Melt the butter, and beat the eggs well, mix all the dry ingredients together and add the eggs, butter and brandy.

Conventional steaming:
Slop the mixture into a buttered pudding mould, tap the mould on the bench a couple of times to eliminate air pockets and then smooth the top surface with the back of a spoon.

Cut a circle of grease proof paper and lay over the pudding mixture. Dip a pudding cloth in boiling water to sterilize it, and tie over the mould. Lift the corners of the cloth up, over the pudding mould, and tie them together, forming a handle to lift the hot pudding out of the steamer.

Place in a covered pan over 25-30mm (1”-1¼”) boiling water, and boil for 4 to 5 hours, topping up with boiling water during the steaming, when the level drops.

When the pudding is cooked, hang it in a cool dry place until wanted, then boil for a further couple of hours. This timing really depends on the age of the pudding - they can require upwards of 8 hours (or more!) to soften sufficiently if you've kept one from last year. But the older they are, the better they taste!

Microwave cooking:
Microwave at [4] for up to 40 minutes in a covered container, invert the cake and cook for a further 10 minutes. (600 watts)

‘Big Al’ christened this “Chinese Wedding Cake”