It’s happening. I’m in full Christmas mode: planning a party, baking cookies to send to friends, wrapping presents in glittery paper that ends up all over the couch. I’m like a horrible mix of Elf and when Frodo offers Galadriel the ring of power. Welcome back to my Christmas Pudding Chronicles. There are only two weeks until Christmas and I’m up to my ears trying to harden my fig pudding. This week is another week of soaking the pudding and planning the “hard sauce.”

If you’re new to the game, this is my fourth week as a newbie tackling the time-honored tradition of making a proper British Christmas pudding. The first post can give you some context for the inspiration behind this yuletide endeavor, and catch you up on how to soak the fruit before steaming it. While this spice-laden fruitcake can be made several weeks in advance, you can start making it at any time. Read on to see the recipe and how I mixed the batter and steamed the cake.

This week is another week of brandy soaking, as we “cure the cake.” As I mentioned last week, you can soak the cake in any high proof alcohol like rum or whiskey, just make sure it’s something you enjoy. This is a completely optional step if you’re not drinking it (even if it’s food), but I figured if I’m going to keep a cake at room temperature for five weeks, I might as well give it all the tools it needs to ward off mold or other nasties.

This first made me wonder: why is Christmas pudding made so far in advance? I was actually happily carrying on, trusting the process, and one of the editors asked me: "How can a cake not go bad after a MONTH?" That might have been the first question that came to mind when you read "steam the pudding five Sundays before…", but you'd be a normal person, and I'll eat anything with "Christmas" in the title.