Christmas pudding

[Poppy Mole]

After all the fuss the other year with the orange in the centre of the pud, I wondered if it would work putting a wodge of marzipan in the centre, does anyone have any thoughts on this?
I haven't made a christmas pudding since I was first married in 1966 & ruining all of them - 2 I drowned, 1 I burnt & the other had missed ingredients, so I vowed never to try again, but I am now prepared to have another go!

ps. I am actually quite a reasonable cook.

[Poppy Mole]

[Redalder]

Give it a go! A lovely gooey centre. My secret ingredient in Christmas cake is chopped marzipan in with the fruit , melts and makes it moist.

[Obelixx]

Haven't made Xmas pud for years cos i realised I could never manage more than one spoonful and Possum loathes it.  OH loves it though so I treat him to a small organic one that he can heat up in the microwave in about 5 minutes and eat as and when he wants.

We've never managed to eat an Xmas cake before Easter either, especially now we don't go skiing any more (great energy snack) so if I do make one it's a boozy Creole cake à la Delia which keeps very well and doesn't need feeding.

[Silverleaf]

My mum makes Christmas puds for practically the whole world since all her friends learned how delicious they are, so we always have loads. I'm more of a chocolate person myself but I do like a small amount of Christmas pud.

I'm in charge of the Christmas cake which is one of my favourite things in the world except for the icing. I can't stand royal or fondant icing so my cake is prettily decorated with marzipan and cherries only, but not too much - I want to taste the actual cake! Mine is full of different fruits, nuts and spices, and my secret ingredient is stem ginger. I'm often late so it only gets fed once generally, with brandy, sherry and syrup from the stem ginger, but it still tastes fine.

Shop puds and cakes always shock me with how expensive they are, and they are nothing like as nice as homemade ones. Shop Christmas cake in particular is heavy, dry and tasteless.

[peanuts]

Have always done our own puds, C'mas cakes and mincemeat, just getting round to thinking of doing  them in the next couple of weeks.  Never heard of putting little pieces of marzipan in the pud - I like that idea, so I'm going to try it.  I'll be interested to  see if anyone notices that it is especially good this year!
Silverleaf -  like you I have no interest in royal or fondant  icing.  But our family have always put marzipan and then simple lemon icing on the C'mas cake.  In fact that is the only icing I ever use as it isn't too sweet and positively adds to the flavour of the cake.  I do a big square cake, cover it usually with home-made marzipan, and then a think layer of icing made with the juice from 1 lemon.  I sometimes  colour it  slightly pink.

[Silverleaf]

Interesting idea Peanuts! Unfortunately the only icing I can stand is cream cheese icing with hardly any sugar in it, and I'm sure that won't go well with Christmas cake. ;)

[Obelixx]

We don't like icing or marzipan but like almonds and frangipane in other things.

For a couple of years I brushed our cake with apricot jam then covered it with dessicated coconut to look like snow and tied a festive ribbon round the sides.  Now I leave it simple as it spends so long wrapped in foil waiting to be eaten.  Very good after a cold winter's day in the garden or a walk with the dogs.

Compared with the time involved and the cost of dried fruits here in Belgium, it's quicker and as cheap for me to buy a good quality small pud in the English store and a jar of the best mincemeat to which I add extra rum or brandy.

[Silverleaf]

My cake is easy - takes a lot of time but most of that time is soaking fruit and baking which don't require your attention at all. Other than that, I roughly measure ingredients, mix, and throw in a tin.