a whole christmas pudding on a plate; the pudding is light in colour, like stollen and is studded with fruit and marzipan. there is lots of icing sugar and toasted almonds

Photographed truthfully.
If you cook my recipes, your food will look like mine.

Stollen Christmas Pudding

Traditional British Pudding meets Stollen

Table of Contents

Before We Begin

There’s something timeless about steaming a pudding — the calm of the process, the slow cloud of warmth rising from the pan, the kitchen soft with spice. This one isn’t heavy or dark; it’s gentler, golden, and inspired by stollen. You can make it ahead and freeze it. You can even reheat it in the microwave, so long as you’re careful. And the smell? The smell is Christmas, clear as a bell.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • A nostalgic dessert that’s far lighter and gentler than the traditional Christmas pudding.
  • Steams beautifully with just the right balance of richness and brightness.
  • It freezes and reheats like a dream, making it stress-free on the day.

What Will You Learn Whilst Making This Recipe?

  • You’ll learn to soak fruit with purpose – combining dried fruit with zests, juice, and ground spice so the finished pudding sings with subtle brightness.
  • You’ll practise blending a simple vegan wet mix and understanding how chemical leavening lifts a dense batter.
  • You’ll master the steaming process, preparing a basin, layering parchment and foil, and trusting gentle heat to coax it through.

‘Must be best food offer, of any genre, in Kendal. Hugely accomplished cooking and very much recommended.’
Tony P, Kendal; Food Customer

The Cook’s Mind

Teaching Points – What This Recipe Helps You Practise

  • Cooking technique: confidently steaming a pudding and understanding the process
  • Vegan cookery specifics: using vegan butter to baste and add a luxurious taste and feel
  • Reheating: getting to know your microwave and confidently reheating the pudding.

Make-Ahead

  • The fruit needs to soak for 24 hours.
  • The pudding itself can be frozen once cooked, wrapped tightly.

Freezer-Friendly

  • Freeze in the pudding basin after steaming and cooling. Wrap in clingfilm.

Rescue Mission – What To Do When Things Go Wrong

  • If your pudding feels too dry: it may have been overcooked or lacked enough liquid — next time, don’t skip the soaking.
  • If it’s too wet and sloppy: undercooked. Steam for longer.

Key Substitutions

  • Mixed dried fruit: use your favourites — cranberries, apricots, figs — keep the weight the same.

Cooking Parlance

  • Steamed pudding: refers to a cake-like mixture cooked gently in a covered basin over constantly simmering water.

A Note on Origin

This pudding gently borrows from both British and German traditions — a Christmas steamed pudding reimagined with stollen’s aromatic spice and almonds. It’s brings the flavours of the bread Stollen into pudding form and becomes so warm and soft, it’s an instant classic.

Ingredient Focus: Mixed Dried Fruit

Sultanas, raisins, peel — they carry the essence of late autumn. Soaked with spice, they bloom into little vessels of flavour.

✨ Plump with promise — soft, sweet, and steeped in memory.

My Favourite Way To Eat

Leftovers for breakfast! Reheated gently and served with coffee.

Serving Suggestions

  • Serve with a warm drizzle of custard or pouring cream.
  • Top with toasted slivered almonds and icing sugar just before serving.
  • Add a little redcurrant jam on the side for a tart contrast.

Handpicked To Go With This One

Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!

Got something spare — a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less❣️

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Stollen Christmas Pudding Recipe

a whole christmas pudding on a plate; the pudding is light in colour, like stollen and is studded with fruit and marzipan. there is lots of icing sugar and toasted almonds

Stollen Christmas Pudding

Julia Savory
A festive steamed pudding scented with stollen spices and studded with marzipan pearls. This is a lighter, fruit-forward alternative to traditional Christmas pud, with a soft crumb and rich citrus notes. Serve warm with toasted nuts and a dusting of snow-white sugar.
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Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Fruit soaking tme 24 hours
Course Pudding
Cuisine British Home Cooking
Servings 8 servings
Calories/Seving 299 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Plastic pudding basin 2 pint/1.14 litre

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for fruit

  • 115 g mixed dried fruit sultanas, raisins and mixed peel
  • 1½ tbsp rum or sherry optional
  • 1 oranges all the zest and all the juice
  • 1 unwaxed lemon all the zest; use the juice for the wet mix (see below)
  • ⅛ tsp ground cardamom flat
  • ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon flat
  • 2 pinches ground nutmeg
  • ⅛ tsp mixed spice flat
  • 3 pinches mace

Ingredients for wet mix

  • 115 ml unsweetened soya milk
  • 10 ml fresh lemon juice
  • 38 ml sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for dry mix

  • 118 g plain flour
  • ½ unwaxed lemon all the zest
  • 55 g ground almonds
  • 90 g golden caster sugar
  • ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda flat
  • ⅛ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ¼ tsp baking powder flat
  • ⅛ tsp baking powder
  • ⅛ tsp salt heaped
  • ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon heaped

Marzipan pearls

  • 50 g marzipan

For the basin bottom

  • 1 tbsp butter or margarine + more to grease the sides of the pudding basin

For serving

  • 30 g melted butter
  • icing sugar
  • 1 handful toasted slivered almonds
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Instructions
 

Make the fruit mix and soak

  • Place all the dried fruit, citrus zest and juice, spices and alcohol into a bowl. Stir thoroughly so every piece of fruit is coated – this ensures even hydration and flavour.
    115 g mixed dried fruit, 1½ tbsp rum or sherry, 1 oranges, 1 unwaxed lemon, ⅛ tsp ground cardamom, ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon, 2 pinches ground nutmeg, ⅛ tsp mixed spice, 3 pinches mace
  • Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, stirring whenever you pass if you remember. The fruit should swell, soften and smell richly spiced rather than raw. This soaking stage is what gives the pudding its depth and tenderness.

Mix the wet ingredients

  • When you want to make the puddings and the fruit has been soaking for at least 24 hours, mix the ingredients listed in a jug.
    When you’re ready to make the pudding, combine the ingredients listed in a jug. The lemon gently curdles the milk, mimicking buttermilk – this helps tenderise the crumb and balance the sweetness.
    Stir well and set aside.
    115 ml unsweetened soya milk, 10 ml fresh lemon juice, 38 ml sunflower oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the dry ingredients

  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Use a balloon whisk or sieve so the raising agents and spices are evenly distributed – this prevents uneven rise and pockets of bitterness.
    Make sure the bowl is large enough to hold the fruit and wet mix comfortably; this batter should be folded, not beaten.
    118 g plain flour, ½ unwaxed lemon, 55 g ground almonds, 90 g golden caster sugar, ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda, ⅛ tsp bicarbonate of soda, ¼ tsp baking powder, ⅛ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon, ⅛ tsp baking powder

Make the marzipan pearls and prepare the basin

  • Roll the marzipan into small balls, about 6 g each. Set aside. These will melt gently inside the pudding, creating soft, almond-scented pockets rather than a solid layer.
    50 g marzipan
  • Grease the pudding basin very thoroughly, including the rim. Add a circle of baking parchment to the base – this guarantees a clean release later.
    Prepare a loose lid from baking parchment topped with foil. It should be secure but not tight; the pudding needs space to expand.
    1 tbsp butter or margarine
  • Prepare your steamer, with hot water under and ready.

Mix everything together

  • Tip the wet mix into the soaked fruit and stir until fully combined. This loosens the fruit and ensures it disperses evenly through the batter.
  • Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and fold gently but thoroughly. Scrape the bottom of the bowl and check there are no dry patches. The batter should be thick but spoonable.
  • Fold in the marzipan pearls evenly.
  • Pour into your prepared pudding basin. The mix will self-level.
    Cover with the square of parchment and then the foil. Scrunch loosely over the pudding basin so it's secure but can move it if needs to.
  • Set up your steamer with plenty of hot water underneath and bring it to a steady boil before adding the pudding. Steam is the heat source here – if the water runs low, the temperature drops and the pudding can turn dense.
    Place the basin in the steamer, cover, and steam for 1 hour 15 minutes. Maintain a strong, consistent supply of steam, topping up with boiling water as needed.
    When cooked, turn off the heat and leave the pudding to cool completely in the basin.
    This resting time allows the structure to settle.
  • Once fully cold, wrap the basin tightly in clingfilm and freeze. This pudding improves with time – freezing deepens flavour and firms the crumb, making reheating cleaner and easier.

To serve

  • Unwrap the frozen pudding and cover the top with a microwave lid or a little bit of the clingfilm. Don't seal it. Let it breathe a little.
    Reheat the pudding in the microwave on full power for 2 minutes at a time, checking between bursts. Most puddings take around 6 minutes in total, but all machines vary. If you think it's not hot enough, it won't be. You'll really feel the heat when it's hot enough.
    The centre should feel hot and springy, not heavy. If you overdo the heating of it, the top will become dry.
  • Turn out onto a plate, brush generously with melted butter, dust with lots of icing sugar and scatter with toasted almonds.
    Serve warm. Pouring cream is optional, not required.
    30 g melted butter, icing sugar, 1 handful toasted slivered almonds

Notes

Choose: raisins, sultanas, mixed peel, dried cranberries

Nutrition

Calories: 299kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 5gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0.03gSodium: 157mgPotassium: 266mgFiber: 4gSugar: 24gVitamin A: 312IUVitamin C: 21mgCalcium: 93mgIron: 2mg

Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.

Keywords festive vegan dessert, steamed pudding, stollen pudding, vegan Christmas pudding
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

COPYRIGHT

© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals

Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.

Next Steps?

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‘Totally recommend the cookery course. The meals are really tasty and full of flavour (not like most of the vegan mush I make for myself).’
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Photographed truthfully.
If you cook my recipes, your food will look like mine.