Cake and Pudding

Making the Christmas pudding can be great fun. Stir-up Sunday is 22 November in 1992 and 21 November in 1993, as Advent is calculated as the first Sunday before St Andrew’s Day, which is 30 November, and Stir-up Sunday is the Sunday before Advent. The idea is to give the pudding time to mature and for the flavours to mellow. It is as well to make the Christmas cake at the same time. Don’t forget the ritual, which, so far as I am concerned, is the only point of making Christmas pudding at home. When all the ingredients are in the large mixing bowl, each member of the family should give it a stir, and silently make a wish.