Natural ability to cook pud and eat it (8)
I believe the answer is:
aptitude
'natural ability' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cook pud and eat it' is the wordplay.
'cook' indicates anagramming the letters.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'pud'+'eat'+'it'='pudeatit'
'pudeatit' is an anagram of 'APTITUDE'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for aptitude that I've seen before include "Flair" , "fitness" , "Update it, having a relevant talent" , "Inherent ability, natural talent" , "Natural gift" .)