No-Bake Chocolate Christmas Pudding

Does anyone actually LIKE Christmas pudding? Sure, it wouldn't be Christmas without it, but in our hot South African climate, who wants to eat a heavy, steamy, piping hot custard-coated winter pudding? Bleh. Yes, our Christmas is peppered with all kinds of snow-covered European traditions but that doesn't mean we can't put our own twist on them. Forget reindeer - we should have springbok instead! But let me not get ahead of myself here, let's start with the important stuff; dessert. 

Looks like a figgy pudding - yes! Tastes like a figgy pudding? Well, erm no. It's a gajillion times better! 

Firstly-  it has chocolate in it. 
2) Condensed milk 
3) It's no-bake / no-steam / no-effort
4) It's still got all the Christmassy stuff in, but it's cold
5) You can put whatever the heck you want in it!
6) It's low-fat - JOKES! Oh heck no. Hear that? It's the sound of diets crashing everywhere! But hey, that's what January is for, right?!

Now, you might be thinking, this looks familiar. Remember my Peppermint Crisp Fridge Cake recipe? In celebration of it being shared over 21 500 times on Facebook (see there are LOTS of sugar addicts out there like us) I gave it a festive makeover with an unhealthy amount of Christmas cheer (and treats)! 

I've added ginger biscuits, cherries, pistachios, toasted hazelnuts, candied peel, dried figs, booze-soaked raisins, heck I even threw in some spices and drenched it 

in white chocolate. 

It's like a Christmas party - in your mouth! 

But also, it's muesli. 

No-Bake Chocolate Christmas Pudding

Serves 6-8

100g butter

300g milk or dark chocolate, chopped

½ tin (190g) sweetened condensed milk (eat the rest with a spoon)

1 tsp mixed spice

200g biscuits, crumbled (I used spiced ginger)

240g toasted nuts/soaked dried fruit/cherries/candied peel/caramel popcorn/marshmallows etc

100g white chocolate, melted

Start by lining the inside of a medium-sized 1.5L mixing bowl with 2-3 layers of clingwrap. 

In a saucepan, combine the butter, milk chocolate and condensed milk over low heat and stir until melted.

In a separate bowl, mix together the spice, biscuits, nuts and fruit. Stir into the chocolate mixture and mix well. 

Pour into the lined mixing bowl then place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until set. 

Remove from the mould and turn onto a serving plate. 

Spoon the melted chocolate onto the top and coax it down the sides. 

Decorate with sprinkles or Christmas decorations.

Serve thin slices with strong coffee or a glass of brandy. 

MORE CHRISTMAS RECIPES WITH A TWIST:

Gingerbread Train

Christmas Malva Pudding

Spiced Chocolate Cheesecake

Gingerbread Macarons

Chocolate peppermint crisp fridge cake

This no-bake 5-ingredient recipe’s deliciousness revolves around three quintessential South African ingredients – sweetened condensed milk, peppermint crisp bars (can be substituted with any peppermint or mint-flavoured chocolate or sweets) and ‘Eet sum mores’ which are delicious, buttery shortbread biscuits. Of course, these yummy ingredients are bound together with lots of melted chocolate so if you haven’t realized it by now, your diet is pretty much destroyed. 

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s idiot-proof and even better is that you can use just about anything in it – nuts, biscuits, dried fruit, sweets, marshmallows, cherries, breakfast cereal, your favourite chocolate bars – have I left anything out?! ;)

When I created this recipe last year for a quick segment on Expresso, I had no idea just how popular it would be. I put it up on Facebook as I didn’t think it was worth a full blog post and then forgot about it pretty quickly. Except that now, it has been shared over 18 000 times (and so I'm eating my words... and the cake!)

Chocolate peppermint crisp fridge cake

Serves 8-10

100g butter

300g milk or dark chocolate, chopped

½ tin sweetened condensed milk (eat the rest of the tin with a spoon)

200g shortbread biscuits (Eet sum mores)

160g peppermint crisp bars, chopped (I also used some mint aero)

80g mini marshmallows (optional)

Line a standard loaf tin or baking tray with a sheet of baking paper and set aside.

Place the butter, chocolate and condensed milk in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on a medium to low heat until smooth. 

In a separate bowl, break the biscuits into pieces and combine with the peppermint crisp chunks and marshmallows (or whatever other ingredients you're using).

Combine the cooled melted chocolate mixture with the biscuit mixture and stir until combined.

Pour into the lined loaf tin and place in the fridge until completely set.

Unmould and cut into slices.

SOMETHING ELSE YOU MAY LIKE:
Caramel peppermint crisp cake
Peppermint crisp milkshakes
Peppermint crisp ice cream sandwiches

OR HOW ABOUT MORE 5-INGREDIENT RECIPES?
Chocolate macaroon cake with raspberries
Nutty chocolate magic bars

Caramel Peppermint Crisp Cake

 I heard someone once describe our beloved peppermint crisp tart as ‘a lazy version of Italian tiramisu’, which, once you get over the initial offence, is a pretty accurate description really. Four ingredients: Tennis biscuits (don’t even bother asking me if there is an alternative flavour of biscuit you can use because any South African will tell you there just isn’t), tinned caramel (if you’re feeling fancy, boiling a tin of condensed milk will make it ‘gourmet’), whipped cream (well, if you want to be AUTHENTIC it should be that non-dairy Orley whip cream…) and of course the darling of South African chocolates, Peppermint Crisp (those shards of sticky peppermint covered in chocolate are pure bliss!).

I must be honest, I never grew up with peppermint crisp tart. It doesn’t conjure up memories of my grandmother serving it to me as a child, or my mom whipping up a pyrex dish of it for a church bazaar. The decadent dessert was completely left out of my childhood (my mom and I will have words about this!) but that hasn’t stopped me from cramming all the tart I missed out on as a child into my adult life!

I’ve given the dessert it’s fair share of makeovers - from ice cream sandwiches to milkshakes, but this cake is a serious showstopper! It’s not as sweet as it’s traditional counterpart due to the coconutty sponge cake layers in between and it will make a jaw-dropping end to a lekker braai!

Caramel Peppermint crisp cake

Serves 10-12

Recipe by Katelyn Williams

Adapted from Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days

120g butter, softened

400g castor sugar

360g cake flour

1½ tbsp baking powder

40g desiccated coconut, toasted

pinch of salt

3 large eggs

1 tin (400ml) coconut milk

Filling

1 tin caramel

2 cups cream, whipped to stiff peaks

400g peppermint crisp chocolate, crushed

Mini Tennis biscuits , to garnish

Preheat the oven to 170C and line 3 x 20cm sandwich tins with baking paper.

Beat the butter, castor sugar, flour, baking powder, coconut and salt together on a low speed until a sandy texture forms. Whisk the eggs and coconut milk together in a jug then slowly add to the dry ingredients while the mixer is running, to form a batter. Divide the cake batter evenly between the prepared tins and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean, and the cakes are golden. Allow to cool a little in the tin before turning out onto a cake rack. Trim the cooled cakes by levelling the tops then place one cake layer on a plate. Spread with caramel, whipped cream, peppermint crisp and crushed biscuits.  Continue layering finishing with the caramel, cream, peppermint crisp and the mini biscuits. Refrigerate for 1 hour to set then slice and serve.

5-Ingredient Chocolate Raspberry Macaroon Cake (Gluten-free)

Be honest, I had you at chocolate right?. Well that’s understandable, because without chocolate there would be darkness and chaos in the world (okay we don't know that for sure but let's just put it up to trust - and I'd trust a chocolate bar any day). But back to the 'cake', it's got just 5 main ingredients - how cool is that? And it's gluten-free! Even more brownie points earned!

Layers of coconut macaroon, whipped chocolate and raspberries make this recipe an absolute hit and super impressive with so little effort it's actually embarrassing.  But don't worry, I won't tell if you don't! Try and use the best quality chocolate you can get your paws on, the high cocoa content gives the whipped ganache a bittersweet richness, combined with the sweet meringue and zing of the fresh raspberries - it’s just plain awesome. 

Chocolate raspberry macaroon cake
Recipe and images created for Yuppiechef.com

(Serves 6-8)

1 cup cream

300g dark chocolate, chopped

3 egg whites

1 cup sugar

2 2/3 cups desiccated coconut

To decorate:

Cocoa, for dusting

200g fresh raspberries (or other fresh fruit), to garnish

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 20 x 20cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Bring the cream to a boil, remove from the heat and add the chocolate chunks. Allow to stand for 5 minutes then stir until smooth. Refrigerate until set then whip until fluffy and stiff.

In a medium saucepan, bring 1cm of water to a simmer. Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites in a glass bowl set over the simmering water until soft peak stage. Gradually beat in the sugar until combined. Remove from the heat and beat at high speed until cool. 

Fold in the coconut gently until combined. Spread the mixture into the lined baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool slightly, and then turn the macaroon cake onto a clean surface. Trim the edges and cut the cake into two rectangles.

Sandwich the layers together with the whipped chocolate mixture, finishing with a layer of chocolate and finally a dusting of cocoa and a sprinkling of raspberries.

TIP This cake is even better refrigerated overnight and enjoyed the next day.