Traditional Christmas cakes and puddings packed with sultanas and other dried fruit are exceptionally high in salicylates and amines. From the Failsafe Cookbook, we use Fete Cake iced with white icing, decorated with a sprig of plastic holly and wrapped with red or green paper frills. Alternatives to the traditional pudding and brandy sauce include Bombe Alaska, sago pudding with dried pears and bananas, Andra’s ‘honey’ roll pudding variation and our favourite, Dominion pudding, with Not brandy sauce.

2 tbsp butter or failsafe margarine
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup self-raising flour or gluten-free flour
½ cup milk or soymilk
4 tbsp golden syrup

Cream butter and sugar, add egg and beat well. Add sifted flour alternately with milk. Place golden syrup in the bottom of a greased bowl, pour batter over, tie brown paper or baking paper over the top and steam in a covered saucepan with 2 cm of water for 1¼ hours. Serve with a failsafe version of the traditional brandy sauce, cream, ice-cream or Narni’s custard