Storing Christmas Pudding Without Bowl

Our answer

Making a Christmas pudding and then umoulding it and storing it without the bowl is not something we would recommend. You will need to let the pudding cool completely before unmoulding it, and unmoulding a cold pudding is nore of a challenge. In addition you would need to return the pudding to the bowl for its second steaming and it can be tricky to get the pudding to fit exactly back in the bowl. You can buy fairly inexpensive plastic bowls (try Lakeland) so it may be worth considering a couple of these as an option.

However if this is not viable then we suggest that you line the bottom of the pudding bowl with greaseproof paper or baking parchment (parchment paper) as this will make it slightly easier to unmould the pudding. After the first steaming let the pudding get completely cold then unmould it from the basin on to a large piece of greaseproof paper or baking parchment. You may need to run a thin knife around the edge of the pudding and use this to help ease the pudding from the bowl. Do this carefully so that the pudding does not break up as it is removed from the bowl. Remove the lining paper if it is attached to the pudding, wrap the pudding tightly in the large piece parchment paper and then in a double layer of foil. We would then suggest freezing the pudding for up to a year. You need to allow 24 hours at room temperature for the pudding to thaw and we suggest trying to insert the pudding back into its bowl while it is still frozen as it will be easier to handle when frozen solid. Wrap or seal the bowl and then the next day give the pudding a second steaming following the instructions in the recipe.