hidden orange christmas pudding

Print Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 7

Total Time 8

Course Dessert

Cuisine English

Equipment

1 pudding basin
pan big enough to comfortably hold the pudding basin, plus lid

Ingredients

For the candied orange:

1 large orange
250 g sugar
10 g liquid glucose
200 g marmalade

For the pudding:

125 g suet beef or vegetable
125 g breadcrumbs
250 g brown sugar
75 g self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon mixed spice any combination of sweet baking spices will do
500 g mixed dried fruit such as currants, cherries, raisins, cranberries
25 g mixed nuts
50 g mixed citrus peel
50 g glace cherries
150 ml cider preferably orange flavoured, but any will do
4 tablespoons Cointreau any booze will do but the orange liqueur seems appropriate
2 eggs

Instructions

For the candied orange:

Prick the orange all over with a toothpick. Combine the ingredients in a pan with the orange and cover with water. Stir really well to combine. Cover and simmer gently for an hour. Turn off the heat and leave to sit, covered, for a further hour. Then reheat and simmer for yet another hour to really break the orange down. Remove the orange and set aside to cool.

For the pudding:

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients, stirring well. Then add all the wet ingredients, fruits and nuts and stir very well. You want something that will drop off the spoon slowly. Add a touch more flour or cider if needed.
Grease a 1 litre pudding basin well. Add about a third of the pudding mix, then nestle your orange in. Pack the rest of your pudding mix around the orange and press down with the spatula. Gently tap your basin to remove air pockets.
Add a layer of baking paper, then cover with foil. Tie around the neck with string. Put a plate at the bottom of a pan large enough to fit your basin, pop your pudding in and bring boiling water up along the sides and cover. Simmer for 7 hours, topping up with more water as required. Allow to cool. You can eat straight away, or microwave for a couple of minutes before serving.

Video

Notes

Serve with custard, ice cream, brandy sauce, or brandy butter. Scales up really well and difficult to get wrong. After initial steaming you can store the pudding for ages before eating - I don't really know how long but months, certainly. Just keep it in a container.