How to Make Steam Pudding Recipe in a Bundt Pan

Steam pudding – or steamed pudding – is a classic British dessert. This particular steamed Christmas pudding recipe has a moist, cake like consistancy and is studded with raisens and filled with the delicious warming spices of Christmas like cinnamon and nutmeg. Served warm with brown sugar hard sauce, it’s one of those Christmas desserts perfect for the holidays.

Although steamed pudding is a British dessert, it somehow made its way to my Montana family, and has been our Christmas dessert for generations. I was so grateful to learn this old fashioned steamed pudding recipe by watching my Mom carefully make it and steam it in cans.

Unlike any other cake recipe I make, this pudding is cooked by putting a tightly covered pudding bowl, pudding mold, or pudding in cans in a pot of boiling water and steaming it until it is cooked. After years and years of making it in cans, this year I decided to try making it pretty and put it in a bundt cake pan. I was thrilled to discover that you can successfully steam pudding in a bundt pan!

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

This recipe has all the comforting flavors of Christmas. It’s a nostalgic recipe that feels like you should be in a cozy lodge in England eating it by a big fireplace with candlesticks on the table. It’s a rich and decadent dessert served with a sauce that is a perfect way to end a celebratory feast like Christmas!

This steam pudding recipe freezes well, so it can be made well in advance. There are so many puzzles pieces to fit together for Christmas dinner, it’s nice to get dessert prepared and crossed off the list early!

Ingredients

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups raisens
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Instructions for this traditional Steam Pudding Recipe

1. Beat the teaspoon of baking soda into the cup of molasses. Pour it into a large mixing bowl and add all the rest of the ingredients except the flour. Mix well.
2. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, stirring after each addition. Keep adding flour until it becomes a very stiff dough (approximately 3 1/2 cups flour in total).
3. Spray the inside of a bundt cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Transfer the the dough evenly into the pan.
5. Pull out a long length of wax paper, and fold it into 4 layers and cover the top of the bundt pan. Using masking or freezer tape, tape it tightly around the top of the bundt pan.
6. Cover the wax paper with aluminum foil, and place a rubberband or kitchen string around the top to keep the foil and wax paper tight on the pan. (The important thing is that the pudding is sealed well into its steaming vessel!) Roll up the excess wax paper and tuck it into the foil so that it isn’t sitting in the water.
7. Place mold in a large pot and pour enough hot water in so it goes up the base of the pudding basin half way up. Cover pot and bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat so the water simmers and steam forms inside the pot. Steam the pudding for about 2 1/2 hours, or until a cake tester or fine skewer pushed into the center of the cake comes out clean.
8. Immediately invert the steam pudding out of the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Video for Steam Pudding in a Bundt Pan

I didn’t think anything was strange about making steamed pudding in a tin coffee can, until a man on facebook commented that it looked like dogfood!! Yikes…I had never thought of that!

His comment made me laugh, and also spurred me on to think about other prettier options for making steamed pudding.

As I experimented with steaming it in a bundt pan for the first time, I did a video to document the process. You can watch it here:

Can you buy steam pudding molds?

I just discovered these amazing steamed pudding molds just a few days ago! I think they are a brilliant idea. I would choose the 8 cup size for this recipe.

What is Brown Sugar Hard Sauce for Steam Pudding?

Steam pudding is served hot with either a creamy butter and vanilla sauce or a hard sauce.

The name “hard sauce” is a bit deceiving as it isn’t really hard. It’s more of a spreadable, thick topping that can be put in molds (if desired) and hardened by refrigerating.

When placed on warm steam pudding, it melts and becomes a delicious golden sauce.

Traditionally, hard sauce is made with whipped butter, powdered sugar, and some sort of “spirits” – like brandy.

I wanted to find a non-alcoholoic hard sauce, and found this brown sugar hard sauce that claims to have been from from “the United States Regional Cookbook, Culinary Arts Institute of Chicago, 1947.”! It calls for lemon juice, which didn’t sound that appealing to me, so I added vanilla extract instead.

The following hard sauce recipe is absolutely delicious and can even be served with hot bread pudding. But, if I had to choose between a hard sauce and the traditional cooked buttery vanilla sauce we usually make with our steamed pudding recipe (you can find it at the bottom of this post), I would choose the cooked sauce. This hard sauce is a bit “gritty” with brown sugar – but delicious, and easy to make in advance. My husband told me it was a winner in his books!

Ingredients for Non-Alcoholic Brown Sugar Hard Sauce

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

How to Make Brown Sugar Hard Sauce

1. With the whisk attachment on your stand electric mixer, whip the butter at highest speed until it turns very light in color (about 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl a few times during the process.
2. Slowly add in the brown sugar and salt, scraping down the bowl frequently and beat well – another 3 minutes.
3. Add in the heavy whipping cream and vanilla slowly and keep beating until it becomes light and fluffy – about 3-5 minutes.
4. Place in hard sauce in a bowl and serve alongside hot steamed pudding.

(Note: I piped the hard sauce on the cold steamed pudding for the pictures in this post. However, I scraped it off so I can warm the pudding up before I serve it with the hard sauce on Christmas day.)

Variations

There are many, many variations to steamed pudding.Since so many people love chocolate pudding, it only makes sense that chocolate steamed pudding with chocolate sauce is a popular variation!

This steamed cranberry pudding sounds absolutely scrumptious, with a hot, smooth creamy vanilla sauce topping.

Some people think of steamed pudding as the same as plum pudding , which has a variation of different types of fruits baked inside.

One of my relatives tells me that it’s easy peasy to make steamed pudding in a slow cooker! Here is a recipe for slow cooker steamed pudding if you want to try out that method.

How to store steam pudding

Fully cool the steam pudding and then place in an airtight container – or wrapped in plastic wrap and tin foil – in the fridge (for up to 3 days) or freezer (for up to 12 months).

How to reheat steam pudding from frozen

Thaw at room temperature before serving. To reheat in the oven, wrap up steam pudding in aluminum foil and place in a warm oven (that is turned off) while you eat dinner. Then when it is time for dessert, remove from the oven and it should be warm and ready to serve with a bowl of (room temperature) hard sauce.

To reheat in the microwave, slice off one slice and heat in the microwave in 20 second intervals until it is the temperature you prefer. Be careful not to overheat it or it may get tough.

Equipment

My Amazon storefront has lists of all my favorite kitchen tools!

Related Christmas Recipes:

• Church Window Cookies | Easy Holiday Treat Recipe
• Glazed Fresh Apple Cookies
• Old Fashioned Rolled Cut Out Sugar Cookies
• Easy Frosting for Sugar Cookies
• Christmas morning breakfast recipes
• 75+ Christmas cookie recipes with pictures
• Jam Sandwich Cookies with Sugar Cookie Dough

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