Our ginger pudding is a take on a classic Christmas pudding that has a kick of ginger as well as a good dose of brandy. Our version uses vegetable suet instead of regular suet, which makes it suitable for vegetarians. This ginger pudding recipe makes 2 puddings, each serving 8.
Ingredients
- 500g mixed dried fruit
- 250g dates, chopped
- 60g dried sour cherries
- finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 eating apple, grated
- 100g carrots, grated
- 2tbsp maple syrup
- 2tbsp black treacle
- 125ml ginger wine
- 125ml brandy
- 125g self-raising flour
- 2tsp ground ginger
- 1tsp each ground mixed spice and ground cinnamon
- 125g ground almonds
- 200g packet vegetable suet
- 175g breadcrumbs
- 125g dark muscovado sugar
- 4 eggs
- 10 pieces of stem ginger, drained from syrup
- 2tbsp brandy
- You will need:
- edible glitter
- 2 x 1ltr pudding basins, greased and base-lined
Method
Put the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl, pour in the ginger wine and brandy and stir to combine.
Sieve the flour into a bowl with the spices. Add the ground almonds, suet, breadcrumbs and muscovado sugar.
Stir the eggs into the fruit mixture, then mix in the dry ingredients.
Arrange 4 sliced pieces of stem ginger in the base of each pudding basin. Divide the pudding mixture between the 2 basins.
Cover the bowl with a double thickness of baking parchment with a pleat in it and foil and tie string around the rim to secure. Bring water to the boil in the base of a steamer and then place the pudding over it. Cover the steamer and steam the pudding for 5 hours, topping up with water regularly to make sure that the water doesn’t boil dry. Alternatively, cook on an upturned saucer in a large pan with a lid, surrounded by boiling water.
Remove the pudding from the steamer and leave it to cool. Overwrap the pudding with fresh foil and store it in the fridge for up to 3 months.
On Christmas Day, steam the ginger pudding for 2 hours. Upturn and top with some halved stem ginger. Drizzle with ginger syrup and sprinkle with edible gold glitter.
Warm the brandy in a ladle over a gas flame, then pour over the pudding and light with a long taper, to serve flaming.
