Mince pies

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas already! Time has gone so quick. I've been busy baking every weekend nearly but I have found time to watch all the Christmas cooking programmes on TV! I loved 'Nigella's Christmas' especially! Today I have been busy finishing my third Christmas cake, baking ginger cookies and decorating them and making mini rum chocolate puddings!

The other day I had some time to make my first ever Mince Pies, they were delicious! I cheated a little and did it the 'express' way by using shop bought mincemeat but I did make my own pastry! They are so great to get out when people come and visit. Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all have a fun and festive time!

Christmas Cake - number two

Here is the second Christmas cake I have been working on for my two friends. It is another fruit cake covered in marizpan and then covered in black sugarcraft. Black is an unusual colour to choose for a Christmas cake but I thought it would look really effective with the white stars!
I cut out lots of little white sugarpaste stars and used a stamper to mark snowflakes. I dusted the snowflakes with shimmer dust and the effective was all shimmery and sparkly!
I also cut out larger stars and stuck them to the side of the cake.
I also added little silver balls to finish off! I love the stars and snowflakes and the contrast between the black and white. I hope my friends like it too!

Santa came early this year as for my birthday I was given the Nigella Chritmas book that I have been dying to get my hands on! I am so pleased - thanks Saff - I love it! :)

Christmas Cake (Number one)

This is the first of the four Christmas cakes I am making this year. This was also my final piece for my baking class (I came third which I was pleased with!). It is a 6inch fruit cake, covered in marizpan and then covered in sugarpaste. I then decorated it with some of the techniques I have learnt over the past few weeks. Below is an example of crimping using a special crimping tool.
I cut this circle out (below) using a scone cutter and then used a patchwork snowflake cutter to create the snowflake pattern and brushed over it with shimmer dust. I then cut out lots of stars, brushed them with shimmer dust and stuck them on using royal icing.
I coloured some marizpan red and green and rolled it together. I then gently placed it around the bottom of the cake and then piped royal icing around the edges of the cake board.
So far I have made 3 out of the 4 cakes - 2 of them are waiting to be marizpaned and iced so watch this space for more christmas cake ideas. Anyone for a slice?

Chocolate Christmas Wreaths

I took this idea from the Nigella Christmas book (which I'm hoping get for Christmas from Santa!). In her book she uses cornflakes and a sugar coating I think but I used rice krispies and a chocolate coating! It was so easy to do, I just poured some rice krispies into a bowl, covered them with melted chocolate, placed large spoonfuls onto a piece of tin foil and then made a hole in the middle. To add some extra Christmas charm I sprinkled them with Christmas sprinkles!

I also filled mini cupcake papers with the chocolate rice krispie mixture and added some more sprinkles!

The sprinkles are snowflakes and candy canes - so sweet!