Malteser Christmas pudding cake

A Malteser Christmas pudding cake is the kind of festive showstopper that makes everyone smile before you’ve even sliced it. Rich chocolate sponge, creamy frosting, and a generous topping of Maltesers come together to create a playful twist on the classic Christmas pudding — fun, chocolatey, and guaranteed to be the star of your holiday table. Shaped just like a traditional pudding, it looks far more impressive than the effort involved, and making it is half the joy.

You might even find yourself chasing a few runaway Maltesers as they try to roll away, but that’s all part of the festive fun.

Malteser christmas pudding cake

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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour
Course Cake, Dessert
Servings 10 people

Ingredients
  

  • 225 g caster sugar
  • 225 g margarine
  • 225 g self-raising flour
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 6 tbsp cocoa powder

Chocolate buttercream

  • 100 g unsalted butter, softened (Top Tip: leave out of the fridge for a few hours to get to room temperature)
  • 200 g icing sugar
  • 100 g dark chocolate, melted

Topping

  • 350 g maltesers
  • 100 white chocolate, melted
  • holly leaves to decorate

Instructions
 

For the sponge

  • Preheat the oven to 180°c/Gas 4. Grease an 8×4" dome cake tin with margarine and a light dusting of flour and set aside.
  • Beat together the margarine and sugar with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy.
  • In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla extract. In another bowl add the flour and baking powder.
  • Add a ¼ of the eggs to the butter and stir in, then fold in ¼ of the flour and stir until combined and then repeat until all the eggs and flour are mixed together and smooth.
  • Stir in the sifted cocoa powder and mix until all combined.
  • Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for approx 50mins until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Adding the chocolate buttercream

  • Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot simmering water and allow to cool slightly.
  • Beat the butter and icing sugar together until smooth, then add the melted chocolate.
  • Spread generously over the whole cake, you may have some left over.

Topping

  • Gently melt the white chocolate in a bowl over simmering hot water and allow to cool, but not resetting.
  • Find the centre of the cake, add a malteser and then create a line of maltesers from side to side, then working outwards, place the maltesers over the cake. If any fall off, put a tiny dab of butter cream on the malteser and press it into the cake.
  • Pour the white chocolate over the top of the cake, letting it naturally fall down the side. Place the holly decoration on top. When ready, slice and share around.