Full of all the flavours of the festive season, this microwave Christmas pudding is a lighter version of the steamed British plum pudding traditionally served on Christmas Day. This recipe is also a vegan and gluten-free version – perfect for multiple dietary requirements! No need to take up one of your valuable hob spaces for steaming your pudding for hours, this pudding just takes 10 minutes in the microwave (and 10 minutes resting afterwards). Make Christmas easy for yourself – this flavourful, lighter family favourite will win over even the most ardent christmas-pudding-haters!
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The first time I made my own Christmas pudding, I searched high and low for a lighter recipe than the heavy puddings of my childhood. I stumbled across a "Good Housekeeping" microwave Christmas pudding recipe and it was so easy and so light yet flavoursome, even those who said they didn't like Christmas pudding (there are always quite a few!) all loved this lighter version. For years after, I made that Christmas pudding every year (and later an adapted gluten-free version).
This year, I decided to try making a vegan, gluten-free version of what I remember of that pudding (we’re in the middle of moving countries right now and my cookbooks are all in the shipping so I can’t look it up and have to rely on my memory!). After a few failed versions and a few more tweaked versions, I’m thrilled with the final result! Having had to taste test all of these different versions, my family all agree this is the best Christmas pudding yet!
Heady with Christmas spices and fruity flavours, this recipe is less dense than the traditional steamed pudding and less heavy without the suet and strong aged alcohol flavours. Perhaps it’s the lack of eggs and heavy beef suet or perhaps it is the microwaving or last minute making – either way, it is definitely easier on the palate and on the stomach after a rich Christmas meal!
✨🎄Christmas🎄✨
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- No fuss – easy to make with just a spoon and bowl. No need for a food processor or fancy equipment. Can be made last minute too!
- No steaming for hours – just quick and easy microwave cooking.
- Vegan & gluten-free – that means no dairy, no eggs, no meat (obvs!), no gluten.
- Delicious light flavour – all the flavours of Christmas but lighter.
History of Christmas Pudding
The traditional steamed Christmas pudding filled with dried fruits and spices, is a British stalwart that has been adorning Christmas dining tables for centuries dating as far back as medieval times! Also known as “figgy pudding” (remember singing “Now bring us some figgy pudding….”?) and “plum pudding”, both names referred to what we now call raisins and currants which usually make up the bulk of the dried fruits in the pudding.
Much like mince pies, it originally used to contain meat and was more of a savoury dish and a little porridge-like or soupy in texture (called “pottage” and also “frumenty”). This savoury dish was served at the start of the meal. Over time, however, the meat got ditched (with only the beef suet remaining) and the sweet fruity pudding got moved to the end of the Christmas meal.
Interestingly, in 1647 the Puritans, led by Oliver Cromwell, banned Christmas as they were disapproving of feasting, drinking and general merriment and thought Christmas should be a day of fasting and reflection instead. They went so far as to describe plum pudding as being “sinfully rich” and “unfit for God-fearing people”! (Source: "Pud for all Seasons") This led to what has become known as the “plum pudding riots” in Canterbury but the ban continued for 13 years and Christmas wasn’t reinstated until 1660 when the puritans were ousted and King Charles II was throned.
By Victorian times, plum pudding was firmly back on the Christmas menu with Charles Dickens mentioning the splendid “Christmas Pudding with a sprig of holly on top” at Bob Cratchit’s family Christmas (“A Christmas Carol” (1843) Charles Dickens), showing just how widespread this traditional pudding had become by then.
(If you would like to read more about the fascinating history of Christmas puddings, there is a wealth of information online. I found the English Heritage site and Pud for all Seasons to be best. Also, if you would like to order a copy of Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol”, I have this Oxford World’s Classics version (#Ad) on my kindle and love it – it’s well worth a read, as are all of Dickens’s classics!)
Stir Up Sunday
In the past, christmas puddings were made by families on the last Sunday before advent (5 weeks before Christmas). That day was known as “Stir Up Sunday” and each family member would have a turn of stirring the pudding and making a wish.
The reason why it was made so far in advance was so that the pudding would have time to mature. The alcohol and sugars would preserve the pudding and it would be left either hanging in cloth (to dry out) or left in a tightly wrapped pudding basin to soak up the alcohol and build flavour.
I find the traditional christmas pudding a bit too heavy, especially after an already large rich meal on Christmas Day so I prefer the lighter flavour of this microwave christmas pudding that is made nearer the time without the maturing period. If you want to make it on Stir Up Sunday though, you can always follow the instructions in the “making ahead” section below, and store it in the fridge or freezer until the big day itself.
Hiding a Coin in the Pudding
When I was a child, the only reason to accept a portion of Christmas pudding on Christmas Day was to rummage around in it in the hope of finding a treasured coin! This is an old tradition dating back to Victorian times where little trinkets and coins were added to the pudding mixture with the idea that if you found any of these in your bowl on Christmas Day, you were going to have good luck for the year ahead.
I have such fond memories of the excitement of searching in my bowl. My mother used to boil the coins first (5 pence pieces at first, then 20 pence coins as I got older and even moving on to £1 coins by the time I was in my teens!) and then tightly wrap them in foil before adding them into the pudding. When she was cutting up the pudding to serve it, my siblings and I would watch avidly to see any speck of shiny silver that would give it away and all fight to get that portion!
Nowadays, I think this lovely tradition is almost forgotten as so many people now buy their puddings instead. I’m ashamed to say that I have even forgotten to pass this on down to my own children and it is only writing this blogpost that reminded me about it!
Obviously, when using a microwave to cook your pudding, you won’t be able to hide coins inside (metal and microwaves don’t go well together!). If you do decide to follow this tradition, you will need to steam your pudding instead and I have included some instructions below for this, just in case.
Ingredients Notes
- Mixed dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants, dried cranberries, dried apricots, mixed peel) – You can use whatever mixture you like best of raisins, sultanas, currants, dried cranberries, dried apricots (cut to be similar sized to the other fruits) or even figs or dates (but I find the latter two too sweet for this dessert). Make sure to include mixed peel as it really highlights the citrus flavours and gives some much-needed sour notes. I haven’t specified exact measurements as, for my recipe testing, I used the mixed bags of dried fruit and mixed peel that you can get here in the UK but when I’m in the Middle East, I have to make up my own mixture which would be roughly 350g mixed vine fruits (raisins, sultanas, currants), 50g mixed peel, 50g dried apricots, 50g dried cranberries but you can use whatever mixture you like best!
- Stem ginger – this is the kind of ginger that comes as little nuggets or chunks in a jar of syrup. Use just the ginger, not the syrup (you can use that in these yummy cocktail sausages!). Chop the ginger into small pieces around the same size as the raisins.
- Apple – the apple needs to be grated but you can choose whether or not you want to peel it. The grated peel in the pudding doesn’t bother me so I usually include it. I use the coarse grater on a box grater to grate each side of the apple to the core and then do the four “corners” that appear. In the past, they would have used cooking or Bramley apples for this kind of dish but if you can’t get hold of those, regular eating apples do the job just fine, albeit perhaps slightly sweeter.
- Orange – since we are using the orange zest in this recipe, you should try to use organic unwaxed oranges or, if not, scrub the orange with soap and water to remove any pesticide residues and wax. Zest the orange with a zester or a microplane grater and then cut the orange in half to juice it. Try not to get too much of the bitter pith when you zest the orange.
- Rum (or brandy) – as my Mum grew up in South America by the demerara river (an expat kid, like her grand-children), I have been brought up a rum girl but traditionally the Christmas pudding is made with brandy instead. You can use either – whichever spirit you like the flavour of. To me, the rum is a natural companion to the fruits! If you want to make this alcohol-free, you can substitute apple juice for the alcohol but bear in mind that the pudding will not keep as well so you should store it in the freezer if you are making it ahead of time.
- Self-raising gluten-free flour blend – I use Dove’s Farm flour blend but any good flour blend will do or even just a mix of say rice flour and tapioca flour. If you haven’t got self-raising flour, use regular gluten-free flour blend and add a teaspoon of baking powder.
- Soft brown sugar – you could use soft brown demerara sugar or the darker muscovado sugar which will give you more molasses and a darker colour to the pudding.
- Ground almonds – these are in place of the breadcrumbs that appear in standard Christmas pudding recipes. It doesn’t need to be ground as fine as flour so any ground almonds will do. It gives a lovely nutty background flavour to the pudding. If you need to be nut-free, you could use ground tigernut flour instead (which, despite the name, is in fact not a nut!).
- Mixed spice – this is absolutely essential for the classic Christmas spice flavour. If you like, you could use your own blend of ground nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
- Coconut oil – you could use coconut oil or vegan butter in this recipe. I like the simplicity of coconut oil as a wholefood ingredient. It needs to be melted before using in this recipe.
- Aquafaba – you can get this by draining a can of chickpeas and using the water that comes through. Aquafaba works wonders as an egg substitute and it is this that gives the lightness of texture to this recipe and helps with the structure, just like eggs would in the traditional non-vegan recipe.
Please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for full list of ingredients and their quantities.
How To Make This Recipe
Step One - Soaking the fruits.
Measure out the dried fruits into a medium sized bowl. Chop your stem ginger pieces into small pieces around the size of the raisins, and add them to the bowl. Grate the apple and add it to the bowl. Then zest the orange and add that to the bowl. Pour the juice of the orange over the fruit and add the rum (or brandy if you prefer). Stir it all together well then put a plate over the bowl and leave it to steep for an hour or so or overnight.
Step Two - Mixing dry ingredients.
In a separate large bowl, weigh out the dry ingredients – the self-raising flour, ground almonds, soft brown sugar, mixed spice, baking powder and salt. Mix it all together really well.
In the meantime, prep your pudding basin.
Take a knob of coconut oil and spread it around the inside of the basin with your fingers. Then cut baking paper into one circle the size of the bottom of the your pudding basin, and one circle the size of the top of your pudding basin. Place the small circle in the bottom of the basin and use your hands to spread some of the coconut oil over it. Set aside the large circle for later.
Step Three - Mixing everything together.
Pour the fruit mixture into the flour mixture, making sure to scrape out all the juices, and mix well. Then add the melted coconut oil and aquafaba and mix again. Continue mixing for a minute or so until it is really well combined.
Step Four - Moulding.
Pour the whole mixture into the prepared pudding basin, then add the larger circle of baking paper on top.
Step Five - Cooking.
Rest the pudding basin lid loosely on top of the basin and put the pudding in the microwave. Cook at full power (800W) for 5 minutes. Then leave for 1 minute before cooking again at full power (800W) for another 5 minutes. (Note, the 1 minute resting time in the middle is really important for heat convection). Leave the pudding in the basin for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Step Six - Serving.
To serve, take the lid off the basin and place the serving over the top of the basin. Holding the basin and the plate, quickly turn over the basin and give a tap on the bottom. The pudding should fall out onto the plate. Make sure you have the plate centred over the basin so that the pudding lands in the right place on the plate!
This is a summary only. Please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this page for full instructions.
Tips for Success
- Good preparation is key! Make sure to grease the pudding basin really well and don’t skip doing the baking paper circles! And you can use baking paper, greaseproof paper, or parchment paper – different names but basically the same thing so you can use any of them! Scrunch up the baking paper circles before using them. It makes it easier to deal with them as it stops them trying to roll up all the time. Also, be sure to press the large baking paper circle into the top of the pudding rather than just resting it on top. This is what stops the pudding from drying out on the top (which ends up as the bottom!).
- Steeping the dried fruit in the rum and orange juice for a few hours or overnight, helps with the flavour but also with hydrating the dried fruits and plumping them out. So try not to skip this step if you can. However, if you really don’t have time, you can just pop the bowl into the microwave for a minute and it will help to re-hydrate the fruits in the liquid quickly.
Serving Suggestions
This vegan and gluten-free Christmas pudding is a fabulous showpiece to end a rich and festive Christmas meal.
- Place the upturned pudding onto a plate and decorate with a sprig of holly if you like (if you are not lighting the pudding).
- Set the pudding alight, if you like, following the steps outlined below.
- Serve with brandy butter, brandy cream or brandy sauce (all easily made with vegan substitutes) or, if like me you find that a bit too rich, I prefer serving with plain vegan cream or crème fraiche or even vegan yoghurt!
Lighting the Pudding
If you want to do the traditional lighting of the pudding, warm some brandy or rum (or any other strong alcoholic drink – my step-father used to use vodka as it had the highest alcohol content!) and pour it over the pudding. Then, making sure to keep hair and clothes well out of the way, use a long match to light the pudding.
Safety Notes:
- The flames won’t last long so it’s best to do this just outside the door of the dining room or at the table itself!
- Be very careful as if any of the alcohol spills, it could cause a fire.
- Don’t try to pour more alcohol over the pudding while the flames are alight as it could set the whole bottle alight!
- Do use a china plate for the pudding not a paper plate which would also catch fire!
- Keep children away to avoid accidents.
Substitutions & Variations
- Nut free – to make this nut free, substitute tigernut flour for the ground almonds. (Yes, tigernut, despite the name, is not a nut!)
- Alcohol free – just substitute the alcohol for apple juice instead. Bear in mind that you won’t be able to keep it as long and won’t be able to set it alight.
Equipment Notes
I use plastic pudding basin (#ad) to make my Christmas pudding. It is 2 pints / 1.2 Litres and comes with a lid. This is the perfect size for this pudding recipe and makes it very easy to store with the lid firmly pressed on top. Being plastic, it is also easier to get the pudding out than from a ceramic bowl.
Making Ahead & Storage
You can make this pudding ahead of time by taking it to the stage of the first microwaved 5 minutes. Then at the point in the recipe where it tells you to rest for 1 minute before microwaving again, just place the lid firmly onto the basin (or cover with a double layer of cling film) and either store in the freezer for up to 2 months or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
On Christmas Eve, take the pudding out of the freezer to defrost.
On Christmas Day, take the pudding out of the fridge a couple of hours before you need it, if possible, so that it isn’t fridge cold. Then microwave at full power for 6 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes after microwaving so that the heat has evenly distributed throughout the pudding.
Leftovers
In the days after Christmas, I am often caught taking little portions of leftover christmas pudding and reheating it in the microwave to indulge with a little vegan cream poured over the top as a morning snack. Really, it is such a comforting food and no less good after the big day itself! If it starts to dry out a little, cheat’s tip… just sprinkle a spattering of water from your fingertips onto the pudding before microwaving it. Then it will make it deliciously moist again! (This trick can be used if you haven’t managed to get the baking paper pressed down enough onto the pudding and the top has dried out a little too – just sprinkle a little water on before microwaving it again).
If you’re after something a little different… I have four words for you… Christmas pudding ice cream! This literally used to be my reason for making Christmas pudding! I absolutely love Christmas pudding ice cream made from the leftovers – if you haven’t tried it yet, you have such a pleasure in store for you! One of these days I will get a recipe on the blog for this but in the meantime, you can follow a standard vegan vanilla ice cream recipe and stir in small broken up pieces of Christmas pudding before freezing it.
Or, if you want to make it really easy, you could buy vegan vanilla ice cream, empty it into a big bowl, let it go a little soft (just soft enough to be able to stir it), pour in a little extra rum if you like (to make the consistency more stirable…) and mix in broken up pieces of Christmas pudding. Then pour it into a freezable container and put it in the freezer. If your ice cream has fully melted by this time, you will have to go through the usual ice cream making headache of having to pull it out of the freezer each hour, break it up into pieces and try to stir it up again, to break up the large ice crystals that will form. So it’s best to try to avoid having to do this by only letting the ice cream melt a tiny bit – just enough to be able to stir it, then get it back in the freezer asap! Enjoy!
FAQs
No. Although in old pictures of Christmas puddings, they often have a white covering on the top half, this is in fact not icing. The white topping in the pictures is probably the brandy sauce or cream that is often served with the pudding. However, in reality, this is never served over the whole pudding and is always a side accompaniment that people help themselves to individually on their own portions.
Sure! You will need to cover the pudding basin with foil (pleated so that it can expand when the pudding steams) and tie it with string around the rim of the basin to secure the foil. Then you need to make a handle for lifting the pudding out of the steamer, so tie some more string the other way around the bottom of the basin and up over the top, to use. Steam for 5 hours, making sure not to let the water boil off and not to let the boiling water touch the pudding basin.
📖 Recipe 📖
Vegan & Gluten-Free Christmas Pudding Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 500 g mixed dried fruit, (raisins, sultanas, currants, dried cranberries, dried apricots, mixed peel)
- 50 g stem ginger, chopped small
- 1 apple, grated
- 1 orange, zest and juice only
- 3 tablespoon rum
- 160 g self-raising gluten free flour blend
- 110 g soft brown sugar
- 80 g ground almonds
- 2 teaspoon mixed spice
- a pinch of salt
- 80 g coconut oil, melted (plus a little more for greasing)
- 4 tablespoon aquafaba
Instructions
- Basin Prep: Grease a 1.2L (2 pint) pudding basin by rubbing a little coconut oil all around the inside of the basin with your fingers. Then cut a small circle of greaseproof paper and lay it in the bottom of the basin. Add a little more coconut oil on top of the greaseproof paper. Cut out a large circle of greaseproof paper to fit the top of the pudding basin (set aside to use later).
- Soaking: In a medium bowl, add all the fruit, juice, zest and rum. Mix together and leave, covered with cling film, in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. (If you’re in a rush, you can pop the bowl in the microwave for 1 minute instead).500 g mixed dried fruit, 50 g stem ginger, 1 apple, 1 orange, 3 tablespoon rum
- Mixing: After soaking the fruit, take a separate large bowl and mix together the flour, sugar, ground almonds, mixed spice and salt. Then add the soaked fruit and juices into the flour bowl and mix well. Add the coconut oil and aquafaba and mix again.160 g self-raising gluten free flour blend, 110 g soft brown sugar, 80 g ground almonds, 2 teaspoon mixed spice, a pinch of salt, 80 g coconut oil, 4 tablespoon aquafaba
- Cooking: Then pour the mixture into the prepared pudding basin. Press down lightly with a spatula to level it out then place the large circle of greaseproof paper on top. If your basin has a lid, just rest it loosely on top (or cover with cling film and cut a few holes in the cling film so that it doesn’t explode!). Put the pudding basin into the microwave and microwave on full power (800W) for 5 minutes. Stop and rest for 1 minute then microwave again on full power (800W) for 4 minutes.
- Check whether it is cooked by removing the lid and greaseproof paper and pressing down lightly with your finger. It should feel fairly firm but with a bit of bounce and springy to the touch. You can also check it with a skewer and see if the skewer comes out clean. If it is slightly under cooked, leave it for a few more minutes to rest.
- Once it is cooked through, leave to rest for at least 10 minutes in the basin, then remove the coverings, place your serving plate on top of the basin and flip it over. The pudding should fall out neatly with a plop onto the plate. Then remember to remove the small circle of greaseproof paper from the top of the pudding!
- Decorate with some sprigs of holly if you like or douse with some more rum and set alight for a traditional flaming Christmas pudding spectacle! (Be very careful with this as any spills or loose clothing could cause a fire.)
- Serve with vegan cream or crème fraiche mixed with some brandy or rum (vegan brandy cream) or vegan brandy custard .
Notes
- It is essential to let the pudding rest for 1 minute half way through microwaving (after 5 minutes) and again for at least 10 minutes after cooking, so that it cooks evenly. Otherwise, you can be left with some less cooked sections within the pudding.
- Lighting the pudding: The traditional way to serve a Christmas pudding is to set it alight and bring it to the table with blue flames burning. To do this, you need to warm a small cup of brandy or rum (or any drink with a high alcohol content). Then pour the drink over the pudding and around the sides on the plate. Carefully, with a long match, light the alcohol around the pudding. Obviously, you need to take all necessary fire precautions and please do be careful to make sure you don’t spill any of the alcohol as this could cause the fire to spread. Also, make sure not to pour more alcohol onto the flaming pudding from a bottle as this could cause the bottle to burst into flames too.
- Making ahead: If you want to get ahead, you can make this pudding up to a few weeks ahead. Cook for the first 5 minutes and then wrap it and store it in the freezer (or the fridge if you have space) until the big day. Then take it out of the freezer the night before to defrost and on the day, microwave on high (800W) for 6 minutes. Remember to leave it to rest for 10 minutes after cooking before serving.
- Leftovers: reheat portions individually in a bowl whenever you feel like you want some more pudding (spatter with a little water then microwave in a covered bowl), or use the leftovers to stir into ice cream. Christmas pudding makes the best ice cream flavour!
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a ⭐ star rating ⭐ on the recipe card!
Related Recipes
If you like this vegan and gluten-free Christmas pudding recipe, you may like these other delicious vegan and gluten-free Christmas dessert recipes too::
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