Help me choose a Christmas lunch pudding

[Pearsapiece]

We are having Christmas lunch just me (heavily pregnant), dh and ds who is 2.

Ds is allergic to dairy so rarely gets the treats other children get such as chocolate, and he can't quite chew sweets yet, not that it would be a common occurance to have them but at Christmas I feel sad for him.

He absolutely loves pudding, apple pie, crumble, sponge pudding and custard etc.

I'm trying to think of a pudding I can make for Christmas day. We will be having lunch rather than dinner due to ds's naps. So I need a pudding i can make dairy free, that's a treat for ds and me and dh and we all have the same.

Below are the hurdles
I don't like hot apple or other hot fruit.
DH doesn't like fruit cake or Xmas pudding.
Ds can't have any form of cream so would have to be either on its own or have dairy free custard which is quite nice.

Help me think of something! I'm a skilled Baker but not when it comes to ideas for festive puddings!

Eton mess with diary free custard / cream if you can get it

Pavlova with passion fruit dd cream sub

DF sundaes

Can he eat eggs ?

Syrup steamed pudding with glace cherries - use a vegan margarine .
They'll sit quite happily for a while if you want to wait a bit .

Baked Alaska with dairy free ice cream. I made one a few years ago- made a (dairy free) banana choc chip cake for the base, then DF choc ice cream topped with meringue and baked. Served with hot chocolate sauce. Looks fabulous and tastes amazing

We are having warm chocolate brownie and ice cream but this could easily be made dairy’s free (with dairy free chocolate and dairy free ice cream).

Love pavlova too, this is what we used to have when we were kids/teens.

My DS is also dairy free and although he likes most of the free from cakes/puddings (he doesn't know any different!), I don't like them. The only thing the whole family likes is a vegan chocolate and avocado cake from our local coffee shop, you honestly wouldn't know it was DF. I'm going to try making it for Christmas.

Ooo these are brilliant ideas, thank you.
I hate df chocolate so I think the brownies are out unfortunately. Eton mess with df custard/cream is a good one, I'll look into that.
I did think about a df steam putting, I'm just scared I'll balls it up!

A pavlova is also a good idea, that feels super Sunday lunch like to me because my lovely nan used to do one each Sunday!

I feel I'm over thinking it, I just need to pick one and make it. Ds ultimately isn't Mary Berry and isn't going to pass comment (unless it's really really bad!) and dh will eat anything!

I don’t know if they’re Christmas dinner material but these are definitely seasonal.

www.nigella.com/recipes/clementine-cake

www.nigella.com/recipes/pumpkin-bundt-cake

lemon merringue

You can buy vegan squirty cream in a can which might be a treat for DS

Saw you don’t like DF chocolate. I’ve found it’s better to use good dark chocolate in cooking rather than the special df stuff. It melts much better. Good quality dark choc doesn’t usually have milk in it.

Have you seen the Ms Cupcake recipe book? It's vegan so far very thing is dairy free, some great recipes in there including amazing brownies. Also have you tried Ben & Jerry's dairy fre ice cream?

Any cake can be made using Pure dairy free baking margarine rather than butter, so the world is your oyster for cakes. I recommend a yule log - flavour the sponge with cocoa powder, and for icing use the pre-made cadbury’s chocolate icing which is (inadvertently, i’m sure) dairy free and AMAZING. I have could eat it with a spoon.

Haven’t really got any pudding ideas, but wanted to say that Oatly cream is a really great sub for pouring cream (I’ve had guests not able to tell it wasn’t normal single cream), and for whipped cream, if coconut is ok, then the solids from a tin of coconut milk whip up really well - lighter than you’d think and hold form ok

Ooo yule log is a fantastic shout. I forget cocoa powder is df!
I usually just use Stork blocks to make normal cakes etc. I'm usually a cake Baker rather than a desert Baker. I'll have to have a look into that book too!

I’m thinking of having this as it seems quite festive looking

hungrysquirrels.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/delias-squidgy-chocolate-log/

Uses cocoa powder for the cake element which is dairy free and could be served with dairy free cream? Not sure if the chocolate mousse element would be possible though

I make trifle with home-made dairy-free sponge, jam, sherry or fruit juice, jelly, Alpro custard and either squirty soya ' whipped cream' or Sojasaan 'whipped cream' (which is a tofu-like block you have to whip yourself. It depends which one I can find in the local health food shop. Both are excellent. And of course sprinkles. I'm partial to toasted flaked almonds,
dh likes silver dragées, the dc like those technicolour ice cream sprinkles. So we have the lot!

Nigella’s chocolate gingerbread is eat to make dairy free by using df milk. Don’t bother with icing. Lovely with alpro custard which is just like the real thing..

If you like baking, try making chocolate cake with Helmans mayonnaise instead of butter. Sooo good!

Sunflower oil is also a very good substitute for butter in all-in-one cakes. Use 1/2 to 2/5 the weight of butter in your recipe.

I don't care for DF spread, even in baking, so I've found many alternatives and tweaks for it.

(Which reminds me: I need to order some cacao butter!)

Could you make dairy free brownies just using cocoa? Or do two batches, one normal and one dairy free.

Hi OP, I love desserts and DS and I were dairy-free for a long time because of his CMPA and I was breastfeeding him.

You could get a small Christmas pudding for you and DS even if your DH doesn't like it. Loads of Christmas puddings are dairy-free. I was pleasantly surprised by the Coop food one a couple of years ago, it was delicious! Of course recipes change so not sure if it will still be.

I don't know why you're ruling out brownies? It's so easy to make dairy-free cake, you just use dairy-free spread instead of butter. If you want to use a recipe with chocolate, just use dark chocolate. Alternatively, if you want a decent dairy-free "milk" chocolate, Nomo is actually really nice (sold at Sainsbury's and Tesco). And I've tried a lot of disgusting dairy-free chocolate.

I would make dairy-free chocolate Yule log (with flora instead of butter) as that's my absolute favourite Christmas dessert.

What would you all have if you weren't dairy-free?

PS you can get Oatly cream, works fine with Christmas pudding and other desserts, and can be used in cooking too.

These are all such great ideas, thank you!

I'm going to have a look at some recipes for brownies, yule log, syrup sponges and I'm going to look into some df cream and ice cream options too... Obviously not to have them all! Right now, dh's favourite idea is brownies with df ice cream and whipped cream (thank you to the people so said about the squirty cream in a can!) and I'll slice some strawberries to put on top and dust with icing sugar to make it extra special looking!

Although, I'm keen on a pavlova or a yule log, or a syrup sponge! I might make one of those for boxing day or something!

"Obviously not to have them all!"
Well, you should probably start tasting them all now, to make sure you have the best one on Christmas Day

Vegan squirty cream
www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/302296694

@NameChange30 I'm up for that, two a week should do it!