legends

First up, chocolate concrete. This is the traybake of cocoa, flour, sugar and butter that baked into a firm slab and was served in squares. It was the pudding you could hear before you saw it. It had a crust, a dense crumb and the ability to absorb custard like a sponge in a science experiment.

Then jam roly-poly: a suet sponge rolled around jam, steamed until soft, sliced and drowned in custard. It was never elegant. It was warm, stodgy and exactly what a cold Tuesday demanded. The jam sometimes escaped, which only made it more exciting.

And pink custard. Often made from a powder, sometimes a blancmange-adjacent sauce, always aggressively pink. It tasted faintly of vanilla and mostly of being eight years old. We made ours from scratch with milk, cornflour, sugar and a little colour. The colour was non-negotiable.

The Challengers: 2026’s Chilled Aisle

On the other side of the table: supermarket own-label posh pots. We chose a salted caramel ganache, a pistachio cream and a sticky toffee pudding. They cost around £4 for two, which is either reasonable or a scandal depending on how much you spent on school dinners in the 1990s.

They looked beautiful. They had layers. One had a tiny biscuit on top that seemed to be there purely for Instagram. We were polite about them, but the family panel had already started asking when the pink custard was coming out.

The Test: Five Tasters, One Ladle

We scored each pudding on taste, texture, nostalgia and whether anyone asked for seconds. The children had no school-dinner memory, which was useful. The adults had too much and kept saying things like ‘ours never had that many layers’.

Chocolate concrete won on crunch and sheer ‘can I have another?’ energy. Jam roly-poly won on comfort, but only when warm. Cold roly-poly is a sad experience, like a duvet without a cover. Pink custard divided the room. The children loved the colour. The adults argued about whether it should be thicker. Everyone had an opinion.

The modern desserts were polished and creamy, but after three spoons the panel started saying they were ‘a bit samey’. The sticky toffee pudding came closest to a comeback, mostly because it had the decency to be warm and sticky.

Which Ones Are Worth Making at Home?

Chocolate concrete is the clear winner. It is cheap, quick and deeply forgiving. Mix, bake, cut into slabs and serve with custard. Do not overbake it unless you want actual concrete. It also freezes well, which is dangerous information.

Jam roly-poly is worth making if you have time and a steamer. Use more jam than feels sensible. Steam it rather than baking it, unless you enjoy a pudding that tastes like a hot cushion. It is a weekend project, not a weeknight rescue.

Pink custard is worth making from scratch. The homemade version was smoother and less chalky than the powder of memory. A drop of vanilla helps. So does accepting that the colour is part of the taste. Serve it warm, in a jug, with a certain amount of ceremony.

Which Should Stay in the Dinner Hall?

Anything that requires a ladle with a history should stay in the memory. The semolina that was fine but not worth recreating. The rice pudding that was mostly nutmeg. The pink custard that was somehow both hot and lukewarm at the same time. Some school puddings are better as stories than as recipes.

The chilled aisle wins on convenience. Retro puddings win on story. If you want a dessert that makes people say ‘what is that?’, chocolate concrete is your friend. If you want a dessert that makes people say ‘I remember that’, jam roly-poly is your answer.

The Verdict

Pink custard comeback? Yes, but as a weekend treat, not a daily habit. Chocolate concrete is the one to make first. Jam roly-poly is the one to make when you have a free afternoon and no fear of suet. And the fanciest 2026 chilled dessert still cannot compete with a warm slab of concrete and a lake of pink custard on a cold November evening.

Some things are not sophisticated. They are just better.