Monday 26 November 2012

Christmas Cakes 2012 Part 3 :o)


I finally got round to icing the Christmas cakes yesterday :o) There have been various days over the past couple of weeks when I was going to do them, but life has a habit of getting in the way  & I never managed to get them done. However, yesterday I was DETERMINED !! Nothing was going to stand in my way, I said I was going do them & do them I WOULD !! :o)
 

I got Shaun settled in his husband hut & then gathered everything together - icing sugar, icing, decorations, ribbon, pins, rolling pin, board, scissors, knife, pastry brush, boiling water & cakes :o)


I decided to use ready made fondant icing which is quicker & a lot kinder on the teeth than Royal Icing :o) After breaking one of my mother in law's teeth with an extra hard walnut in a coffee & walnut cake earlier in the year, I think it was a wise decision !! :o)
 
Well, it was her fault really - I offered to make her a coffee cake & SHE said - *Can you make it coffee & walnut instead ? I haven't had a coffee & walnut cake in AGES !!* So, being the very good & dutiful daughter in law I am, that's what I did !! :o)
 
Anyway - I digress - as usual :o)
 


 
Because I was icing one big & six small cakes, I divided the icing into 7 pieces & then started rolling :o)
 
To make the icing stick, you have to brush the top of the marzipanned cake with boiled water. Before doing anything, I put the pastry brush & all my decorations & pins - which hold the ribbon on - into boiling water for a few minutes, to steralise & make them clean & safe.
 
 

 
Place the rolled icing on top of the cake & trim any excess.
 



 
Put a blob of icing - made with icing sugar & a drop of boiling water - on to a cake board & place the cake. You can buy Christmas cake ribbons, but I wanted to use the decorative ribbon I already had. Once the ribbon's in place around the cake, pin it in place with 1 or 2 of the pins you steralised earlier.


 
Decorate how you want :o) I like the plain & simple look, personally, but that's mostly because I can't do fancifications :o)  I don't have the ability or the patience, to be honest :o) I'm also old fashioned/traditional. Christmas to me is red, gold & green, so I tend to stick to those colours.
 
This is the large cake. The small ones were done in the same way, but the only decoration they have are ribbons around them & a small tree decoration stuck in them. I thought the recipients could eat the cake & then put the decoration on the tree as a little keepsake :o) It saves having a drawful of cake decorations that they won't use, doesn't it ? :o)
 
Today it's steam-the-Christmas-puddings-& panic-about-parents-coming-to-visit-next-week-&-I-still-haven't-got-a-clue-what-to-get-them-day :o)
 
PANIC !! PANIC !!! PANIC !!!!  :o)
 
 
 

3 comments:

  1. Glad you got them iced in the end. Peter will ice ours tomorrow but we use a packet of royal icing mix. It will just be a simple snow scene this year, again .....

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  2. That looks pretty fancified to me! I'm so glad that you're taking the time to give us such wonderful baking lessons at this busy time of the year! I'm inspired to print off your recipe and get started!

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  3. Your cake looks lovley, good to see it in the Advent album on the craft group too. Joan

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