Christmas Crafting - Christmas Cake Revisited

As promised in my previous Christmas Cake post, I said I would share with you my finished decorated cake.

Well you are in for a treat, as I actually have 2 cakes to share with you.

The first is the cake I made for the local Toddler Group, for their 'Guess the weight of the cake' competition.

I decided to keep it simple with a Christmas tree theme and everyone seemed to love it.

The second is the cake I made for my good friend Paula.  For the past few years she has asked if I could make her a Christmas cake, so it can't be that bad!!

Hope you like them. 

Enjoy what's left of the Christmas break. x

Christmas Crafting - Stocking

I don't know why, but Christmas always makes me want to get my craft on. Whether it's sewing, baking or any other kind of craft I decide to try my hand at, I always get a huge satisfaction from being able to say "I made that!"

Thankfully my family are very accepting of my craftiness and look forward to what goodies they may find in their stocking.

One of the first things I decided to make was a Christmas stocking for my son George.  This was to be hung in his room for him to find Christmas morning full of lovely little surprises.

George turned two at the beginning of September and I decided his room needed a bit of change, so we opted for a Farm theme.  I made some bunting and a cushion cover from some beautiful Michael Miller fabric, so when I saw the Christmas farm theme fabric I knew I had to make a stocking.

Firstly I cut out a stocking template of the size I wanted from paper (I only had baking parchment, but it worked fine).  I then attached it to the fabric and cut out two stocking shapes.

I then decided the stocking needed a decorative edge around the top.  I had several pieces of felt, but none looked right, so I decided to cut pieces out of a spare Ikea blanket I had lying around.  The scalloped edging was perfect.

After cutting out the size edging I wanted, I sewed it onto the outside of each stocking shape.

Placing the right sides of the stocking together and beginning at the top, I then sewed the stocking together. Leaving the top open.

I then turned it inside out and attached a piece of ribbon to the back of the top part, ready to hang.

And voila, you have a Christmas stocking.  And my George loved it!

Christmas Crafting - Christmas Cake

Every year I make a Christmas cake, whether it's for family, friends or gifts.

This year I am making one especially for the local Toddler Group I'm involved with in the village.  As part of a Christmas themed session they are having a competition to guess the weight of the Christmas cake and I offered my baking services.

I use a tried and trusted recipe I came across several years ago on the BBC Good Food website called Simmer & Stir Christmas Cake. You can find the full recipe here.

It's the perfect recipe for me, as it doesn't need to be made weeks ahead.

The first part of the recipe requires you to bring the butter, sugar, dried fruit, zests, juice and brandy slowly to the boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat and cool for 30 minutes.

Whilst the mixture is cooling, you need to toast the nuts gently to brown them, then once they have cooled, chop roughly.

You then add these along with the eggs and ground almonds to the cooled fruit mixture, mixing well. Then sift in the flour, baking powder and spices, stirring gently until there are no traces of flour left.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth down evenly.

Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes, then lower the temperature and bake for a further 1-1 1/4 hours. 

At this point your kitchen will smell amazing, with what I can only describe as the warm scent of Christmas. This makes me happy!

You'll know the cake is done when you insert a skewer and it comes out clean.  Then make holes all over the cake and pour on the extra brandy until it has all soaked in.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin and once it's cold remove from the tin and peel of the lining paper. Wrap it in baking parchment and then foil to keep it fresh, moist and all round lovely.

After this you can either serve it as it is or, like me, cover it with a layer of marzipan, then a layer of sugar paste. Decorate to your hearts content.

Here's one that I've decorated before.  I shall post a picture of this years finished cake soon.

What are your go to Christmas recipes? Have they been passed down on scraps of paper or googled on the World Wide Web?

Happy Christmas baking!

x

Our special place!

As I write this it's 11pm on a Friday night and I am sat in our Welsh holiday house.

Everyone else is tucked up in bed and I am here taking in my surroundings in the peace and quiet.

We set off straight after school and arrived about 9pm, got the kiddywinks to bed and unloaded the car.  I then pottered around for a while, putting things we had brought with us into the right rooms.

Now I'm sat thinking how lucky we are to have such a beautiful place. 

At times the whole process of buying this house and filling it with all the stuff we've needed has been quite overwhelming.  But now we are almost finished I'm able to step back and go "wow, we did this!".

I can't wait to be able to share Ferryside with everyone. It's such a special place.

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I'm still alive!!

Hi fellow witterers (have I just made up a new word?).

Sorry for my recent absence,  but I have so much going on at the moment it's crazy. All of which I hope to tell you about in more detail very soon.

To divulge a little,  we are currently in the process of buying a property in Wales.  Hopefully this should all be completed and exchanged in the next couple of weeks (fingers crossed! ).

Once everything has gone through,  we shall be setting the house up as a holiday cottage to rent out.

As you can imagine there are lots of things to do,  so most of my time is spent searching for furniture and accessories and planning room layouts.  It's a tough job but someone has to do it!

I look forward to telling you more very soon.

Thanks for popping by.

Sarah x

Teatime Craft - Washi Tape Jars

I enjoy crafting, but being a mum of two little monkeys means I don't always have the time to bring my creativity to fruition.

Sometimes however, when they are enjoying their tea, I can sit with them at the dinner table and partake in a mini craft.

Recently whilst shopping in Sainsburys, I came across this beautiful set of deco tape.  It was about £2.99, which I think is a bit of a bargain, as it has so many uses.

 

I first came across the idea of using deco/washi tape to decorate things on the fantastic blog of Cherry Menlove. Since then I've fallen slightly in love with the stuff!

It's so versatile.  You can use it for crafting, decorating furniture or just sticking posters, notes or children's artwork to the wall.  It's low tack so is easily movable and won't ruin your surfaces.

On this occasion I decided to use the tape to decorate some jars I had lying around.  A couple of spice jars and a chutney jar!

It's so easy, I won't bore anyone with a detailed tutorial.  Basically make sure your jars are clean and dry, then line your tape up in the position you require and wrap it around the jar meeting the tape where you began.  Simples!!

Here are my finished jars.

I love them!!

The spice jars are perfect for putting small posies in on a narrow shelf I have and the chutney jar will look beautiful with a flickering candle in on an Autumnal evening.

Cheap, cheerful and quick.

You're welcome!

x

A nice, but not so naughty treat!

I love cake, but cake doesn't like me.  I might as well just cut out the middle man and strap the fat straight to my thighs!!

So if I want some sweetie goodness I need something with a little less fat and fewer calories!

I have a few recipe books that have healthier cakes and desserts, but I recently chose to try one again from the new Hairy Dieters book.

As I had a bag of cooking apples that I'd collected from a wheelbarrow in the village, for a small donation to charity, I thought Spicy Apple Cake was the perfect choice.

Once again it was a very easy recipe to follow, just make sure you have plenty of bowls!!  One for apples, one for dry ingredients and one for wet ingredients!

Once in the oven, it took an hour to bake and the smell was amazing.  Cinnamon and mixed spice, you can't beat it.  Smells of Autumn!

I enjoyed my piece warm with a little dollop of half fat creme fraiche.  It was delicious.






So as not to be tempted into eating more than I should, I cut it into two piece portions, wrapped it tightly in cling film and put it in the freezer to enjoy another day.  The recipe states that the cake keeps well in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

I doubt it will last that long!!

Batch Cooking

I've finally taken the plunge and decided to put my wittering's down for all to see.  So here goes!!

This week is going to be all about food!!  I love food (sometimes a little too much)!  

I love cooking and baking.  There's something so comforting about the smell of a pot of stew bubbling away on the hob or a cake rising sweetly in the oven.

Today I've been batch cooking, making two delicious meals from The Hairy Dieters books.

Firstly I made Rich Beef in Red Wine from their new book The Hairy Dieters - Eat For Life.

This is their beautifully rich take on a Beef Bourguignon.  Perfect for a chilly evening, like tonight.  It was the first time I'd made it and it was very easy.  I served it with a small portion of rice, which was one of the recommendations, but if you are feeling naughty, a couple of chunks of crusty bread would go perfectly.

The second meal I made was the Rich and Meaty Bolognese, from their first book.

I've made this several times before and, as with most of their recipes, it is very easy.   It is lovely served with pasta or a jacket potato.  

Both of these recipes serves 6, so I divide them into 3 and freeze.  

Perfect for when you want a healthy homemade meal, without slaving over the hob after a busy day.

What are your favourite  batch cooking recipes?

I'm thinking something sweet tomorrow...