Well I decided to make my Christmas pudding yesterday. Made a massive 2 litre one. Well I then decided I would microwave it instead of steam it so put it in for 20 minutes. Well its cooked but is pale brown not all rich and black. It looks like a spotted dick. Is this normal? I will obviously mature it for 2 months but I don't think that will change the colour.

What a waste. I'm sure it will taste nice but its not the same.

I have never microwaved my Christmas puddings, well not in the first round anyway, sometimes when they are being heated but even then... I would have thought that the microwave may not have had the time as steaming it takes hours to do. In addition knowing little about microwaves, I thought they heated from the inside? I can see how some of the steaming might work but...

You still have time to do it again. Five weeks before Christmas is the traditional day for making them although we eat them a year and five weeks later.

Delia has a good recipe that works time after time.

If you make another one you could use the one you made for something else. Also they will remould after cooking easily so you could taste in 5 weeks or so and remould the left overs maybe into smaller sizes.

Does steam affect the colour? Because unless you cover it, it isn't going to steam is it?

Just as an unrelated point, microwaves don't cook food from the inside out - The outside of the Food heats up with the energy of the microwave. The heated outside then conducts it's heat inwards cooking the middle.

It is the dark sugar and treacle that gives the colour more than anything, although if you didn't use these you could be using a "white" christmas pudding recipe. What colour was the mixture before you cooked it? Normally it is quite a mid brown before cooking and then gets darker during cooking. Having said that the picture in this link for microwave christmas pudding the pud doesn't look very dark. [link]
I have also heard that microwave puds don't keep too well, it is a nice and quick idea, but not quite the same as the original method.