Chestnut christmas cake

Here is our christmas cake from this year (well, last year to be technical about it)  I went with the Nigella chestnut puree one, and it sure is lovely.  Very tasty, moist, fruity and nutty without being too boring and grownup (fruit cake always strikes me as something of an old lady of the cake world)

Rather than being marzipanned and royally iced (as Handsome husband can't eat the marzipan and no-one likes the royal icing (apart from Darling bout who will eat the entire cakes worth of it if left unchecked) This beauty is glazed in jam and covered in glade cherries.  Yum.

Perfect with a hot cuppa.  Quite fancy a slice now actually, shame its all gone.

Stir up Sunday

Ok, so Stir up Sunday was a few weeks back, and is actually for the christmas pudding, not the cake- but what is christmas if not a chance to break from tradition (actually, thats the opposite of what christmas is,  where it seems everything from the ancient decorations on the tree, to the order in which the days events should unfold, should be the same every year for complete seasonal family happiness all round, but anyhoo)

So, this year I opted for a Nigella cake as it is both nut free (for Handsome husband who is an almond dodger) and also contains the magical chestnut puree stuff which is beyond delicious and has the most beautiful packaging.  You wrap it like a traditional christmas cake homage to the Sound of Music (a brown paper package, tied up with string) pour the goodness in and bake in a lowish oven.  Once its out, you can feed it with booze each week as you like, then glaze the top with fruits, stand back and admire.

Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, how lovely are your branches

My mother in law kindly volunteered me to make the 'Guess the weight of the cake' cake for the local village Christmas Craft fete.  Always happy to help out a good cause, and flex the creative muscle I agreed and racked my brains for a christmassy themed cake.  I came up with this bad boy.  The tree is made from a vanilla sponge with a chocolate buttercream filing, topped with vanilla buttercream.  The trunk and pot are made from chocolate cake truffle, with the trunk coated in cake crumbs to make it look tree-like, and copper gold edible glitter to make it look all sparkly, innit.  The star is made from dark chocolate with a layer of white chocolate on top, and then more gold glitter.  There is no such think as too much glitter.

The guesses were from the tiny to the ridiculous.  A local farmer, complete with tweedy jacket and rouge cheeks guessed the nearest weight and was the lucky recipient of the cake and the glory.