Only two more days until Stir-Up Sunday……..a special day in the cook’s calendar when cakes and puddings are concocted, baked, steamed. I have written about this day many times over the years on Lavender and Lovage,and,you can read all about thetraditions and customs here:
Stir Up Sunday, Traditions and my Traditional Victorian Christmas Pudding Recipe
Stir Up Sunday: Quick and Easy Microwave Mincemeat Christmas Pudding Recipe
As well as the two pudding recipes I’ve shared above, there are lots of cake recipes to share at this time of year too……but before I share my more traditional cakes, I’d like to offer you a fabulous and fruity alternative for this year, a cake made with naturally dried tropical fruits, and one that is gluten-free too. My recipe forGluten-free Tropical Christmas Cake was made with mango and pineapple from Urban Fruit, and is deliciously fruity with an amazing fruit and nut topping, instead of the usual marzipan and Royal icing. The recipe is posted over on the Great British Chef’s website, as part of theirStirring it up with Urban Fruit article, where they asked me and others to “create some exciting new Christmas Cake recipes with a difference”, which I was very happy to do.
The recipe for myGluten-free Tropical Christmas Cake can be found on the Great British Chefs website by following the link in the recipe title and, as well as my cake, why not check out all of the other Urban Fruit creations that are there.There’s Bundt cakes, puddings and more, and all of them perfect for an alternative to the usual pud or cake.Urban Fruit is available to buy in Waitrose in front of store snacking area, at Tesco with the other whole foods, at Asda with fresh food + veg, on Ocado, the Co-Op with the other dried fruits, Whole Foods, Planet Organic and lots of lovely independent stores around the country.
To celebrate Stir-Up Sunday, Great British Chefs are holding a Twitter Party on the 23rd November, between2pm – 4pm, and they would love you to get involved. Follow @UrbanFruit on Twitter, use the hashtag #StirUpSunday and show us what you’re cooking or ask any Christmas baking questions.Hopefully you will have all queries answered before you launch yourself into Stir-Up Sunday baking and cooking! But for now, I leave you with some of my other cakes that would all benefit from being made this Sunday, as well as some other Christmas recipes……have a wonderful weekend, Karen
Christmas Cakes, Puddings and Other Festive Recipes:
When the nation starts festive baking on Stir Up Sunday, we’ll be hosting a Twitter Party from 2pm – 4pm on 23rd November and would love you to get involved. Follow @UrbanFruit on Twitter, use the hashtag#StirUpSunday and show us what you’re cooking or ask any Christmas baking questions.
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Great gluten free recipe Karen. Such lovely ideas for stir up Sunday. I particularly like the snow flake cakes, so cute and pretty. GG
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Karen Burns-Boothsays
Thanks GG! I seem to have collected a lot of Christmas pudding, cake and mincemeat ideas and recipes over the years! I DO love a bit of festive baking too……Karen
LOVE your pudding basin with the owl and squirrel. After seeing it and all your others on Instagram I’m feeling rather sad about my traditional white ones. I think some pudding bowl retail therapy is required…
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Karen Burns-Boothsays
There is something rather lovely about a white pudding bowl too Claire, but, if you need some pudding bowl therapy, then who am I to stop you! Karen
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Danielle Vedmoresays
I love the look of the Clementine and Brandy Pudding – looks delicious! Have already done my cake but have never made my own pudding – a bit scared to be honest! x
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Karen Burns-Boothsays
Thanks Danielle! Puddings are VERY easy to make and you shouldn’t be scared to make one – honestly! Karen
Traditionally, families gather together in the kitchen of their homes to mix and steam Christmas pudding on Stir-up Sunday. Parents teach their children how to mix ingredients for the pudding. Everyone takes a turn to stir the pudding mix, for each person involved is able to make a special wish for the year ahead.
Get ahead for Christmas in the traditional way by making your Christmas pudding, cake or mincemeat on the last Sunday before Advent, leaving plenty of time for flavours to mature. This year, Stir-up Sunday falls on Sunday, 26 November 2023.
On Stir-Up Sunday, families gather together to mix the pudding. Each member of the family takes a turn in stirring the mixture whilst making a wish. The pudding should be stirred from east to west, in honour of the Magi (Wise Men) who came from the east to visit the baby Jesus.
Stir up Sunday is a traditional day for making Christmas puddings in the UK. It falls on the last Sunday before Advent, which is the season of preparation for the celebration of Christmas – we explain more about this below.
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Greek word for “stir up” is anazopureo. According to Thayer's Definitions, it means “to kindle up, inflame one's mind, strength, zeal.” This is the only place this word is used in the New Testament and is thus referred to in textual studies as a hapax legomenon (a word occurring only once in a document).
Figgy pudding — also known as plum pudding or Christmas pudding — is a staple of the British Christmas table, she says. "It resembles something like a cannonball, and it maybe feels a bit like a cannonball when it hits your stomach, but it's tradition and we love it," Waugh tells NPR's Michel Martin.
However, they're often just whacked in on 'high' for a few minutes until they look cooked. “Quite frankly, overcooking Christmas puddings kills the flavour, and that's a shame after all the effort and wonderful ingredients I've put into it!
Christmas pudding would traditionally contain 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his disciples. It is traditionally stirred (while making a wish) by each member of the family from East to West, to resemble the Wise Men that visited Jesus in the Nativity Story.
A bizarre form of counter-magic, the witch cake was a supernatural dessert used to identify suspected evildoers. In cases of mysterious illness or possession, witch-hunters would take a sample of the victim's urine, mix it with rye meal and ashes and bake it into a cake.
Panettone is a Milanese sweet bread loaf (widely available throughout Italy and in many other countries), served around Christmas, which is traditionally filled with dried and candied fruits, with a bread loaf consistency.
Christmas cakes are also commonly made with pudding while a fruit cake uses butter, however there are Christmas cake recipes that do contain butter. The traditional Scottish Christmas cake, also known as the Whisky Dundee, is very popular.
The collect for the last Sunday before advent reads, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people", but was subsequently coined to represent the act of stirring up a good old Christmas pud.
The Stir-Up Sunday tradition dates back to the Victorian era, when families would meet to stir the Christmas pudding five weeks before December 25, read 21st November.
I guess the North Americans might call it a Dessert Party. The idea is that each couple brings a pudding for everyone to try, and fill out a ballot giving it scores. The scores are added up at the end, and the winner has to host the next one.
Palm Sunday is often celebrated with processions and distribution of blessed palm leaves. In some churches, the palms are saved and burned into ashes to be used on Ash Wednesday of the next year. Some Christians fold the palm fronds into crosses and keep them in their homes.
Its history dates all the way back to the 1700s. Families would put a lovely joint of meat in the oven on a Sunday morning before church and come home afterwards, prepare the rest of the food, and tuck into a delicious family meal.
On White Sunday, Samoan women and children dress completely in white clothing. Some of them trim the clothes with the other two colours of the Samoan flag, red and blue. Men will wear white shirts with either white slacks or the traditional 'ie faitaga form of the lavalava.
Introduction: My name is Margart Wisoky, I am a gorgeous, shiny, successful, beautiful, adventurous, excited, pleasant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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