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Festive Christmas ice-cream pudding set and ready to eat.
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Show-Stopping Christmas Ice Cream Pudding

Impress your guests on Christmas Day with this show-stopping Christmas Ice Cream Pudding! Just 10 minutes hands-on prep, you won't believe how easy it is to make. Use our traditional Christmas pudding ingredients or customise with your own flavour combinations!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Australian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Soaking / Chilling Time 11 hours
Total Time 11 hours 10 minutes
Servings 12 serves
Calories 390kcal
Cost $10-$15

Ingredients

To decorate:

Instructions

  • Combine almonds, glacé cherries, mixed peel, dried fruit, rum, mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Stir well, cover and allow to soak and chill for a 2-3 hours in the fridge. Optional: Stir once or twice in between to make sure everything is coated well with the spices and rum.
    125 g blanched almonds, 125 g maraschino or glacé cherries, ⅓ cup mixed peel, 1 cup dried fruit, ½ cup rum, 1 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg
  • Line an 8 cup pudding basin or large bowl with aluminium foil, pressing out any wrinkles.
  • Add slightly softened ice-cream into the fruit mixture and mix well. Spoon into the lined pudding basin or bowl, cover and freeze until firm (6-8 hours). Note: For best results, freeze overnight
    1 ½ L vanilla ice cream

To Serve:

  • Turn out onto a chilled serving plate. Note: Wrap a damp towel over foil for a few seconds to help peel off, if required.
  • Decorate with your chosen toppings (such as chocolate sauce, ice magic or melted chocolate, crushed nuts and glacé or maraschino cherries) and serve immediately.
    chocolate sauce, crushed nuts, maraschino or glacé cherries

Notes

  • Ice Cream - Vanilla ice cream is the perfect base to add your Christmas flavours to, but you can use any ice cream you like. Try it with chocolate, English toffee, or specialty gourmet ice cream flavours depending on your budget.
  • Pudding Ingredients - Add your favourites like blanched almonds, glacé or maraschino cherries, mixed fruit or fruit pie mincemeat filling, mixed peel or chopped dried apricots. If there are any ingredients here that you don’t like, just leave them out or swap for something you like better - see our variations section below for more ideas.
  • Spices - Mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. You can also use pumpkin spice.
  • Spirit - Rum, sherry or brandy are traditional favourites for their Christmas spice flavours. Sub with your favourite liqueurs (coffee, hazelnut, almond or Irish cream would all be amazing!). Otherwise, use 1 tbsp vanilla essence for a non-alcoholic version. 
  • Melted Chocolate - Be careful pouring melted chocolate over the top of frozen ice cream pudding, as it can cause the ice cream to melt quickly.
  • Plan Ahead - This recipe is best made at least 1 day before serving so it has plenty of time to set overnight. 
  • Don’t Let the Ice Cream Melt - It should soften just enough to be easy to mix in the pudding ingredients, but avoid letting it completely melt as this will change the texture of the finished pudding.
  • Line Your Bowl - This makes it much easier to take the frozen ice cream pudding out of the container when you’re ready to serve. Instead of plastic wrap, we use aluminium foil which works just as well but is also easier to recycle. 
  • Turn Out the Pudding - Wrap a damp towel over the foil for a few seconds to help peel it off, if required. You can smooth out any wrinkles in the ice cream with the flat of a knife or frosting spatula if you like, but we think they actually add to the look!
  • Storage - Always store in the freezer until you’re ready to serve. If it’s difficult to slice, pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to soften slightly.

Nutrition

Calories: 390kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 112mg | Potassium: 378mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 529IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 196mg | Iron: 1mg