Hello and seasons greetings to you all! I apoligise that this post is a little late and the big day is now over- but hey it's still the festive season so I thought I'd update you all on what I have been doing over the past few weeks!
I started by decorating our family Christmas cake, which is something I like to put aside a whole day to do. I decided to do something a bit different this year, and used my recently purchased dome shaped mould to make an igloo cake, complete with an edible family of little penguins dressed in appropriate winter gear!
Inside the igloo hides a deliciously moist and rich dark fruit cake which I covered in marzipan and roll-out icing. It's actually a fairly simple cake to make, although rather difficult to remove from the tin once baked (I admit that I did have to 'glue' the top of the cake back on since it got stuck in the mould-oops!).
Since I moved out into my own flat earlier on in the year, I now have my very own Christmas tree to decorate and so I thought what better to do than to make some homemade edible tree decorations. I found a Hairy Bikers recipe for speculaas biscuits, which are a traditional continental Christmas biscuit according to the BBC.
Basically they are lovely little crisp biscuits lightly spiced with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. I cut mine into snowflake shapes and drizzled them with a little glace icing once baked- I think they make give the finishing touch to my tree, what do you think?
I really have been rather busy this December. Mince pies, shortbread, florentines, truffles, rocky road, panetonne, gingernuts, crackers, cupcakes and biscotti-I have gone baking mad this Christmas (as if I wasn't already)! Unfortunately I just haven't had the time to photograph everything and write about each bake but here are just a few snapshots that I did manage to get!
2013 is nearly upon us and I look forward to seeing what the new year brings. I can't wait to try out some new recipes and I welcome your thoughts and comments for anything new and inspirational-any ideas?
I started by decorating our family Christmas cake, which is something I like to put aside a whole day to do. I decided to do something a bit different this year, and used my recently purchased dome shaped mould to make an igloo cake, complete with an edible family of little penguins dressed in appropriate winter gear!
Inside the igloo hides a deliciously moist and rich dark fruit cake which I covered in marzipan and roll-out icing. It's actually a fairly simple cake to make, although rather difficult to remove from the tin once baked (I admit that I did have to 'glue' the top of the cake back on since it got stuck in the mould-oops!).
Since I moved out into my own flat earlier on in the year, I now have my very own Christmas tree to decorate and so I thought what better to do than to make some homemade edible tree decorations. I found a Hairy Bikers recipe for speculaas biscuits, which are a traditional continental Christmas biscuit according to the BBC.
Basically they are lovely little crisp biscuits lightly spiced with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. I cut mine into snowflake shapes and drizzled them with a little glace icing once baked- I think they make give the finishing touch to my tree, what do you think?
I really have been rather busy this December. Mince pies, shortbread, florentines, truffles, rocky road, panetonne, gingernuts, crackers, cupcakes and biscotti-I have gone baking mad this Christmas (as if I wasn't already)! Unfortunately I just haven't had the time to photograph everything and write about each bake but here are just a few snapshots that I did manage to get!
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2013 is nearly upon us and I look forward to seeing what the new year brings. I can't wait to try out some new recipes and I welcome your thoughts and comments for anything new and inspirational-any ideas?
