The great Christmas pud conundrum

The traditional Christmas pudding is a complex confection. Stuffed full of dried fruits, nuts and candied citrus, groaning with winter spices, and soaked in brandy – it’s an aromatic rollercoaster. And when you add a rich blanket of double cream or vanilla-scented custard, you end up with a flavour and texture bomb that’s hard to master. What goes for Christmas pud is also true of Christmas cake and mince pies – the latter with added complexity from high-fat pastry often containing salt as well as sugar. Other traditional Christmas sweets, from spiced biscuits to stollen, share a similarly tricky profile.