Cake and pudding are two different animals

I know, but which animal needs to be stored!

Home Goods is also part of the same group.

You can store both...I think it's the high fruit content that allows it to store so well. If kept airtight both will last for a good 12 months or more. Same applies to any rich fruit cake. It used to be traditional to save a tier of the wedding cake for the birth of the first child or first wedding anniversay.

I know christmas cake does. Put the alcohol on it, wrap it in marzipan (using apricot jam as glue) and then it sits in a tin on a shelf in my mums kitchen for bloody weeks till she gets round to slapping the icing on.

She actually sent me a fully decorated christmas cake in the mail once. Other than a few silver balls falling off it was in perfect nick.

I've used Delia's recipe for pud for the last several years and have always used the extra stout as I never could track down any barley wine. Her mincemeat is WELL worth the effort, actually it's no effort at all, you just need to mix it up.

here's a link to her Christmas pud and mincemeat recipes.

I just had visitors from the UK and they brought me some atora, the vegetarian variety, so I'll be using that this year.

so where can one find suet?

Friends from the uk brought it for me last week. There are lots of US based british stores that you can buy Atora from. or you can get from the butchers as the others have suggested.

last year i made it with suet i got from the butchers. I had to 'make up' a british 'mixed spice' myself (found mix recipe online) as they dont have it pre mixed here - and I couldnt find a pudding basin anywhere so used pryrex. I also made up the difference with stout (guiness) as delia suggested.

This year I bought back a jar of mixed spice, atora veg suet, and 2 plastic pudding basins with lids when i visited as i wanted to make life easier. It tastes just fine last year though although i made it much much closer to xmas (as i hadnt left enough time - maybe just a week or two) and i suspect might have been a bit nicer (smoother) if given the extra maturing.

I've got a Tesco and a M&S Christmas pudding stashed in the cupboard from last year, and I have still to make the Christmas cake. Hubby has told work he will be bringing one in, to get them over the horror of American fruit cakes. I base the cake on Delia's recipe, but put at least double the amount of booze in it and let the fruit soak in the booze for about 3 days and add more if needed.

If you don't have a pudding basin, those ziplock or glad disposable/reusable containers might do, they are microwave and dishwasher safe, and they hold boiling water. Just a thought.

I can get Cross and Blackwell mincemeat locally but my mother had to send my the tin because the tins you get here are too deep. I have never found (in 16 years) ground almonds or marzipan here though

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_9a3a0u5x16_b

Thank you kindly Ray

couldnt you just blitz sliced almonds in a food processor?