My First Christmas Cake



My first Christmas Cake

This is the first year I have ever made and decorated my own Christmas cake and I am rather proud of the results. Following on from my previous post, I have just completed an 8 week cake decorating course and was keen to be use many of the techniques I had learnt.

I decided to make my fruit cake with Kirstie Allsopp's Fruit Cake recipe (I had bought a copy of her book 'Craft' from her recent series, but see link below for the recipe on-line). The recipe calls for a range of dried fruits and I used what was in the cupboard, including sultanas, raisins, currants, figs and prunes. It looked and smelt delicious while cooking.
 http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/kirsties-handmade-britain-recipes/caribbean-fruit-cake-recipe

The mixture looks nutty and fruity and smells gorgeous

I initially cooked the cake for less time than the recipe had said as a skewer came out of the centre clean and I needed to cook our lasagna for dinner. On reflection though I was worried it may have been undercooked and so put it back in the oven for the required time, plus another hour to enable the oven to get back to the right temperature. I think this was a good idea as it turned out really well, and I avoided burning it.

Feeding the cake

Over two weeks I regularly fed the cake with the Quince Brandy I had made up previously. The result was a sumptuous and moist cake. All this time I was so excited about the idea of decorating my cake. On the last night of my class I made the trees, the robin and snowmen with sugarpaste, using an example from my tutor for inspiration. It took a couple of days for the sugar paste models to dry, and then it was time to decorate.

It looks lovely, but I think it could still do with a little something....

The original design looked similar to the picture above  - although the robin was my addition, and I love it! I also used snowflake patchwork cutters on the sides of the cake - as the top of the cake and the board had soft peaks and glitter to resemble snow and I wanted it to look like there was snow falling down the side of the cake. I think it looked lovely. However, I felt I needed something to walk down the path in the snowy scene to finish the design, and so I decided to make a reindeer. It did look fantastic, but unfortunately I left the reindeer and antlers out to dry and one of the cats decided to attack it. Since time was running out and I wouldn't have time to make another reindeer and wait for it to dry, I bought a Santa to walk down the path. I think he sets off the scene nicely, and I am so proud of my Christmas cake. It tastes as divine as it looks as well - sweet, moist and delectable.

It was delicious to devour for afternoon tea on Christmas Eve