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

Crème caramel

There is something so beautifully old-fashioned about creme caramel. What's not to love? A velvety smooth, creamy custard and sweet hit of slightly bitter caramel that floods your plate? Heaven. It once enjoyed it's upside down life as an extremely popular pudding in the late 20th century where it apparently graced the top of almost every dessert menu. But since then, except for the sachets of instant creme caramel mix you can buy on the shelf (which taste nothing like the real thing), it's been abandoned and rarely pops up in cookbooks and magazines. Is it because people are scared of it? Set custard can be daunting and then you add caramel to that mix and the whole unmoulding bit is pretty terrifying I guess... I decided to resurrect the glorious classic, but to take away the terror, I've added gelatine to mine - just to be safe! And if vintage shoes and handbags can enjoy a revival, why can't a retro dessert? I'd certainly choose a pudding over prada anyday anyway!

Crème caramel

Makes 4-6

150g demerara sugar

80ml water

1 tsp powdered gelatine

180ml milk

180ml cream

2 large eggs

4 egg yolks

75g castor sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the demerara sugar and water until dissolved, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until golden in colour.

Pour into the bottom of 4 small ramekins and set aside to cool. Sprinkle the gelatine over 2 tbsp water and allow to bloom. Set aside. Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatine. Whisk the eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla together and slowly whisk in the hot milk. Pour into the caramel-filled ramekins, place in a roasting dish and fill half-way up the sides of the ramekins with hot water. Bake in a preheated oven set to 150C for 35 minutes or until just set. When the caramels wobble like jelly, they are ready. Remove from the roasting tray and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Turn out the crème caramels by running a knife around the rim and place a plate on top. Flip the plate over to release the caramels.

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Sticky caramel baked puddings

If you're trying to stick to a diet, I suggest you look away now, because this is possibly the most decadent, delicious, oozy, luscious baked pudding in my repertoire - so unctuous it comes with its own warning. No surprise then that it is based on a recipe by the anti-diet diva herself, Nigella. Caramel is my latest obsession and it seems toffee trumps chocolate in the food world these days so this is my ode to the caramel fad. With a few white chocolate chunks thrown in for good measure, of course.

Eating healthily and living a balanced, active lifestyle is an important part of my life, but there are occasions that demand a pudding of this calibre. Like those freezing weekends when it pours with non-stop rain and you seek the refuge of your duvet and live in your slippers for 2 days or those Monday evenings when only something supremely sweet will cure a terrible case of the Monday blues. And if anything, it will be the best dessert to impress friends with – super easy and you can casually say 'caramel is the new chocolate you know' , because it totally is.

Sticky caramel baked puddings

(serves 4)

200g dark brown sugar

350g self-raising flour

1 cup milk

2 eggs

2t vanilla extract

100g butter, melted

200g white chocolate chunks

200g tinned caramel

50g butter

4 cups boiling water

Combine the dark sugar and flour. Whisk the milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter together and pour into the flour mix, stirring to combine. Fold in the chocolate chunks. Divide between individual moulds – filling up to halfway. Combine the caramel, butter and boiling water and pour over the puddings. Bake at 180°C for 25 minutes until the tops are firm to the touch. Serve with caramelised banana slices, if desired and top with marscarpone or whipped cream.

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Valentine's Desssert: Chocolate fondants with gooey liquid centres

There is not a human being on this planet that would turn down this dessert. It ticks all the boxes a dessert should - contains chocolate? Check. Decadent and gooey? Check. Not too sweet? Check. 

Just plain swoon-worthy! And before you go ahead and think it's difficult and involves effort bla bla bla, wait just a minute there, because you can make this in advance and then simply pop it in the oven 10 minutes before you wish to melt whoever's heart you're serving this to. The timing here though is key. You're going to check the fondant after 10 minutes like the recipe says, and you're going to think, Katelyn you've lost the plot this is still raw. It's not raw, it's gooey and oozing chocolatey goodness and also, when have I ever lead you astray? Never. So just trust me, it's good to go. Oh, but not without some softly whipped cream or a big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, of course. 

Günther Schubert of Vörsprung Studio

Chocolate fondants

Recipe by the fabulous Zola Nene

Makes 6

100g dark chocolate, chopped

100g butter, softened

3 large eggs

85g white sugar

100g cake flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water until smooth.

Whip the eggs and sugar together in an electric mixer until triple in size. The mixture should be light, fluffy and thick.

Sieve the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Fold the chocolate mix and the dry ingredients into the eggs alternately.

Grease and dust 6 dariole moulds or ramekins with a little cocoa powder.

Fill greased moulds with the fondant mixture and allow to rest in the fridge until ready to bake. The mixture can even be prepared the day before serving.

Bake at 180°C for 10 - 11 minutes.

Loosen the edges of the fondant from the mould then serve turned out on a plate with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.