What to do with leftover Christmas Fruitcake? Make a Bread Pudding of course!

What to do with leftover Christmas fruitcake? Do you have any taking up room in your freezer or fridge? I decided to try making a bread and leftover Christmas fruitcake pudding. I adapted my Mom's bread pudding recipe.

My Christmas fruitcake was packed with dried fruit and nuts so I omitted the raisins and sugar that were in the original bread pudding recipe. I also decided to use 1 slice of gluten-free bread because my Christmas fruitcake didn't have a lot of cake to it! Usually we add cinnamon to our bread pudding, but I felt my Christmas fruitcake had plenty of flavour so I didn't add cinnamon.

I didn't want a lot of dessert so opted to use my 4" by 6" casserole dish. This pan size gives 4 large servings are 6 smaller servings of pudding.

Mix the egg, milk and vanilla extract in a bowl and pour over the bread and cake. Gently press the mixture down so the bread soaks up some of the liquid. Pop it into a preheated oven for about 30 minutes. I like to sprinkle mine with about 1 teaspoon of sugar then put it bake in the oven for the remaining 5 minutes.

Gluten-Free Christmas Fruitcake Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 cup or 35 grams (1 slice) gluten-free bread, cubed
• 1 cup or 100 grams gluten-free Christmas fruitcake, cubed
• 1 Tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup or 250 mL milk or cream
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of sugar to sprinkle on the top

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
2. Grease a 4"x 6" pan.
3. Cube the bread and leftover Christmas fruitcake. Note: Remove any icing and/or mazipan from the Christmas fruitcake.
4. Put the bread and cake in your baking pan and drizzle over the melted butter.
5. In a bowl mix the egg, milk and vanilla extract. Pour over the cubed bread and cake. With a spoon gently press down so that the bread and cake have soaked up the liquid.
6. Put the pan in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and the top springs back when you push it down. At 25 minutes I often sprinkle the top with about a teaspoon of sugar and put it back in the oven for the last 5 minutes.

Here is the finished product. I serve mine as is or with vanilla ice cream, thick cream or custard.

If you are looking for a gluten-free Christmas fruitcake, here is my Gluten-free Christmas fruitcake recipe.

Have you tried making bread pudding with leftover Christmas fruitcake? Did you like it? What do you do with your leftover Christmas fruitcake?

Note: These are my personal experiences and opinions. Always seek out a medical opinion for medical concerns.