Brandy Pudding

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan. Put dates in a bowl, pour over 250ml boiling water. Set aside. Grease a 1.5 litre pudding basin. Line base with baking paper.

Put butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and eggs in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until well blended. Add cooled date mix. Beat until combined.

Stir in fruits, pecans and ginger. Pour into pudding basin. Cover basin with pleated baking paper and foil. Put basin in a deep roasting pan half-filled with boiling water. Steam in oven for 3 hours until pudding is cooked when tested.

Meanwhile, make brandy syrup. Put sugar and 75ml water in a pan. Stir over heat until syrupy. Stir in brandy. Remove from heat. Pour over brandy syrup so it soaks into pudding. Cover until ready to serve. Will keep in fridge for a week.

Make butterscotch sauce, dissolve sugar with water over a low heat. Bring to boil (don’t stir at all). When sugar is a dark golden caramel, whisk in butter. Remove from heat. Stir in cream. Will keep in fridge for 3 days.

To serve, warm pudding in turned-off oven, or microwave on High, covered with plastic wrap, for 5 minutes. Warm butterscotch sauce in a pan, or in microwave on Medium for 2 minutes. Turn out the pudding onto a plate, pour over some of the sauce and serve rest in a jug. Top with holly sprig and serve with ice-cream.