Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
How to Make Christmas Pudding + British Traditions
One memory that I’ll cherish is my neighbor’s Christmas Pudding. She makes it every year in honor of her mother and we have been blessed to be a part of the tradition she carries on. Christmas Pudding is a steamed fruit “cake” that you can make months or even a year in advance. It’s fruity, moist, sweet and fun because you light in on fire! It’s a tradition I’d like to add in my life and thought you may like to as well. Read on to learn how to make Christmas Pudding.
Lighting the Christmas Pudding
The Christmas Pudding Tradition
Along with the recipe for Christmas Pudding, my neighbor made me a binder filled with other British recipes and some quick origin stories. From her binder I learned that Christmas Pudding is made months to a year in advance, served after dinner and after it’s dark outside. You place the pudding on the table, drizzle some brandy or rum on it (she said you should warm it and spoon it on, but she just drizzles from the bottle) and then light it on fire.
Christmas Puddings are served in many places
The alcohol burns off and then you serve it with custard, cream, ice cream or sauce of brandy butter or rum butter. The process of burning it reminds me of Bananas Foster (we first had this many years ago in New Orleans and it’s delicious!) or Cherries Jubilee.
See me make my “boozy” grapes recipe in my one-minute video above or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden. I made them to take to my neighbor’s as an appetizer at Christmas and they were well-loved!
A page out of the binder my neighbor made me
Other Fun British Traditions
At my British neighbor’s Christmas, we also pulled Christmas crackers by holding one end in our hands and reaching over with the other hand to hold the end of one held by the person sitting next to us, then on the count of three, we pull all at the same time. I’ve always loved doing Christmas Crackers, but doing it this way is even more special because it’s a group effort.
Serving Christmas Pudding
Inside each cracker is a “ banger” that pops when you pull and each cracker has a small gift inside, a crown (but she calls them hats, which of course, we all put on and wear for dinner), and a joke (which we say out loud to each other while we eat Christmas dinner). After the crackers, we ate her Ma’s Chestnut Stuffing, smoked turkey and delicious roasted root vegetables.
Christmas Pudding
We learned about Boxing Day, which is the day after Christmas and is a day to write thank you notes and spend time with your gifts. British children hang stockings on the end of their beds at night, but my neighbor said she used to tie a pillow case on her bed instead (more room for gifts, right?!). We learned its tradition to take your Christmas decorations down 12 days after Christmas, which is known as Twelfth Night. Waiting 12 days helps you avoid bad luck in the New Year.
The custard goes very well with the pudding
How Christmas Pudding Tastes + Texture
Christmas Pudding reminds me of an extremely moist and fruity dessert. It’s like an American Fruit Cake but better, in my opinion. It’s densely packed with dried mixed fruit, but because you make it so far in advance, the dried fruit plump up and are soft after being baked. It’s sweet, so you don’t need much and a little goes a long way.
Christmas Pudding recipe
The Christmas Pudding Recipe
Now for the recipe. I love my neighbor’s traditions and love that we had the chance to meet her while living in Florida. Though we plan to move (we can’t take the hurricanes anymore, unfortunately), I am blessed with the binder she made me full of her traditions and recipes so I can continue them when we move to Georgia. I definitely like the custard she serves on top. I’ve listed links to the thing she uses, but you can make your own substitutions.
My neighbor gave me other British foods to try
I’ve included the grams (how she measures her cooking) but also included the American measurements if you don’t feel like weighing the ingredients). It’s not a quick cake to make, but it’s worth the effort. I’ll try making it myself next year (my neighbor made it this year) and include more photos of my process.
There are many British Christmas desserts, similar to the pudding
Time to Put This Recipe Creation Together: 24+ hours
Servings: 8-10
Things you may need: 2 large bowls, foil, cooking/butcher’s twine, zester, measuring cups, spatulas for mixing, flour sifter, 1.2 litre (a little over 5 cups) pudding basin with sealing lid, parchment paper, steaming pot
See the flame in action (and hear my neighbor talk about the Christmas Pudding traditions) in my 1-minute video below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
Don’t feel like making a Christmas Pudding? Amazon has you covered! Check them out using my Amazon links below:
Ingredients
500 grams dried mixed fruit (about 2 ½ cups and you can get different varieties on Amazon)
25 grams candied peel (about ¼ cup and you can get varities of it on Amazon)
110 grams of softened butter (1/2 cup)
225 grams dark brown sugar (1 cup, 7 tablespoons, Walmart)
50 grams self-rising flour (1/3 cup, Walmart)
1 bramley apple cored and diced (it’s a sour apple, so a green apple would work)
150 ml Guinness (2/3 cup, it’s a beer and you can get it here at Walmart)
2 tbs Brandy, Sherry or Rum
2 eggs (Walmart or where ever you shop for groceries, of course)
1 tsp mixed spice (Amazon)
½ tsp ground nutmeg (Walmart)
110 grams fresh white breadcrumbs (1/2 cup)
40 grams blanched almonds (1/3 cup, Walmart)
1 clementine, zested
1 lemon, zested (Grab a zester on Amazon)
Optional: Ambrosia Devon Custard (she serves this on top of the pudding and warms it first, get it on Amazon or you could use rum butter, whipped cream, ice cream and more), a trinket for hiding in the cake (a quarter, ring, thimble, anchor or any metal small trinket for someone to find when eating…similar to the hidden baby in the Mardi Gras King Cake).
One way to decorate Christmas Pudding
Get an ad-free version of this recipe (and it’s printable!) by clicking the button below:
How to:
Combine/mix the softened butter, breadcrumbs, spices, sugar, clementine and lemon zest, almonds, dried fruit and diced apple in a bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the Guinness, brandy and eggs. Pour this mixture into the fruit mixture and mix well. Cover the bowl with foil or plastic wrap, and leave it overnight. No need to refrigerate.
Sift the flour into the mixture you left to sit overnight and mix well. Tuck in a quarter, ring or whatever metal trinket you wish for someone to find when you serve it.
Spoon the mixture into a greased pudding basin and tap down with a spoon to compact it a bit. Cover with a two layers of grease proof paper (parchment) and then a layer of foil. Tie it with a string, wrapping it around the pudding basin and then loop over the top (this forms a “handle” which will be helpful after steaming).
Place water into a steaming pot and place the pudding in the steamer. You can also place a trivet inside a large pot, set the pudding basin on the trivet, pour boiling water into the pot (the basin should not touch the bottom of the pan and the water should be at least half way up the side of the pudding basin).
Steam for 8 hours over low heat, checking occasionally to see if you need to top off the water (don’t let it run dry).
After 8 hours, remove the pudding basin from the steaming pan and store somewhere cool until Christmas. My neighbor told me she’s made two at a time month before and stored one for a whole year to eat the next year.
When it’s time to eat, steam it again for 2 hours, then remove the foil and parchment, and then remove it from the pan (it should be able to be inverted onto a plate).
After dinner (and when it’s dark outside) my neighbor put a couple of tablespoons of brandy on the top of the warm pudding and lit it on fire with a match. The alcohol burns off (its really pretty to watch and the flame goes out fairy quickly) and serve it with warm custard, ice cream, rum butter or alone!
Warn your guests about the trinket you hid inside the cake and tell them it’s good luck if they get the piece with the trinket!
Tips and Tricks:
You can purchase many of the ingredients and supplies from Amazon or even buy a Christmas Pudding, just search “British Christmas Pudding”
If you loved this article, then we know you’ll love this one too: Nani’s Chocolate Sheet Cake with Magic Icing Recipe
Carolyn J. Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.