Merry Christmas Cakes

It's that time of year again. I'm talking about festive cake decorating, obviously. This years effort is Star Wars themed of course!

Here are some of my favourites from previous years :-)

 

 

Christmas Cake

Happy New Year :-) I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break.

I started writing this post before Christmas, but there was so much going on that I just couldn't get it finished. In the run up to December 25^th I was in a bit of a knitting/crochet/cake decorating/present finishing/packing frenzy! So I had to keep the designs for my Christmas cakes as simple (and quick) as I possibly could.

I was really pleased with how they looked. I went for pale blue with a snowflake for the big cake. It doesn't show up in the photo, but I used some pearlescent edible lustre dust on the snowflake for a shimmer effect. The cake was a gift for our office Secret Santa (turned out to be not so secret really!).

The two smaller 11cm cakes were decorated with simple blue fondant stars and a Christmas tree, finished with lovely ribbon. These were also gifts, but unfortunately in all the Christmas chaos I forgot to give one of them to the intended recipient, and discovered it, all boxed up, on my craft desk (which needless to say was abandoned throughout the festivities) a couple of days ago! Oops.

As for my own Christmas cake, well it’s sitting in the bottom of my wardrobe, all wrapped up since the last time I fed it with sherry in mid-December! I thought about making it into a Happy New Year cake, but my heart just isn't in it. Perhaps it will become a Valentine Fruitcake! I think I’ll mull it over.

Rudolph

He's having a jolly old time on our Christmas tree! I made him using rowan tweed and the pattern in Mini Christmas Crochet.

Mini Mince Pie Cupcakes

Hooray! Christmas is coming! It's mince pie season and I've perfected my recipe for mince pie cupcakes just in time for the festivities. These are a light and fluffy alternative to the mince pie. I baked mini cakes and topped them with a wicked brandy buttercream icing and some fondant holly leaves and berries. I used homemade mincemeat - every year I make a batch of Delia's Mincemeat (omitting the yucky candied peel of course!). If you use shop bought mincemeat use a good quality one, as it will have both a better consistency and flavour.

Mini Mince Pie Cupcakes (makes 30)

115g unsalted butter, softened

115g caster sugar

2 large eggs

125g good quality mincemeat

100g self raising flour

15g cornflour

1/2 tsp baking powder

For the brandy buttercream icing:

125g butter

325g icing sugar

2-3 tbsp brandy

1. Put on some festive music and preheat oven to 180°C (fan 160°C) and line a mini muffin tin with mini cupcake cases.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the mincemeat.
3. In a separate bowl mix the flour, cornflour and baking powder. Then sift this into the wet mixture and gently stir through until combined.
4. Fill cupcake cases two thirds full and bake for 10-12 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven.

5. Now make the icing. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth, then add in the brandy and mix well.

6. Pipe or spread onto the cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles or fondant shapes.
7. Put your feet up, turn up the Christmas tunes and enjoy a cupcake or two.

Making Christmas Cake

I've been baking Christmas cake for a fair few years now. This is the cake I made last year. At Christmas I love nothing more than a slab of fruitcake with a glass of sherry, and decorating the cake a few days before the festivities never fails to make me feel jolly. I love this recipe for Sherry and Almond cake on BBC Good Food. Naturally, I've made a few changes to the recipe to suit my preferences. It makes a deliciously moist and nutty cake.

Recently a few people have told me they thought Christmas cake was difficult to make - it's really not! It does require some preparation and a little drink every couple of weeks, but the effort is really worth it! To inspire you to make your own, I thought I'd share my tips for fruitcake success!

Feeling Fruity!
Many recipes call for mixed dried fruit. The problem I have with mixed fruit is that is contains yucky mixed peel, of which I am most definitely not a fan - I find it tough and bitter. To avoid it I buy separate packets of raisins, sultanas and currants. Other dried fruit works well, such as cranberries and cherries. I have to say I think the separately packaged fruit is of a better quality than the mixed, but that may just be me.

Be prepared!

Measure your dried fruit out at least a day before you are going to bake, and soak it overnight. The recipe below uses sherry (a deliciously thick and syrupy one - yum!), but you could use brandy, whiskey, rum, or if you'd prefer to skip on the alcohol, orange juice or even black tea. The important thing is that you give the fruit enough time to absorb the liquid and become plump and juicy. This will help to keep your cake moist and prevent it from drying out.

Go nuts!

I like to use nuts in fruitcakes. Whole nuts are a bit too chunky for my liking, so I pop them in my mini chopper and whiz them down to size, but still leaving a few bigger pieces for a bit of crunch. If you use a recipe that requires ground nuts, I recommend buying whole ones and processing them until you have a reasonably fine texture. This is another thing that can help to keep your cake lovely and moist. The reason for this is that ready ground nuts are dried out during the manufacturing process, and as a result contain less natural oil than whole nuts. 

Use protection!

Fruitcake is baked for a number of hours and although the heat is relatively low, there's always a risk that the outside of the cake could over bake. To help prevent this, line your tin with baking paper and wrap several layers of newspaper around the outside, using bakers twine or string to tie in place. I didn't have any handy so I used a spare shoelace instead!

Flip it 'n' feed it!

To keep your cake in tip top condition, give it a swig of its favourite drink. Use a skewer to make a series of holes about an inch and a half apart and about a third of the way through the thickness of the cake. Carefully pour a few drops of tipple into each hole. Do this every couple of weeks, and flip your cake over each time so that you alternate between feeding the bottom and top of the cake - you don't want one half of your cake to be completely sozzled!

I hope you find these tips helpful! Here's the recipe for my cake...

Sherry & Almond Christmas Cake

375g sultanas

375g raisins

150g currants

100g glace cherries

zest and juice of 2 large oranges

225ml sweet sherry (I use Sainsbury's Pedro Ximenez - about £7 a bottle, but seriously good stuff)

250g butter, softened

250g light muscovado sugar

½ tsp vanilla paste/1 tsp vanilla extract

150g plain flour

100g ground almonds

150g whole almonds, roughly chopped 

2 tsp mixed spice

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp cinnamon

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1. In a large bowl mix the fruit with the zest juice and sherry. Cover with a tea towel and leave to soak overnight.

2. When you're ready to bake preheat the oven to 160°C (that's 140°C fan).

3. Line a deep, 23cm round tin and wrap several layers of newspaper around the outside.

4. Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs, along with the flour, ground almonds and spices. Beat again until well combined.

5. Finally, add the chopped nuts, fruit and any juices. Stir through before transferring to the prepared tin.

6. Bake for one hour. Then turn down the oven to 150°C (130°C fan) and bake for a further 2 hours, or until a skewer in the centre comes out clean.

7. When the tin has cooled enough to handle, turn the cake out onto a cooling rack. Once completely cool, wrap in baking paper and then foil. Keep in a cool place and feed with sherry every couple of weeks.

Once we get a little closer to the festive season, I'll share some decorating ideas. In the meantime, I'd love to hear about any festive baking you've been doing or are planning. Have you made a Christmas cake? What did you put in it? Happy Baking!