vegan dessert

Vegan Christmas Pudding

November 14, 2019 by hannahhossack 1 Comment

Vegan Christmas pudding – this vegan version of the classic British steamed Christmas pudding is rich, moist, fruity and boozy but not overly dense or heavy. It is easy to make and can be cooked in advance and matured for up to six months or eaten right away instead.

Christmas pudding is quite divisive, some people love it, some hate it. I am firmly in the ‘love’ camp though I do get why lots of people don’t like it; it does tend to be quite dense and heavy.

This vegan one is a little bit lighter than a lot of recipes, but is still rich and moist. It is packed with juicy rum soaked dried fruit and is lightly spiced and perfectly festive.

It is the perfect way to round off your Christmas dinner and I think that this vegan pudding is just as good as, if not better than, the classic suet and egg laden version.

Christmas pudding may seem tricky to make but it is actually incredibly simple. It does take five hours to steam so you need to make sure that you start making it fairly early in the day; but it is all hands off time while it is cooking.

It can be stored for up to six months before Christmas (see instructions below for how to store it), or made as little as a couple of days in advance. On the day it will take an hour to steam before serving.

How To Make Vegan Christmas Pudding:

(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)

*For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.*

You need to start making this vegan Christmas pudding the day before you want to steam it as the fruit needs to soak overnight.

Mix together dried raisins, currants and chopped dried dates and apricots (or use a different selection of dried fruits as you like) with the zest and juice of an orange and some rum, brandy or sherry, cover and leave to soak overnight. I give it a stir every now and again to ensure that the fruit is equally coated.

The next day, stir a peeled and grated cooking apple into the fruit mixture; Bramley apple is best but Granny Smith will do if you can’t get hold of them.

Next, stir in self-raising flour, fresh breadcrumbs, light brown soft sugar and mixed spice (pumpkin spice) followed by aquafaba, melted refined coconut oil, non-dairy milk and chopped almonds.

The aquafaba and coconut oil are absolutely the best replacements for the eggs and suet/butter that are usually used in Christmas pudding so I don’t recommend subbing them for anything else. As long as you use refined rather than virgin coconut oil your pudding won’t taste like coconut.

Grease a 1.2 – 1.4 litre pudding basin and place a disc of baking parchment in the bottom to prevent the top of the pudding from sticking.

Spoon the pudding mixture into the greased basin and pack it down firmly then level the top. It is ok if the mixture comes almost all the way up to the top of the basin as it doesn’t rise much but make sure that there is at least a centimetre gap at the top.

Make a fold in the middle of a square of baking parchment and the same again in a square of tin foil. Place the baking parchment on top of the pudding basin with the fold in the middle, followed by the tin foil. Press the foil over the edge of the pudding basin.

Tie a length of string very tightly around the foil – there should be a lip on the pudding basin; tie the string just under that. Tie a length of string across the top of the basin to make a handle. Trim off the excess foil and parchment, leaving at least a centimeter below the string.

Place a saucer upside down in a large saucepan to act as a trivet and place the pudding basin on top. Pour boiling water into the pan so that it comes about halfway up the pudding basin, don’t let it touch the foil.

Place the lid on the pan and place over a low heat. Cook at a gentle simmer for five hours (it will do the pudding no harm to leave it to cook for a little longer however). Check every now and again to see if the water needs topping up but resist the urge to take the lid off the pan too often.

When it is cooked, the pudding should be a deep brown colour and be firm to the touch with a little bit of bounce. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.

Once the pudding is done steaming, remove it from the pan and leave it to cool then remove the baking parchment and tin foil and replace them with fresh ones. Store in a cool, dry place for up to six months, feeding it occasionally with rum or brandy.

On Christmas day, steam the pudding in the same way for one to two hours before serving it.

Top Tips:

You can vary the dried fruit to suit you as long as you keep the same overall weight (450g). Dried cranberries, cherries and blueberries and chopped dried figs would be great options.

Christmas pudding is traditionally made on Stir Up Sunday, which is the last Sunday before the season of Advent; but it can be made any time up to six months in advance of Christmas, and as little as a couple of days beforehand if needed.

Traditionally, everyone in the household is meant to take a turn stirring the pudding mix and make a special wish for the year ahead.

This recipe uses fresh rather than dried breadcrumbs; to make fresh breadcrumbs simply remove the crusts from a couple of slices of slightly stale white bread, weigh out 70g worth and blend them in a food processor until finely chopped.

Any leftover Christmas pudding will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks and can be reheated as needed. It can also be frozen for up to one year provided it is well wrapped.

How To Store Christmas Pudding:

This vegan Christmas pudding can be stored for up to six months provided you make it with alcohol and feed it every week or two with a little more alcohol.

Once the pudding is done steaming, allow it to cool then remove the tin foil and baking parchment and replace them with fresh ones. Store it in a cool, dark place (like a cupboard). Every two weeks, take off the foil and parchment and drizzle over a tablespoon of rum or brandy.

The pudding will drink it up and become more rich and moist for Christmas.

If you want to make the pudding without alcohol then you will not be able to store it for more than a couple of weeks as it is the alcohol that preserves it.

The pudding can also be frozen for up to a year. Thaw overnight before heating it through to serve.

How To Flame A Christmas Pudding:

When serving a Christmas pudding, traditionally you are supposed to set it alight with flaming brandy first. This is totally optional of course but it is quite a spectacle!

To light your pudding, once it has had it’s second steaming, turn it out onto a wide serving plate with a lip; you don’t want to end up with flaming alcohol running over the edge of the plate and onto the table!

Place about 2-3 Tbsp of brandy, rum or vodka in a metal ladle. Hold the bottom of the ladle over a candle, tealight or gas hob to heat up the alcohol.

Carefully tilt the ladle sideways slightly so that the alcohol catches light (or use a match) then gently pour the flaming alcohol over the pudding and turn out the lights so that everyone can see the flames!

What To Serve With Vegan Christmas Pudding:

Traditionally, Christmas pudding is served with either brandy sauce or brandy butter, but it is also great with ice cream, custard or cream.

To make a vegan brandy sauce, place 3 Tbsp cornflour (cornstarch) in a pan and gradually whisk in 400ml non-dairy milk (soy or oat would be the best options here). Whisk in 75g caster sugar then bring the pan to the boil, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens.

Remove from the heat and stir in 3 Tbsp brandy (or rum), the seeds from 1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste) and 100ml plant based cream (such as soy or oat). Serve the sauce warm with the pudding.

More Vegan Christmas Recipes:

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Vegan Christmas Pudding

Vegan Christmas pudding - this vegan version of the classic British steamed Christmas pudding is rich, moist, fruity and boozy but not overly dense or heavy. It is easy to make and can be cooked in advance and matured for up to six months or eaten right away instead.

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword pudding

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 5 hours

Soaking Time: 12 hours

Servings 8 people

Author Domestic Gothess

Ingredients

150 g (5.3oz) raisins
100 g (3.5oz) currants
100 g (3.5oz) chopped dried dates
100 g (3.5oz) chopped dried apricots
4 Tbsp brandy/rum/sherry
finely grated zest and juice of 1 medium orange
1 medium cooking apple (about 220g unpeeled weight) (Bramley is best) peeled, cored and grated
100 g (3/4 cup + 2Tbsp) self-raising flour
70 g (1 cup) fresh breadcrumbs*
100 g (1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp) light brown soft sugar
1 tsp mixed spice (pumpkin spice)
75 g (1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp) melted refined coconut oil
3 Tbsp aquafaba (the liquid drained from a tin of chickpeas)
2 Tbsp non-dairy milk
40 g (1.4oz) chopped almonds (optional)

Instructions

You need to start making this vegan Christmas pudding the day before you want to steam it as the fruit needs to soak overnight. Mix together the raisins, currants and chopped dried dates and apricots with the rum/brandy/sherry and the orange zest and juice. Cover and leave to soak overnight. I give it a stir every now and again to ensure that the fruit is equally coated.
The next day, stir the peeled, cored and grated cooking apple into the fruit mixture.
Next, stir in the self-raising flour, fresh breadcrumbs, light brown soft sugar and mixed spice followed by the aquafaba, melted refined coconut oil, non-dairy milk and chopped almonds.
Grease a 1.2 - 1.4 litre pudding basin and place a disc of baking parchment in the bottom to prevent the top of the pudding from sticking. Put the kettle on.
Spoon the pudding mixture into the greased basin and pack it down firmly then level the top. It is ok if the mixture comes almost all the way up to the top of the basin as it doesn't rise much but make sure that there is at least a centimetre gap at the top.
Make a fold in the middle of a square of baking parchment and the same again in a square of tin foil. Place the baking parchment on top of the pudding basin with the fold in the middle, followed by the tin foil. Press the foil over the edge of the pudding basin.
Tie a length of string very tightly around the foil – there should be a lip on the pudding basin; tie the string just under that. Tie a length of string across the top of the basin to make a handle. Trim off the excess foil and parchment, leaving at least a centimeter below the string.
Place a saucer upside down in a large saucepan to act as a trivet and place the pudding basin on top. Pour boiling water into the pan so that it comes about halfway up the pudding basin, don't let it touch the foil.
Place the lid on the pan and place over a low heat. Cook at a gentle simmer for five hours (it will do the pudding no harm to leave it to cook for a bit longer than that). Check every now and again to see if the water needs topping up but resist the urge to take the lid off the pan too often.
When it is cooked, the pudding should be a deep brown colour and be firm to the touch with a little bit of bounce. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
Once the pudding is done steaming, remove it from the pan and leave it to cool then remove the baking parchment and tin foil and replace them with fresh ones. Store in a cool, dry place for up to six months, feeding it occasionally with rum or brandy.
On Christmas day, steam the pudding in the same way for 1-2 hours before serving it. See instructions in the post above for how to flame it.

Recipe Notes

For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely and read the post above for all of the tips and information. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
*To make fresh breadcrumbs simply remove the crusts from a couple of slices of slightly stale white bread, weigh out 70g worth and blend them in a food processor until finely chopped.
You can vary the dried fruit to suit you as long as you keep the same overall weight (450g). Dried cranberries, cherries and blueberries and chopped dried figs would be great options.

Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake

July 30, 2019 by hannahhossack 3 Comments

Vegan lemon blueberry cheesecake – this delicious eggless and dairy free baked cheesecake is easy to make and tastes amazing! The perfect dessert for Summer! Post sponsored by Tala.

Tala recently challenged me to make a Summer baking recipe using their fantastic bakeware. I was keen on the idea of making a cheesecake because I realised that I hadn’t yet posted a vegan cheesecake recipe!

This vegan lemon and blueberry cheesecake is the perfect dessert for Summer, it is creamy, tangy and fruity and tastes just like a non-vegan cheesecake!

The filling is made using silken tofu (hear me out!), cashews and coconut cream, with a little flour and cornflour to thicken in place of the eggs and plenty of lemon juice and zest to add that cheesecakey tang.

You can’t taste the tofu at all, it just helps to provide a silky smooth texture and is low fat and high protein as a bonus! You need to get firm silken tofu which is the shelf stable kind, not the kind you would find in the fridge section. Most supermarkets have it, or you can easily find it online.

The cashews and coconut cream provide richness and make for that perfectly creamy, dense texture that is classic of a baked, rather than set, cheesecake.

Obviously the most important part of a cheesecake is the base (no crustless cheesecakes here please!), a biscuit base is of course the best kind, so that is what I have gone for here. I used supermarket own brand digestive biscuits which appear to be vegan friendly (McVities are not) to keep things traditional, but you could also use gingersnaps, Biscoff, Oreos or another vegan friendly variety.

The cheesecake is topped off with an easy blueberry compote which works wonderfully with the lemon flavour of the cheesecake and provides contrast to the dense, creamy texture. It also makes it look very pretty!

How To Make Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake:

(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)

You need to start the day before you want to serve the cheesecake as it is best if it is refrigerated overnight.

Start by crushing your choice of biscuits for the base, you can do this in a food processor or put them in a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin.

Tip the crushed biscuits into a mixing bowl – this Indigo and Ivory Corn Design 30cm one by Tala is beautiful, sturdy and my new favourite mixing bowl!

Add in melted vegan block butter (not the spreadable kind in a tub) and stir until it resembles wet sand. Tip this mixture into a good, non-stick 20cm/8 inch round springform cake tin like this performance one from Tala, spread it out evenly and pack down firmly with the base of a glass.

Bake the base in a preheated oven for 10 minutes then set aside to cool.

To make the filling, soak some raw cashew nuts in boiling water for half an hour, drain well then add to a blender along with silken tofu (no need to press it but do drain off any excess liquid first), coconut cream, lemon zest and juice, sugar, cornflour, flour, vanilla extract and salt.

This Indigo and Ivory Cook’s Dry Measure by Tala is perfect for accurately measuring out dry ingredients like sugar and flour, and it is a very attractive piece of equipment too!

Blend until the mixture is totally smooth, you don’t want any pieces of cashew left. Let it settle for 5 minutes to allow some of the air bubbles to pop.

Meanwhile, wrap the bottom of the springform tin in a double layer of tin foil; the tin is going to be sitting in water so make sure that the top of the tin foil is high enough that no water is going to come over the top. Put the kettle on.

Pour the cheesecake mixture over the baked base then bash the tin on the worktop a couple of times to burst any remaining air bubbles.

Place the tin in a roasting tray and place it in the oven. (I find it easier to add the water once the tray is in the oven so you don’t tip any over the top of the foil carrying it to the oven).

Pour boiling water into the roasting tin so that it comes about halfway up the sides of the tin. Be very careful that none goes over the top of the tinfoil.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour. When it is ready it should be set but still jiggle if you tap it. Switch the oven off but leave the cheesecake in there (it’s fine to leave it in the water bath) and leave it to cool down slowly for an hour or so then allow it to cool completely at room temperature before you cover it and place in the fridge overnight.

(I am terrible at keeping track of how long things have been in the oven for, so this lovely Tala kitchen timer from their Indigo and Ivory range is proving to be very useful for me!).

While the cheesecake is baking make the blueberry sauce, simmer fresh blueberries, sugar and lemon juice until the berries have softened then add a little cornflour mixed with cold water and simmer for another couple of minutes until it has thickened. Leave to cool then refrigerate.

How To Prevent Cheesecake From Cracking:

Cracking is a very common problem when it comes to baked cheesecakes and while it doesn’t affect the taste at all it can be very annoying. Here are all my tips to try to prevent your cheesecake from cracking:

Get all of the air bubbles out of the batter – air bubbles in the cheesecake mixture can rise to the surface and cause cracks. Give the mixture a bit of time to settle after blending and then once you have poured it into the tin, give the tin a good bash on the worktop a couple of times to burst any remaining bubbles.
Use a good non-stick springform tin like this 20cm one from Tala, if the cheesecake sticks to the sides of the tin, cracks can form as it cools and shrinks.
Bake the cheesecake in a water bath – a water bath provides an even temperature and makes the oven humid which helps to prevent cracks. (See recipe instructions for how to make a water bath).
Don’t over-bake the cheesecake – overbaking can cause the cheesecake to dry out which is a major source of cracks. The cheesecake is ready when it is set, but still jiggly if you tap it.
Don’t open the oven door – avoid opening the oven door until the cheesecake is almost done as drafts and drops in temperature can cause cracks.
Leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven – cooling down too quickly can cause cracking so once the cheesecake is done, switch the oven off and leave it in there for an hour or so to cool down slowly. Then allow it to cool completely at room temperature before refrigerating.

How To Fix A Cracked Cheesecake:

Even if you follow all of the steps above, sometimes your cheesecake may crack anyway but don’t be disheartened, all is not lost!

The easiest way to fix a cracked cheesecake is to simply top it with something – like the blueberry sauce on this vegan lemon and blueberry one, that way you won’t be able to see the cracks. Fruit compote, chocolate ganache or sliced fresh fruit all work well.

Otherwise, once your cheesecake has chilled in the fridge overnight (or for at least four hours), you can dip a palette knife in boiling water, dry it with a tea towel and gently smooth over the cracks. Dip and dry the knife as needed. You wont get a perfectly smooth top, but it definitely helps!

More Vegan Berry Recipes:

If you tried this recipe why not tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess

5 from 1 vote

Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake

Vegan lemon blueberry cheesecake - this delicious eggless and dairy free baked cheesecake is easy to make and tastes amazing! The perfect dessert for Summer!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, vegan

Keyword cheesecake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Chilling Time: 12 hours

Servings 10 people

Author Domestic Gothess