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Instant Pot Alternative Christmas Pudding - aka a chocolate pudding for dried fruit haters!
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Instant Pot Alternative Christmas Pudding
If you are one of the world's Christmas pudding haters but love the idea and the way it looks, and you love chocolate, this is the alternative Christmas pud for you! Rich as a chocolate fudge cake and topped with a boozy white chocolate ganache. Serve with large scoops of good vanilla ice cream!
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: English
Servings: 8
: 549 kcal
Author: Just Jo
Ingredients
  • 225 g soft butter
  • 225 g soft light brown or muscovado sugar
  • 4 medium eggs
  • 175 g plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 25 g cocoa
  • 75 g dark chocolate melted
  • 1 tsp vanilla
For the topping
  • 60 g white chocolate
  • 2 tbsp double cream 30g
  • Optional - 2-3 tsp Advocaat liqueur
To finish
  • A small amount of red and green sugarpaste or an actual sprig of holly
Kit
  • 1.5 l pudding basin
  • Greaseproof paper tin foil and some string or an elastic band
Instructions

  1. Start by buttering your pudding basin very well with a little extra butter. If making your holly, do it now so it can dry before using. Roll three small red balls and stamping out three green leaves with a plunger cutter then press gently together. Set aside until needed.

  2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
  3. Sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder and cocoa then fold into the creamed butter followed by the melted chocolate and vanilla extract. Try not to eat all of the batter and instead scrape it all into your buttered pudding basin!
  4. Take a square of greaseproof paper and lay it over a piece of foil a few inches wider than your basin. Fold across the middle a deep pleat about 1.5 inches wide then paper side down cover the pudding. Secure with string or an elastic band and crimp the paper and foil up around it tightly.

  5. Place the trivet inside the Instant Pot inner pot and sit the pudding on top. Pour in enough boiling water to come about 1 inch below the foil. Put the lid on, leave the vent open and press Steam, setting a timer to 20 minutes (it wont countdown with the valve open). 

  6. When the timer sounds to indicate steaming has finished, press Cancel, lose the valve then set it to Manual High for 25 minutes. NPR for 20 minutes* before removing the pudding. Allow it to stand for at least 10 minutes before running a plastic knife around the edges and releasing it only a serving dish.

For the chocolate sauce:

  1. Place the chocolate and cream in a microwave proof bowl and zap for 30 seconds at a time on medium heating, stirring in between to mix. When just melted, beat really well with a small whisk and if using, add Advocaat to taste. Any more than 1 tbsp and it will be a runny pouring sauce rather than thick and spreadable. 

  2. Whisk again and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes before spreading on top of your pudding. The pudding retains heat very well so try to wait until serving before topping the pud with the ganache so it doesn't completely melt.

Recipe Notes

*= this is an extremely forgiving pud. It can be left in the Instant Pot to keep warm until needed for up to 2 hours and will still be delicious and moist. You can make the ganache and leave it at room temp instead as soon as you have set the IP up to steam and by the time you serve, 2-3 hours later, it will be a spreadable texture.

It also keeps up to 2-3 days. Just allow it to cool completely, cover in clingfilm and reheat in the microwave when needed. One of two 30 second zaps on high should do it.