Renowned baker Jane Dunn has shared an alternative recipe for the traditional Christmas pudding, made with loads of chocolate. Jane, more popularly known as Jane’s Patisserie, has been a food blogger and recipe developer for ten years, and this year she’s helping you conquer festive desserts.
Christmas pudding is traditionally made with raisins, currents, mixed peel and a generous helping of spices, but it can be a divisive dessert amongst the masses. But Jane has shown how you can emulate the classic festive look – holly and all – without the fruit and classic spices.
Instead Jane opts for chocolate and a classic rocky road to recreate the domed dessert. What’s even better is that Jane’s pudding requires absolutely no baking at all.
In a recent TikTok video, Jane demonstrated how early the pudding is to make. Jane’s pudding has wowed her followers and fellow baking fans, with her video racking up almost 200,000 views, at the time of writing.
It was especially popular with people who tend to steer clear of the traditional Christmas pud. One person said: “This is a Christmas pudding I can get behind.”
Kerry wrote: “This is genius! I might make smaller ones to give as gifts!”
A third person agreed: “Love the look of a Christmas pudding but not the taste. This is a great alternative,” while Lizzy replied: “I made this last year and it went down so well! Will definitely be making it again this year.”
To whip up Jane’s chocolatey take on a Christmas pudding, here is what you’ll need to do. You can also find the full recipe on Jane’s website.
Rocky Road Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
- 125g golden syrup
- 125g unsalted butter
- 200g milk chocolate
- 200g dark chocolate
- 100g mini marshmallows
- 150g digestives
- 150g amaretti biscuits
- 100g glacé cherries
- 100g raisins
Decoration
- 100g white chocolate
- 75g unsalted butter
- 150g icing sugar
- Green food colouring
- Red M&Ms
Method
Line a bowl of your choice with clingfilm – you want to make sure it’s all covered so it’s easy to get out. Jane used a small/medium metal bowl.
Chop the chocolate up finely and leave to the side. Then chop the digestives and amaretti biscuits into a bowl, and add the marshmallows, raisins and cherries.!
In a pan, add the butter and syrup and melt until the butter has melted fully – take the pan off the heat and add in the chocolate. The heat of the butter/syrup should melt the chocolate so it should be fine as it’s finely chopped.
If you find you have lumps of chocolate left then put the pan back on the heat briefly to melt the mixture fully. Pour the chocolate mix into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour into the lined bowl, and press down and set in the fridge for a few until solid, or leave it in the fridge overnight. You can check the firmness as you go.
Once the ‘pudding’ has set, decorate. Melt the white chocolate and pour it on top of the pudding for the topping, and let it set in place.
Cream together the unsalted butter and icing sugar until smooth, then add the green food colouring. Pipe the buttercream onto the pudding to mimic holly leaves.
Top with some red M&Ms for the berries, and leave it to set. Serve and enjoy!
The pudding can be kept in the fridge or at room temperature for four to five days. It can also be frozen.