The perfect Christmas dessert when it’s 30 degrees in the shade! This is basically chocolate ice cream jazzed up with festive goodies, and this version is given the Spice Mountain touch with the addition of cinnamon and ground mixed spice. It is very easy to make (you don’t actually have to make the ice cream, although feel free to do so if you like), and even people who don’t normally care for an everyday Christmas pud will love it. Kids, of course, will bite your hand off to get some!

01.

Ingredients

375g luxury dried fruit
175ml dark rum
2 x 500g tubs top quality chocolate ice cream
2tsp cinnamon
2tsp ground mixed spice

02.

Method

  • Place the fruit, rum and spices in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes. Then leave to infuse until the mixture is completely cool.
  • Slightly soften the ice cream and mix in the spiced fruit, then pack into a 1.7litre plastic bowl. Store in the freezer, where it will be fine for up to a month.
  • When you are ready to serve your pudding, let it stand outside at room temperature for 20 mins, then upend the bowl onto a serving plate. The ice cream should slide out, keeping its ‘pudding’ shape. It can be served with a sauce of your choice – a hot chestnut one works well, so does hot fudge.