Christmas Day Dessert

[Persephoney]

I want to do something else to go with the pudding as of the 4 adults and 3 children that will be eating, only 2 kids and 2 adults eat Christmas pud.

Was considering a pavlova - but then am worried that it's all a bit last minute with the assembly etc. Am wondering if I could just maybe get away with a plain steamed sponge pudding, brandy sauce then going all out on the cheeseboard?

This is a great thread but it has made me really impatient about the rhubarb pie in the oven

I now make individual honeycomb moulds for Christmas day pudding (a sort of silky grown up lemon jelly with that you make with fresh lemons, gelatine and cream and it separates into three layers, creamy on the bottom, crinkly honeycomb in the middle and a clear sharp lemon layer on top).

It's very refreshing and slips down easily after the richness of the meal. There are some really nice Sicilian lemons around at Christmas which give it a really clear, perfumey lemon flavour.

The other thing that was surprisingly good and very easy last year was a St Emilion au chocolat, a sort of chocolate terrine made with almond macaroons and rum. Actually I'm going to do one again this year. I used Simon Hopkins or Jeremy Lee's version of Elizabeth David's recipe.

The point being that both desserts can be made beforehand and triumphally unmoulded and made to look very Christmassy with minimal effort and faffing.

Recipe/link wildstrawberryplace for the honeycomb moulds? They sound great!

Thanks for all the ideas everyone!

I'm leaning towards ditching the pud all together and making a light pudding and going all out on the cheese, because then the cheese can stay out all afternoon/evening for people to keep nibbling at.

OOH wildstrawberry i've made that chocolate terrine i'd forgotten it ,it's fab and could not be easier. It's something you could put out with nuts and bits for the chocoholics among your guests persephoney

I use Jane Grigson's recipe for the honeycomb mould and make individual ones rather than one big one. Sophie Grigson gives the recipe in the Independent here - it's the bottom recipe on the page.

My mum makes an ice cream Christmas pudding which is always popular - whip cream and sherry, bash up meringues, chop jelly fruits, add choc chips/coconut or flaked almonds/macaroons/maraschino cherries/angelica (is that the green bits?) as you like, stir together and freeze in pudding bowl.

You can serve it with a choc sauce so the colours are the reverse of the traditional pud and brandy sauce.

I've decided to make something similar yorky but with a homemade zabaglione icecream mixed with my frozen xmas pud from last year; I like the idea of choc sauce!