Christmas :-)

Not updated for a loooooong time so decided I better start with Christmas and move on into the New Year.  Christmas being a busy period, being the one time of the year when people drop in unannounced and being the one time of the year where we let out the belt buckle!

I made a list of everything I wanted to make from the Christmas cake and decorations to pork pies, lemon curd and sweet tarts.

I'll start with the Christmas cake and decorations, a good boiled fruit cake is the starting point of an amazing Christmas cake and this year was no different, two round boiled fruit cakes made in October and lovingly soaked with Brandy until December........

The decorations were made using white fondant icing, I use a silicone flower cutter and mould and add silver balls and lustre dust. I used white polar lustre dust and a peach glitter.

I made fifteen flowers to go around the cake and for the top of the cake - I left these to set prior to using royal icing to attach them to the cake

Finished result!! Beautiful polar white Christmas cake, soaked with Brandy and contemporary finish :-)

Christmas Savouries :-)

After watching the Great British Bake Off and seeing Paul Hollywood's take on Pork Pies I decided I had to have a go! I altered the recipe slightly from using plain pork loin joint to using an Applewood Smoked Pork Loin which most definitely gave the pork pies a taste second to none.

This was the first time I had tried making hot water pastry and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is!

Not quite as pleasing to they eye as shop bought but the taste is definitely worth the hard work! I have made these a couple of times now and have recently opted for a silicone baking tin which has made getting the pies out a million times easier!!!

Sweet Treats :-)

 I decided to have a go at making lemon curd and for a twist made a jar of orange curd too! The lemon curd was a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe and although tart, is a beautiful accompaniment to a lovely bit of burnt toast!

The orange curd was used for the filling for an orange tart which was wonderfully smooth, gorgeous to look at and totally scrummy to eat :-)

Gingerbread House :-)

Typing this now I realise how busy I was over the festive period! The gingerbread house is a typical thought when I think of Christmas so I decided it was time to have a go! I designed a template, made up a huge batch of gingerbread and chained myself to the oven for the afternoon! I used the gingerbread recipe from the BBC good food website and was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was, not to mention delicious. I used royal icing to bond the walls and roof together. I then used a thick layer of royal icing on the roof as snow and a thick layer for snow on the ground.

Yes, they are lights you can see within! I hid a string of l.e.d lights inside for a sweat treat with a twist