Why oh why

I enjoy Christmas pudding/ cake and mince pies, but tend to eat them through the Christmas period rather than as dessert. They're good as fillers when meal times go awol, and you need something to tide you over or top you up when having large meals off routine.

DS1 hates the variation of dried fruit in food (sensory processing issues) but DS2 loves Christmas pudding, so it survives into Gen Alpha 😂

Both are vile as are mince pies

along with the other Christmas food - Brussels whoever they are cooked), bread sauce, cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets (controversial I know) and turkey

Bought myself an individual Christmas pudding. Had it with a mince pie and custard. Was yummy.

Unfortunately, the laxative effect of the pudding has been a bit overpowering and I haven’t even started the cake.

Never liked either of them.

I don’t like royal icing, I hate marzipan.
I don’t like the taste of alcohol, even in cakes/puddings it tastes disgusting to me.
I dislike fruit cake (but will eat it if there’s nothing else)
so generally neither are good for me

Wash your mouth out
A crisp buttery shortbread is the king of biscuits. Shortbread only requires three ingredient - butter, flour and sugar. If it isn't made with butter it isn't shortbread. The whole point of shortbread is the buttery taste.

Fresh fruit is marginally less vile than dried fruit in my book. But I'm very fussy about sweet things

I like it, but I guess like a lot of people I've got a lot of nostalgia around Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, and mince pies.

My mum or (when old enough) my older brother used to make mince pies, and we'd have them the whole season, often warmed up as a pudding with the lid lifted to pour a little cream in there.

The pudding would usually be one made by my grandma, or perhaps an appreciative work client or other friend/family member, and we'd have it after Christmas dinner, lights off, doused and lit on fire and carried through flaming, always served with huge amounts of sweet white sauce made by my dad.

The cake was brought out after Christmas tea (i.e. Christmas ham or leftover Christmas dinner sandwiches and salad stuff) and then eaten over the next few days. My mum would make this perfect square cake and tend it with booze, my dad would marzipan and beautifully ice it, then I was allowed to go nuts with the icing scraps, red and green food colouring, and shape cutters, and splatter gaudy decorations all over the pristine smooth white surface

We did sometimes have a Yule log too, and I used to love dragging a fork over the chocolate buttercream to make a bark texture.

To be honest, I think what makes these things such fond memories for me, and maybe influences me to like them more than I otherwise would, is that they're linked in my mind to the love and efforts of people I care about.

They aren’t very sweet and quite stodgy. Dried fruit isn’t the only way to sweeten now. We’d only have them as it’s “tradition”, but prefer panatone or something chocolatey if I’m going all out on calories. It’s just the 4 of us for Christmas dinner this year and we aren’t bothering, going to make a cheesecake and we’ve bought profiteroles, then make a sponge cake for the evening snacking.

@porridgeisbae I meant Christmus pudding was already the established favourite dessert decades before the 70s. Not a dish that grew to prominence in the 70s or would in any way invoke "the 70s" rather than any other decade.

Because they're vile. Ditto mince pies. They're a bit high in sugar but they're full of fibre and with a good range of ingredients. Just because you personally dislike something doesn't make it vile.

@PonyPatter44 Have you tried the Portuguese Bolo de Rei? A spicy loaf baked in a circle, then covered with big slices of candied fruit "like the expensive Italian stuff" like jewels in the crown.

I think bought marzipan spoils Christmas cake. It’s the almond essence Do you mean the almond essence in bought marzipan spoils it, or do you mean they don't use a good almond essence? Even if you make your own almond icing using ground almonds, you usually put a bit of almond essence in.

Love both. The only correct ratio is 1 wodge of pud to 1 gallon pouring cream though. I find equal volumes of brandy butter and pud works well. As does sticking a slug of brandy butter inside a warm mince pie, although it tends to get a bit messy on the fingers.

I prefer a nice Dundee cake, but I love Christmas Pudding. Loads of brandy on it, set fire to caramelise it and smothered in double cream. Any leftovers get eaten for breakfast on Boxing Day. Oh and Greggs' mince pies 😋

I didn't know they had! I opened this thread just as I had finished my slice of Xmas cake.

I haven't bought a Xmas pudding this year though because I'm the only one that eats it and couldn't find a small one in the shop today so I bought a chocolate log for 3 of us, the biggest child will just have ice cream, he doesn't do desserts really.

I've eaten way too many mince pies as well, drunk far too much alcohol and I'm not even at the big day yet. I'm looking forward to a massive detox in January when I'm no longer tempted by festive food.

Also not a fan of dried fruit.

Nor me. Quite like the flavour and spices etc but the texture of dried fruit, specifically currants, raisins etc I just can't bear.

I have always hated Christmas cake, but I don't really like any cake. Have never had Christmas Pudding as we have Clootie Dumpling and custard at Christmas.

We get our Dundee cake out on NYE and the shortbread.

I love Christmas cake, here is mine. But Christmas pudding I can take or leave. We’re having MIL’s mincemeat/frangipane tart instead, it’s fabulous.

I've not eaten a Christmas pudding since I stopped going to my mum's for Christmas. She used to make the most delicious brandy butter to go with it (we also had custard and pouring cream). She's no longer with us but now I'm wondering where her recipe went (it was actually her mother's recipe).

Mince pies have to be the Asda ones with the iced topping instead of pastry. Yum!

I used to make my own Christmas cake which the whole family enjoyed eating but then MIL started gifting hers so I stopped. Might make that one of my new year resolutions and make my own again.

My late Dad had Mums pudding between two slices of soft white bread and butter.

A bread and butter pudding sandwich!

Now that they're both gone, Christmas pudding is no more, the rest of us never liked it, or Christmas cake either.