This sweet and creamy Christmas pudding pairs two types of homemade ice-cream to create a delicious frozen dessert to serve during the festive season. You’ll even get yummy chunks of dried fruit and dark chocolate with each bite.
1.Grease 2-litre (8-cup) metal pudding basin. Line with plastic wrap; place in freezer.
2.Make brown sugar ice-cream: split vanilla bean in half lengthways, scrape seeds into medium saucepan. Add pod, cream and milk to pan; bring to the boil.
3.Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale; gradually whisk into hot cream mixture. Stir over low heat, without boiling, about 10 minutes or until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Strain custard into large heatproof bowl set over large bowl of ice; discard pod. Cover surface of custard with plastic wrap; stand until cold.
4.Pour custard into ice-cream maker, churn according to manufacturer’s instructions (or follow instructions in notes). Spoon ice-cream into pudding basin; freeze about 1 hour or until firm. Using a spatula, thickly coat inside of basin with ice-cream; cover with foil, return to freezer.
Chocolate orange ice-cream
5.Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan: bring cream, milk and rind to the boil. Remove from heat, add chocolate; stir until smooth.
6.Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and sugar in small bowl until pale; gradually whisk into hot cream mixture. Stir over low heat, without boiling, about 10 minutes or until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
7.Strain custard into large heatproof bowl set over bowl of ice. Cover surface with plastic wrap; stand until cold.
8.Pour custard into ice-cream maker, churn according to manufacturer’s instructions (or follow instructions in notes).
9.Spoon ice-cream into large bowl, stir in sultanas, rum, cherries, peel and extra chocolate.
To finish
10.Fill brown sugar ice-cream cavity with chocolate orange ice-cream; smooth surface. Cover with foil; freeze overnight.
11.Chill serving platter in freezer. Turn pudding basin onto platter; cover basin with a hot, damp cloth. Gradually pull plastic to ease pudding onto platter; discard plastic.
If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, pour custard mixture into shallow pan, cover with foil and freeze until almost set. Chop ice-cream roughly and beat in large bowl with electric mixer, or process, until smooth. Return to pan and freeze again, repeating process once more. Freeze about 1 hour, then allow to soften slightly; spoon ice-cream into pudding basin (or add additional ingredients) and follow the recipe. It’s fine to use three 300ml cartons of pouring cream for this recipe, rather than buying an extra carton for the additional 35ml.
