More Things Christmassy ....

Well - I had to show the results of the baking event that seemed to be taking place on a daily basis in my kitchen.  Here is THE CAKE - which even though no-one else has tasted it, I think is absolutely gorgeous, even though I say so myself.  It goes down really well with a nice cup of tea ....

Had a ball making the icing in my Kitchen Aid - not in a million would I have attempted that by hand - 10 minutes beating egg whites and sugar - I don't think so.  I had to settle for a 'snow scene' with the icing but I did attempt snowflakes with the Lakeland push out snow flake cutter - you can just about see them (but only 'cos there's a silver ball in the middle of each of them - lol).  In the Spring, I'm going to take myself off to the Excel Centre in London for the Baking Show and might even see if there's some evening classes going - this is becoming a bit of a serious obsession - lol

I also made these - Mini Christmas Cakes ....

The picture of said Mini Cakes is sort of like the one in the magazine apart from the extremely wonky middle layer of marzipan.  These went down well and I will slowly munch my way through the rest.  In these the dried fruit was steeped in Cointreau while I was at work - you should have smelled the kitchen when I came home - lol.  You can see the push out snowflake cutter efforts more clearly here ...

Away from the baking front, I also made this as a gift for my partner in crime, CEO of the West Midlands hub and all round good mate who has helped me through some tough times this past year.  She was telling me about table presents for her family at Christmas Day lunch - and when I said 'what's yours', she said 'oh, I will be too busy'.  That's not right I thought - so I made her this ....

This is a Christmas Survival Kit - based on the Survival Kits made for the wedding earlier this year (it also used up another of the large quantity of paper bags that were purchased at that time - there's still loads left - lol).

Here's a list of what was in the Kit ....

And with a label ...

I've been catching up on my W.I.P. Knitting Projects over the last few days - in between munching Christmas Cake and watching 'Feel Good Rom-Com DVD's - lol - the needles have been flying, I can tell you .... 

So - that's Christmas almost over for another year but saying that I've been out today over to The Glitter Pot, who very kindly assisted in helping me part with quite a lot of money for my next project - which is totally to do with Christmas.  What am I like - lol - but more about that another time ....