English ale-soaked Christmas pudding

Chop up the larger pieces of dried fruit. Combine the dried fruit, raisins, currants and sultanas in a large bowl. Stir in the ale, rum, orange and lemon juices and allow to soak overnight.

Next day, add the prunes to the fruit mixture. Mash the banana and grate the apple, including the skin of the apple, and add to the fruit.

Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the citrus rinds and treacle and beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Fold in the flour, spices and a pinch of salt, and then add the fruit with all its soaking liquor. Mix well and add the breadcrumbs, mixed peel and nuts.

Put the mixture into a greased 1.7 litre pudding bowl.

Put two large rectangles of greaseproof paper together, and the same size of foil. Keeping them on top of each other, fold them over in the middle so that you have a pleat. Put the pleated cover on top of the pudding, folding it down at the sides, and tie it on tightly with string. Make a string handle and attach it at the sides as well so that you can easily lift the pudding. Trim the foil and greaseproof paper so there is about 4cm left below the level of the string. (The cover should not touch the water while steaming or you will end up with a soggy pudding.)

Lower the pudding into a large pan of simmering water, to come one-third of the way up the side of the pudding basin. Cover the pan with a lid and steam the pudding for 8 hours. Make sure that the pan does not boil dry - you'll need to top it up with boiling water from time to time.

Once the pudding has steamed, lift it from the water. Remove the paper/foil cover and replace it with clean foil or cling film.

Keep the pudding somewhere cool and 'feed' it every few days with good slugs of whisky or rum (or both) until Christmas Day.

. On the day of serving, cover it in the same way as before, with paper and foil, and steam it again for about 2 hours or until warm all the way through.

. Serve with cream or brandy butter, or both.