And a good job too, since Christmas pudding with brandy butter is so very delicious. But if you find yourself cooking for folk for whom cries of ‘Oh bring us some figgy pudding!’ doesn’t elicit the traditional longing, then you might prefer to rustle up something a little less traditional to round off the repast. Happily, delicious alternatives abound. Here, we dig into a selection of our very favourite substitutes for Christmas pudding to add a dash of culinary adventure to your holiday celebrations.
Jane’s Patisserie’s No-Bake Gingerbread Cheesecake
Happy Foodie
Did you get round to making a gingerbread house this year? Nope? No problem. Try this no-bake gingerbread cheesecake instead. What could be sweeter? We love the little gingerfolk atop their little snowy peaks – and the fact that it needs no oven time, which is especially welcome during a week when the cooker is on overdrive. Find the recipe here.
Chocolate Yule Log
Olive Magazine
Part of the appeal of Christmas pudding is its spectacular appearance. Olive Magazine’s chocolate Yule log, however, is every bit as arresting as well as delicious – that last thanks to the dark chocolate, Baileys cream and crunchy hazelnut. The decadent stuff of sweet dreams. Find the recipe here.
Winter Bombe
Jamie Oliver
As Jamie points out, this showstopper is a cross between a summer pudding and an Arctic roll, all with a distinctly Christmassy spin. For those who prefer to dodge the traditional figgy pudding, this one delivers a domed delight without the heavier flavours. You’ll need panettone and Vin Santo, as well as dark chocolate, tinned cherries, pistachios and clementines. And who wouldn’t be delighted by the ice-cream interior after all that stodge? Find the recipe here.
Christmas Crumble
BBC Good Food
One of life’s few certainties is that you can never go wrong with a crumble. And that is just as true on Christmas Day as any other, particularly when you consider the highly festive addition of cranberries, cinnamon and mixed spice to the classic. A crowd-pleaser to eat by the fire with a snooze beckoning hot on its heels. Find the recipe here.
Sticky Gingerbread Buns With Spiced Brown Butter Icing
BBC Good Food
If you favour tear-and-share informality, then these gingerbread buns are the business. Warm, comforting and imbued with the flavours of the season, they are brilliant on any cold winter day, and we say that includes Christmas. Alternatively, you could start your festive day with gobbling them up over coffee at breakfast. Find the recipe here.
Mexican Chocoflan
Olive Magazine
This beauty, as concocted by chef Edson Diaz-Fuentes, combines two popular Mexican desserts. He says, ‘Though it sounds tricky to prepare, this cake is in fact very simple to make. Chocoflan, or ‘flan imposible’ as we call it in Mexico, is a hybrid of two of my favourite Mexican desserts – Mexican chocolate cake and caramel flan. Its name ‘imposible’ comes from the fact that when you prepare the dessert you first put the chocolate cake mixture in your baking tin and then the flan mixture on top; however, when you bake it the layers switch places, as if by magic.’ We are convinced of its powers – are you? Find the recipe here.
Christmas Pudding Fridge Cake
BBC
Love the look of Christmas pud but not the taste? This one is for you. Somewhere between a rocky road and a tiffin, simply pour your mixture into a pudding bowl, top it with melted white chocolate and pop it in the fridge. Find the recipe here.
Mary Berry’s Pavlova
BBC
How’s this for a festive treat? It is dotted with festive berries, it can be made well ahead of time (a god send at Christmas) and it looks like a wreath. In short, it’s perfect. Find the recipe here.
Baileys Tiramisu Trifle
Olive Magazine
Trifle is a Christmas classic and one that yanks us back into our childhoods with a pleasurable dose of nostalgia. But if you want to try a particularly decadent take on the pudding for the big day, try this one, with boozy Baileys, chocolate swiss roll and lightly whipped cream with espresso. Find the recipe here.
Italian Christmas Pudding Cake
BBC
As Nigella notes, this knock-out festive Italian cake is an assembly job rather than one requiring a huge amount of baking skill. That’s music to our ears, since it is absolutely delicious and looks vastly impressive too. You’ll need a panettone or a pandoro, Tuaca (or rum or brandy), Marsala, pistachios and pomegranate seeds amongst other things. The list may be long but the process simple and the results spectacular, which is our kind of ratio. Find the recipe here.
Pandoro Semifreddo
Olive Magazine
This glorious recipe requires you to hollow out a pandoro (we can recommends toasting and buttering the insides for a teatime treat) and then filling it with amaretto semifreddo. As GBBO winner and expert baker Edd Kimber says, ‘This is a dish inspired by the Italian dessert zuccotto, a bread-based dish similar to summer pudding –but instead of fruit it is filled with a ricotta mixture. I have used this idea but placed the ricotta semifreddo inside a hollowed-out loaf of pandoro, which makes for a dramatic-looking dessert.’ Find the recipe here.
By Nancy Alsop
December 2023
