You have to try this chocolate biscuit 'pudding' recipe for Christmas!

5 Easy Steps

For those of us made to feel like social pariahs at Christmas because of a loathing of all things vaguely resembling boiled fruit cake, we now have the perfect alternative, Tesco's chocolate bisuit cake pudding recipe!

This is delicious chocolate biscuit cake, with dried fruits and nuts but without the heavy feel of traditional pudding.

Servings: 6-8 people

Preparation

Step 1 Make the Wet Mix

Line a large pudding bowl with two sheets of clingfilm. Set aside.

Place butter, chocolate and condensed milk in a medium sized heat proof bowl set over a pot of barely

simmering water.

Stir until melted and mixture is thoroughly mixed. Once melted, remove from heat. Pour a small bit into the bottom of the prepared pudding bowl.

Step 2 Prepare the Remaining Ingredients

Roughly break biscuits into a large bowl then pour most of the chocolate mix over the biscuits, mix until all coated.

Step 3 Mix

Mix in fruit and nuts. Spoon mixture into the pudding bowl. Press mixture down firmly with the back of a spoon as you go to make sure mixture is compressed and there are no air pockets.

Step 4 Mould and Set

Once all the mixture has been pressed into the pudding bowl, pour remaining chocolate mixture over the top and smooth with a spatula. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. To unmould, simply pull the chocolate biscuit pudding out of the bowl using the overhanging clingfilm as handles, then peel away clingfilm from chocolate biscuit pudding.

Step 5 Decorate

To decorate, knead white roll out icing until soft and pliable. Dust counter with icing sugar or cornflour then roll out white icing until about 3-5mm thick. Use a sharp knife to cut out a "splat" shape. Brush the top of the pudding with a bit of jam then stick the cut out shape to the top and draping down the sides. Smooth down with your hands.

To make holly leaves, colour the leftover icing with green gel paste colour, kneading it in until the colour is uniform. Roll out green icing and use a holly leaf cutter or cut leaf shapes with a sharp knife. Dip a finger in water then lightly rub on the back of each leaf, and stick them to the white icing, wet side down.

Finish off pudding with 3 glacé cherries in the middle.

Do not store in the fridge as the icing will become sticky. Simply keep in a cool area until ready to eat.

The pudding can be made up to 2 weeks ahead of time and kept well wrapped in clingfilm and stored in the fridge. It can then be decorated a day before serving, and kept in a cool place.

Ingredients

115g unsalted butter

150g dark chocolate

150g milk chocolate

150ml condensed milk

75g rich tea biscuits

50g digestive biscuits

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

30g dried cranberries

25g glacé cherries, cut into half or quarters

To decorate

100g white ready-to-roll icing