Buckingham Palace Plum Pudding (VO) from Cooking and The Crown

By Erin Brown
Related Categories: Cookbook Confidential

“The original recipe for Buckingham Palace Plum Pudding, found in Tschumi’s Royal Chef, includes 30lb of Lisbon sugar, 40lb of raisins, 50lb of beef suet, 150 eggs, a bottle of rum and a bottle of brandy. ‘Made for the Royal Household at Christmas’, the recipe is ‘sufficient for 150 small puddings, each weighing 2lb.’  This might be a little excessive for most, so this recipe, direct from the royal kitchen, was shared by the late Queen in 2021over Instagram. The mix should be made on ‘Stir-up Sunday’, the last Sunday before Advent begins, and left to mature. Times may have changed, but the quality remains the same. If you don’t want to use alcohol, you can substitute the liquids for orange juice or cold tea.” Tom Parker Bowles, author of Cooking and the Crown

Makes two 1kg puddings

250g raisins

250g currants

185g sultanas

150g mixed peel

250g suet or vegetarian suet

250g breadcrumbs

90g flour

12g mixed spice

180g demerara sugar

2 whole eggs

275ml beer

40ml dark rum

40ml brandy

50ml butter, melted, for greasing

Brandy sauce or cream, to serve

You will need

2 x 1kg pudding bowls

First, combine all the dry ingredients and stir them up. Add the eggs and liquids. Stir it all up.

Grease the pudding bowls with melted butter. Press the cake mix into the bowls and cover with a circle of baking paper. Cover the puddings with muslin or foil and place each in a deep saucepan filled with boiling water up to three-quarters of the basins’ height. Cover the saucepan with foil and steam for 6 hours, refilling the water when needed.

Once cooled, wrap the puddings and store in a cool, dry place until Christmas.

On Christmas Day, reheat your pudding in a bain-marie for 3–4 hours. Remove from the basin using a round-bladed knife or palette knife, flip out onto a plate and flambe. Serve with brandy sauce and cream.