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6 Min
30/12/2025
When it comes to holiday desserts, be it Indian or global, there are two that take the spotlight – plum pudding and fruit cake. One came from being cooked in animal bellies and has since then evolved into something sweet, while the other was an ancient holy offering. What’s common is that both have been around for centuries, both show up at Christmas dinner, and both have their loyal fans. But which one deserves the crown?
Walk into any bakery during Christmas or a Christian home during December, and the air will be filled with the scent of spices, sugar, and fruit. It could either be from the dark, glossy plum pudding waiting to be set aflame, or the other, a dense fruit-studded fruit cake which rests patiently in its tin or in the oven. Both desserts are rich, celebratory, soaked in liquor, and full of surprises. One promises drama at the table, and the other rewards patience and anticipation. But which of these legendary treats truly deserves the crown?
Plum pudding started life in medieval England and is deeply connected to English sausages or ‘haggis’, a pudding cooked in an animal’s stomach. Back then, meats, vegetables, and grains, along with spices, fruits and fats, were stuffed into animal stomachs and intestines. Then by the early 15th century, ‘plum pottage’ came into existence, which was served as an appetiser and made with meat and root vegetables.
Back then, ‘plum’ did not exist, and instead, the pudding used any dried fruit, especially raisins, currants, or prunes. It was only when dried fruit became more readily available, towards the end of the 16th century, that plum pudding made the shift from savoury to sweet. Further, pudding cloth was also developed, which stopped the reliance on animal products, although suet (raw, hard animal fat) has always been a key ingredient.
The name ‘Christmas pudding’ also didn't appear until 1845, when cookbook writer Eliza Acton first called it that. Charles Dickens helped make it famous with his 1843 novel ‘A Christmas Carol’, where the Cratchit family in the book serves a flaming pudding at their Christmas feast.
Tradition says plum pudding should have 13 ingredients representing Jesus and the 12 disciples. Families make it on ‘Stir-up Sunday’, the fifth Sunday before Christmas, with everyone taking turns stirring from east to west to honour the journey of the Three Wise Men (Magi). The pudding is steamed for hours in a bowl or a cloth. Lucky charms are folded into the batter, and serving it wreathed in flames is linked to Winter Solstice celebrations of the sun's rebirth. Today, it arrives at the table doused in brandy and set alight for a dramatic finish.
Fruit cake traces its origin back to as early as the Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia, around 3000 BCE. People figured out a way of combining dates, figs, and nuts to make dense and chewy cakes, as offerings to the local Gods. Perhaps, a closer relative of the fruitcake was concocted in Egypt, around a similar time, made with honey, figs, and nuts, also an offering to the mystical forces. Moving over to Europe, around 800 BCE, Greece in particular was making something called plakous from wheat, barley, honey, figs and raisins. China, too, had its own version of sweet cakes made with nuts and dried fruits.
As the Middle Ages passed in Europe, fruit cakes evolved. As the Crusades began, they opened up doors to the East, and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, as well as dried fruits, came to Europe. These were so rare and expensive back then that having them in fruit cakes made them a symbol of wealth and status.
Fruit cake's big selling point is its legendary shelf life. The best fruit cakes are ‘seasoned’ for at least three months before eating, brushed periodically with brandy or rum and stored in a cool, dark place. One fruit cake baked in 1878 still exists today and is reportedly still edible (made by the Ford family in Michigan). By the late 1800s, fruit cake was being gifted in decorated tins, and colonists loved it because it could survive long journeys without spoiling.
Fruit cake and plum pudding are both traditional festive desserts, but their service traditions differ. Fruit cake is usually baked weeks ahead, often with fruits soaked in alcohol, and served sliced, with tea, coffee, or dessert wine throughout the holiday season; family or community ‘mixing’ ceremonies are common, emphasising preparation, unity, and anticipation.
Plum pudding, in contrast, is steamed or boiled, often aged, and traditionally served at the end of Christmas dinner, sometimes flambéed with brandy for dramatic effect and accompanied by custard or cream; Stir‑Up Sunday rituals involve family members stirring the pudding while making wishes, symbolising good luck, togetherness, and celebration.
When British colonists brought these desserts to India in the 1800s, something interesting happened – Indians made them better. The story starts in 1883 in Thalassery, Kerala. A British planter named Murdoch Brown walked into Mambally Bapu's bakery with an English plum cake and asked him to recreate it. Instead of using expensive French brandy, Bapu used local cashew apple and banana liquor. Brown declared it the best cake he'd ever tasted.
From there, Indian bakers put their own spin on things. In Kerala, they added spices like cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg. In Allahabad, Bushy's Bakery started using petha (ash gourd candy) and ghee instead of butter. In Goa, the Baath cake uses semolina and coconut. In Kochi, the Mattanchère spice plum cake infuses honey-soaked fruits with local spices and ages for months.
Plum pudding came to India too, where it's sometimes called ‘pudim’ in Anglo-Indian and Goan communities. Families still make it on Stir-up Sunday, steam it in moulds, and serve it hot with custard or ice cream. The tradition stayed strong in former British colonial areas, especially among Christian communities.
Today, Kerala has India's largest plum cake market. Every December, bakeries stop making everything else – even birthday cakes – to focus solely on Christmas cakes. Expatriates from the US and UAE place massive orders. Descendants of Mambally Bapu now run some of Kerala's most famous bakeries.
Both desserts have deep historical roots and loyal followings. Plum pudding wins for drama with its flaming entrance. Fruit cake wins for convenience and longevity. In Britain and former British colonies, plum pudding remains the Christmas standard. In America, fruit cake (for better or worse) became the more familiar holiday gift. It depends on your tradition, and what pull you have towards these desserts; whether you grew up with plum pudding steamed and flamed at Christmas dinner, or always exchanged fruit cakes in tins, it’s yours to cherish and recreate.
