Festive Dessert Christmas Ice-cream Pudding

Merry Christmas! To all my followers get in the kitchen, get excited and celebrate this wonderful season.

2020 has been a very challenging year for all of us but it is finally coming to an end. Christmas is here and my aim through my food blog has always been to bring you some joy through my recipes. I hope this recipe will be an inspiration to celebrate Christmas.

This old fashioned British pudding has been adapted to the hot summer of Australia. This rich Christmas pudding is quite stunning and elegant if you are entertaining. It is also so simple and can be made well in advance. All you have to do is gather your family together to feast on this delicious dessert.

Ingredients

• 400g Christmas pudding
• 1 1/2 cups pitted morello cherries, drained
• 1/4 cup kirsch, brandy, or Cointreau
• 1 litre good quality vanilla ice-cream
• 200g dark or milk chocolate, chopped
• Icing sugar, maraschino or fresh cherries, to serve

Method for the Pudding

• Line a 1.25 litre pudding mould with a double layer of plastic wrap. Extend the plastic about 5 cm over the edge of the mould.
• Marinate the cherries in the liquor, preferably over night.
• Slice the pudding into medium size slices. Place them in a large bowl and add the cherries and the liqueur. Carefully toss with your hands to combine all the ingredients.
• Spoon in the first layer of ice-cream in the mould. Then layer in the mixture of Christmas pudding and cherries. Keep making your layers, finishing with a layer of vanilla ice-cream.

• Smooth the top; cover with plastic wrap, baking paper and foil paper and freeze overnight.

• Place the chocolate pieces in a medium bowl and put it in the microwave for 40 seconds or until the chocolate has melted. Mix well with a spatula.
• Turn the pudding out onto a chilled serving plate. Pour the melted chocolate over pudding.
• Dust with icing sugar and top with a cherry.

Tips

• Do not combine the Christmas pudding with the melted ice-cream; you will end up with a milk shake and all the flavours of all the ingredients will be lost. Layer the Christmas pudding slices and cherry mixture.
• Use your imagination to decorate this Christmas pudding. Go wild and crazy … no matter what you put on top or on the side when serving, it will always look amazing.
• Slice the pudding with a knife dipped in hot water.
• You can serve this Christmas pudding with a chocolate sauce on the side.