This recipe and photo are from Bon Appetit Magazine, December 2001.

English Christmas "pudding" is really a dense, moist spiced cake. This gingerbread version is flavored with orange marmalade and topped with a traditional hard sauce — butter and sugar mixed with brandy.

Check out more wonderful Cake Recipes.

Gingerbread Christmas Pudding with Orange Hard Sauce

Coat inside and center tube of 6- to 8-cup pudding mold or Bundt cake pan with nonstick spray, then generously with butter. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cloves.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add orange marmalade, molasses, and orange peel (zest). Add flour mixture and beat just until blended. Transfer batter to prepared mold. Cover mold tightly with aluminum foil.

Place steamer rack in a large pot. Place pudding mold on rack. Carefully fill pot with enough water to come halfway up sides of mold.

Bring water just to boil; reduce heat to medium. Cover pot and steam pudding until a tester inserted near center of cake comes out clean, adding more boiling water as needed to maintain level, approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.

Using oven mitts, carefully remove mold from pot. Uncover and let stand 10 minutes.

Using a sharp knife, cut around top center and sides of pudding to loosen from the mold. Turn pudding out onto rack and cool 20 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool completely. Return to mold; cover and chill. Re-steam 45 minutes to heat through, then turn out of mold.) Transfer pudding to platter. Cut pudding into wedges; serve with Hard Sauce.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Hard Sauce:
1 1/2 cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons brandy
1 teaspoon grated orange peel (zest)

Combine all ingredients in small bowl; stir to blend well. (Can be made 4 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.)