Put the dried fruit, cherries, mixed peel, orange juice, zest and Cointreau into a large non-metallic bowl. Stir, cover and leave to soak overnight at room temperature.

Lightly grease a 900ml (1½ pint) pudding basin and line base with a disc of baking parchment. Put a 35.5cm (14in) square of foil on top of a square of baking parchment the same size. Fold a 4cm (1½in) pleat across the centre. Set aside.

Add remaining ingredients to soaked fruit; mix well. Spoon into prepared basin, pressing down to level. Put pleated foil and parchment square (foil-side up) on top of the basin and smooth down to cover. Using a long piece of string, tie securely under the lip of the basin and loop over top, then tie to make a handle.

To cook, place the cover basin into a baking tin with water half way up and cover the whole thing with tinfoil (as sealed as possible but don’t worry too much if there are gaps), cook at 140°C for 4 hours. Or, put a heatproof saucer in the base of a large, deep pan that has a tight-fitting lid. Lower in the prepared pudding and pour in enough water to come halfway up sides of basin, taking care not to get any on top of pudding. Cover with the lid, bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 4½hr, checking the water level and topping up as necessary.

Carefully remove pudding from the pan; cool completely. Wrap basin, still with its foil lid, tightly in clingfilm, followed by a further layer of foil. Store in a cool, dark place to mature for up to 2 months.

To reheat, remove foil and clingfilm, as well as the lid. Re-cover as per instructions in steps 2 and 3. Following method in step 4, reheat for 2hr until piping hot in centre when pierced with skewer. Remove from pan and allow to sit for 5min. Carefully remove lid and invert on to serving plate. Peel off baking parchment and serve.