Best Bought Cake, Pud and Mincemeat Please

[Letsskidaddle]

As the title - it’s our first Christmas without my dear old mum. She always made a traditional pudding, her own mincemeat and a traditional cake.

I’d love to think I could manage this, but pretty sure it won’t be the same, and would prefer to leave it as “her thing” anyway.

Where do you recommend for a really good Christmas pudding and cake please?

The mincemeat would ideally have small pieces of peel rather than chunky bits! Unless you know a delicious ready made mince pie you’d recommend (we just eat A LOT of them, so I thought it’d be cheaper to make my own!)

Can all be from different shops!

I wouldn’t bother making a pudding, but Christmas cake is not difficult to make (we did ours this weekend, using my mum’s recipe). Delia Smith’s mincemeat is delicious and dead easy - if you’re used to homemade, no shop-bought mincemeat will come anywhere close. Honestly , give it a go - nice way to remember your mum and keep some of her traditions going too 😊.

I agree with @stringbean. Yes to buy a Christmas pudding but I don’t think there is much difference between any of them. But if you don’t want to make cake or mincemeat, don’t bother with them as shop bought are generally a very poor substitute for homemade.

Have you got a farm shop near you? Ours does lovely mincemeat. Otherwise Tiptree or the Wooden Spoon company do good ones- you can always jazz it up with some extra booze and chopped apple

A poster on another thread said she buys Robinson’s mincemeat, adds brandy and apple and puts it in a plain jar so her family think its homemade 😁 I think adding apple probably would massively improve bought mincemeat, anything to cut the sweetness a bit.

My mum buys Tesco puds and they are pretty good. Interestingly the best one we have had she informed us while we were eating it was 8 years out of date (quite typical DM behaviour) So you could stock up now for perfection in 10 years’ time! This year I’m going to her and I’ll be taking a homemade one!

Agree that the cake is the one to make if you can - it isn’t hard to make - the only thing is you have to allow ages for it to cook. I make my own cake, pud and mincemeat all with Delia recipes. She makes it very straightforward.

Best ever Christmas pudding:

https://www.tiptree.com/products/christmas-pudding

Aldi mincemeat is great.

Thanks all so much. My mum always made the cake and pud during October half term and she’d feed it with brandy so I guess I’ve still got time, and I’ve got her recipes. We all used to have a stir of the mixture and make a wish - this carried on with all the grandkids and great-GKs so it would be nice to continue that.

There’s still a pudding from last year so guess that will be ok if an 8-year old one was!

The smell of the Christmas cake cooking is second best only to the actual dinner IMO.

Is the pudding left over from last year one your mum made?

Sorry for your loss.

I would really strongly recommend having a bash at making your own cake, it just doesn’t compare to shop bought. Start a new tradition! This one is really delicious and ridiculously easy too. And like you say, the smell is incredible. I think the most time consuming part of the recipe is preparing the tin!

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/make-mature-christmas-cake

I do NOT recommend Waitrose mincemeat. It was really watery and I was immensely underwhelmed. Aldi was nice! I’ve also made my own using Delia’s recipe and that was very satisfying but I think it probably does work out cheaper to buy pre-made (which is utterly depressing).

My mother always swore by Sainsbury's original mincemeat, BUT she added grated apple and orange to it and a nice slug of brandy! Tasted great!

Marks and Spencer or Tescos puds are good. I always make Delia’s Christmas pudding, minus the nuts.

I rate Waitrose mincemeat. It used to be something I made every year. Ive given up on Christmas cake as the one i made last year still hasn't been finished. Although I like making the cake I dont like marzipanning and iceing.

My Mum used to make the Christmas cake before she died. I took over. Delia is your woman for this recipe. I would suggest going 5/10 degrees under her recipe and for 10 minutes longer on a convection. If it goes badly, feed it Brandy! You will be so proud of yourself. Give it a go. It's not that difficult. Your family will love that you tried. It's never about being perfect. It's always about trying.

How confident a baker are you? For various reasons I was somewhere without ingredients and bought the Waitrose kit last year, it was handy having everything in a box together.

I would also have a bash at Delia's mincemeat, always have to do loads extra as everyone wants them. Be aware though, they are not vegetarian.

You can use vegetarian suet in the mincemeat - works fine (may not be vegan though).

We use shop-bought, jazzed up mincemeat. I add grated apple, chopped walnuts, orange and lemon zest, and a couple of capfuls of brandy.

For Christmas puddings, I like Waitrose best - the One branding, but one Dd prefers M&S, and the other prefers the ones with a whole orange inside - not sure you can still find those in any case.

I do make my own cake, because I find shop ones can be overly sweet.
I usually buy the pre-soaked mixed fried fruit from M and S, and just follow the recipe on the back of the packet.

Green (vegetable) atora is vegan, it's pretty good IMO, I use it by choice.

I think shop bought mince pies are vile , that horrible dry , crumbly pastry . Yuk. Even Waitrose or M & S are no better . If you don't want to make your own mincemeat then agree jazz up shop bought tipping into a container , add extra brandy , dried fruit , slivers of almonds , cover , and stir for a few days . Keep in fridge before using .

It is ☺️ It sounds like it’ll be ok won’t it?

Thanks again everyone! I’m going to give it all a go apart from the pudding and we’ll have last years’s one my mum made!

You’re right, my family will appreciate it and I’ll enjoy it.

It will be absolutely fine! You don't need a shop bought one at all this year.

What a wonderful thing to have. How many people can say they will sit down on Christmas Day and eat something made with love by someone who has since passed away? Not many, I bet. You'll be able to eat your mum's pudding and raise your glasses to her. ❤

Sorry for the loss of your Mum.

My grandmother and other older family members would always make their puddings at least a year in advance and even some supermarket ones are "aged 12/18 months". It will be absolutely fine.

If you decide not to do your own this year, for cakes, Meg Rivers are nice and reliable, supermarket a bit hit and miss, have had a couple of good ones from Iceland and Lidl. Also Iceland mince pies (posher version) have been pretty good.

Wishing you and your family a good Christmas.

Well done for giving it a go @Letsskidaddle- I’m sure your family will appreciate it. Good luck!!