So.... We're half way through September. How did that happen? Oh yeah getting married, moving and starting back at uni does then to be a time suck like that. Who Knew? Every one but me, obviously.
I'm still getting to grips with the new house, and uni and I still have a ton of stuff to wrap up from after the wedding. But that's tottally beside the point because September means its Christmas cake time again!
If you missed it last year, I make my Christmas cake at the end of September and feed it with rum for month and months so that come December its a lovely juicy, spicy cake that's so full of alcohol people think they love it. Its cheap and easy to do and doesn't take more than two hours in the oven or contain any crazy expensive ingredients. I'll be blogging the recipe and method again this year with better pictures and more direction because of the awesome feed back I got last year. (Mostly the cake jacket, I'll hold my hands up that was super vague.)
So back on point, lets make it a proper cake a long. No need to use my recipe, or *any* recipe for that matter. Do you make a cake? Do you buy one? Who sells the best cake for those who don't want to/don't have the time? What do you hate about Christmas cake? Is the marzipan a requirement or the devil's work? Is any icing even required (we didn't get that far next year. This year I'm making multiples)? Or is Yule log where its at for you? Will you be my new best buddy?
So who's up for it? Will you blog/ bake along, or just cheer us on in the comments?
Minnie xoxo
Showing posts with label bakealong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bakealong. Show all posts
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Christmas cake progress.
So I still can't find my camera cable. I am going to have to admit defeat soon and properly unpack all our boxes instead of leaving them in the spare room and pretending they don't count. Anyway...
Back to the bake along!
Back to the bake along!
I've been feeding it a little rum once a week, that is just brushing it over lightly with some rum. The rest of the time I've been keeping it in an air tight package of baking paper and cling film, (I don't have a cake box that's big enough.) The fruit is starting to get really plump and the smell is just amazing. Its so utterly christmassy. Spicy and rich.
Now is the time to start thinking about how, if, you want to ice it. Do you like marzipan and rolled royal icing? Or perhaps a dusting of powdered sugar is more your style? I usually go for a layer of lemon whipped icing with a rolled royal icing on top. The cake won't be decorated until just before its served (on the day or the day before) so there's plenty of time to decided what you want to do.
Only 34 days to go till the big day! How are all your cakes going?
Minnie xoxo
Thursday, 4 October 2012
its October
How is it october? HOW? Where is this year going? Can somebody please slow it down?! Because yes in my head there is a wee man with a speed control, and he needs to pull on that big ol' brake or at least do some fancy magic with the gears because I have so very many things to do. My house is a mess, my uni work is being sadly neglected and i have a cold. But sorry guys tomorrow I am taking my cold for a walk, sniffly snottery me is going to class. Its getting a wee tour of the library tonight though, so it may get all of its infecting done these.
Anyway, its October already and aside from making the blog look all festive (See webs and all that spooky tartan. Er because I'm Scottish and its October?) I've not achieved much these past few days but reading.
Hope you've all had a better week, how are the christmas cakes coming along?
Minnie xoxo
Anyway, its October already and aside from making the blog look all festive (See webs and all that spooky tartan. Er because I'm Scottish and its October?) I've not achieved much these past few days but reading.
Hope you've all had a better week, how are the christmas cakes coming along?
Minnie xoxo
Friday, 28 September 2012
Christmas Cake!
So yesterday was the big day! I had class in the morning and cake home and spent the afternoon baking. The cake does take a wee while to do from start to finish so set the best part of the day aside for it, but don't worry a good chunk of it is spent waiting for the cake to bake so I recommend getting a few Christmas films in to get you in the mood. Edit. This is a process of two days, the day before cake day you want to soak the fruit, here's the post on it.
So, Lets get started! First off the ingredients and supplies list:
200g of glacé cherries
200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)
1kg of currants and sultans mixed
(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)
175ml of dark rum (just buy a bottle of the super market own brand, as we'll need more to feed the cake weekly)
25ml of vanilla extract or essence
250g v. dark brown sugar
250g butter (I actually use a butter substitute)
6 medium eggs
400g plain flour (all purpose)
1/4 of a teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g ground rice or ground almonds.
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)
A large (23cm or so) spring form pan (or two if you prefer a shorter cake)
A roll of grease proof baking paper
Some kitchen string
A flat baking tray that's wider than the cake tin
A large bowl to soak the fruit and mix the cake in.
A pastry brush
A kebab skewer
A wooden spoon
A large cake tin or cling film (this will make more sense at the end of this post. i promise.)
And an oven obviously and a cooling rack is also handy!
Its best to prepare the tin first, so grab your self your spring-form pan, the string, the tray and the baking paper and a pair of scissors. You'll need a good amount of space to so this. You need to basically put your cake in a jacket. Trace the base of the tin, cut out with about an inch extra all around. Snip into this extra inch at intervals of about half an inch all round. Pop the circular piece of paper into the completed cake pan.
Next measure the circumference of the pan and cut a sheet of baking paper to this length and then fold it in half length wise, now this is the trickiest bit of what you have to do we want to slip the paper over the sides of the tin, like a brown crinkly hard to wrangle jacket. I use a shorter piece of paper to stabilise the whole job.
It should end up looking something like this:
The paper acts as insulation and adds stability. The cookie sheet and the baking paper on it act as insulation against the base of the cake burning.
Don't worry too much about the fiddlyness, the paper needs greasing with butter or oil so folds and kinks get worked out easily. Just use a pastry brush or a scrap of scrunched up baking paper to aid with the greasing.
Check the shelves in the oven, you'll probably have to move their position to fit the tin in it's jacket.
Now, go and turn the oven on, medium heat.
The actual process of making the cake is a very simple one, sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar, slowly add the eggs in till well combined. Add the dry ingredients in a little at a time, will well combined. Slowly fold in the fruit with a big spoon, don't agitate it too much to keep the fruit whole.
Spoon into the cake tin, level mix off gently with your spoon.
Pop it in the oven. It should take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to bake. One a skewer comes out clean and it's a nice golden colour its ready to come out!
Let it cool slightly before attempting to take the tin apart and the paper off.
Once its cool, prick all over with a clean skewer, brush all over with a little rum. Wrap it in baking paper and pop into an air tight container. (If you don't have a tub large enough just wrap in baking paper and enough cling film to make the package air tight.) Store in a cool dark place. Take it out once a week and brush over with rum!
Pat yourself on the back, you've made a Christmas cake!
I'll cover decorating it much closer to the time. If any of that didn't make any sense feel free to drop me an email or a comment and I'll try and help!
Minnie xoxo
P.S. sorry for all the instagram pictures but I'm afraid I can't find my camera cable :(
So, Lets get started! First off the ingredients and supplies list:
200g of glacé cherries
200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)
1kg of currants and sultans mixed
(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)
175ml of dark rum (just buy a bottle of the super market own brand, as we'll need more to feed the cake weekly)
25ml of vanilla extract or essence
250g v. dark brown sugar
250g butter (I actually use a butter substitute)
6 medium eggs
400g plain flour (all purpose)
1/4 of a teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g ground rice or ground almonds.
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)
A large (23cm or so) spring form pan (or two if you prefer a shorter cake)
A roll of grease proof baking paper
Some kitchen string
A flat baking tray that's wider than the cake tin
A large bowl to soak the fruit and mix the cake in.
A pastry brush
A kebab skewer
A wooden spoon
A large cake tin or cling film (this will make more sense at the end of this post. i promise.)
And an oven obviously and a cooling rack is also handy!
Its best to prepare the tin first, so grab your self your spring-form pan, the string, the tray and the baking paper and a pair of scissors. You'll need a good amount of space to so this. You need to basically put your cake in a jacket. Trace the base of the tin, cut out with about an inch extra all around. Snip into this extra inch at intervals of about half an inch all round. Pop the circular piece of paper into the completed cake pan.
Next measure the circumference of the pan and cut a sheet of baking paper to this length and then fold it in half length wise, now this is the trickiest bit of what you have to do we want to slip the paper over the sides of the tin, like a brown crinkly hard to wrangle jacket. I use a shorter piece of paper to stabilise the whole job.
It should end up looking something like this:
The paper acts as insulation and adds stability. The cookie sheet and the baking paper on it act as insulation against the base of the cake burning.
Don't worry too much about the fiddlyness, the paper needs greasing with butter or oil so folds and kinks get worked out easily. Just use a pastry brush or a scrap of scrunched up baking paper to aid with the greasing.
Check the shelves in the oven, you'll probably have to move their position to fit the tin in it's jacket.
Now, go and turn the oven on, medium heat.
The actual process of making the cake is a very simple one, sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar, slowly add the eggs in till well combined. Add the dry ingredients in a little at a time, will well combined. Slowly fold in the fruit with a big spoon, don't agitate it too much to keep the fruit whole.
Spoon into the cake tin, level mix off gently with your spoon.
Pop it in the oven. It should take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to bake. One a skewer comes out clean and it's a nice golden colour its ready to come out!
Let it cool slightly before attempting to take the tin apart and the paper off.
Once its cool, prick all over with a clean skewer, brush all over with a little rum. Wrap it in baking paper and pop into an air tight container. (If you don't have a tub large enough just wrap in baking paper and enough cling film to make the package air tight.) Store in a cool dark place. Take it out once a week and brush over with rum!
Pat yourself on the back, you've made a Christmas cake!
I'll cover decorating it much closer to the time. If any of that didn't make any sense feel free to drop me an email or a comment and I'll try and help!
Minnie xoxo
P.S. sorry for all the instagram pictures but I'm afraid I can't find my camera cable :(
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Fruit!
So do you all remember this post about Christmas cake?
Well, brace yourselves, there are 90 days till christmas. Yeah you read that right. 90 days. So its time to get this cake rolling and out of the way!
First things first, we need to prepare and soak the fruit at least a day in advance. We really want the fruit to soak up the alcohol to help the cake keep well for the next 90 days or so. So for this we need:
200g of glacé cherries (I used French style because they are cheaper here and I prefer the way they taste)
200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)
1kg of currants and sultans mixed
(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)
175ml of dark rum
25ml of vanilla extract or essence
So messy job first. Take your cherries and snip them in half. Its a messy sticky job but it serves two purposes, the cherries go further and you can be quite sure that there are no stones that have been missed during processing left in the fruit.
I just snip them right into a large mixing bowl before adding the dried fruit and peel. Give it a wee mix then add the rum and vanilla. Mix again, cover the bowl with cling film and pop in the fridge over night.
It doesn't look like much, but believe me it smells amazing.
And don't worry if this is all too early for you , I'll be posting the recipe as a whole too!
Take care, Minnie xoxo
Well, brace yourselves, there are 90 days till christmas. Yeah you read that right. 90 days. So its time to get this cake rolling and out of the way!
First things first, we need to prepare and soak the fruit at least a day in advance. We really want the fruit to soak up the alcohol to help the cake keep well for the next 90 days or so. So for this we need:
200g of glacé cherries (I used French style because they are cheaper here and I prefer the way they taste)
200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)
1kg of currants and sultans mixed
(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)
175ml of dark rum
25ml of vanilla extract or essence
So messy job first. Take your cherries and snip them in half. Its a messy sticky job but it serves two purposes, the cherries go further and you can be quite sure that there are no stones that have been missed during processing left in the fruit.
I just snip them right into a large mixing bowl before adding the dried fruit and peel. Give it a wee mix then add the rum and vanilla. Mix again, cover the bowl with cling film and pop in the fridge over night.
It doesn't look like much, but believe me it smells amazing.
And don't worry if this is all too early for you , I'll be posting the recipe as a whole too!
Take care, Minnie xoxo
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Christmas cake!
So in the spirit of poverty, and giving people some time to find out what kind of cake every one likes I am going to post the ingredients and supplies list today. (Don't worry this will all be posted together at the recipe stage again.)
You probably have at least some of the things you need in the pantry. Don't worry, if you have to purchase some of the more expensive items, they are all staples in standard holiday baking, so any left overs can be used later in the year quite easily. We aren't going to be working with anything horribly complicated or unusual.
So, ingredients wise you will need
200g of glacé cherries (French style are best but to be honest it won't make much difference in this cake)
200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)
1kg of currants and sultans mixed
(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)
175ml of dark rum (just buy a bottle of the super market own brand, as we'll need more to feed the cake weekly)
25ml of vanilla extract or essence (NOT flavour. Flavour isn't real vanilla and lets just not go into what it is)
250g v. dark brown sugar
250g butter (I actually use a butter substitute as I've got a dairy allergy)
6 medium eggs
400g plain flour (all purpose)
1/4 of a teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g ground rice or ground almonds.
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)
See! Nothing scary there at all!
So any special hardware?
A large (23cm or so) Spring form pans (or two if you prefer a shorter cake)
A roll of grease proof baking paper
Some kitchen string
A flat baking tray that's wider than the cake tin
A large bowl to soak the fruit and mix the cake in.
A pastry brush
A kebab skewer
A wooden spoon
So far so good? Any questions yet?
Now given that my recipe is the way I like my christmas cake, so I'm going to link to the classic christmas cake.
Delia smith's christmas cake is a really traditional cake, it's smaller than mine and made with brandy, treacle and chopped almonds. Still quite simple.
But a quick search will bring up any number of versions of the classic! Not all are made as far in advance, this is because my cake is quite a dry cake and the rum keeps the cake and adds much needed moisture.
We won't be starting for a few weeks yet so we've all got plenty of time to buy the ingredients and supplies with out breaking the bank. So don't feel panicked into buying everything at once!
I hope that wasn't too over whelming minnie xoxo
You probably have at least some of the things you need in the pantry. Don't worry, if you have to purchase some of the more expensive items, they are all staples in standard holiday baking, so any left overs can be used later in the year quite easily. We aren't going to be working with anything horribly complicated or unusual.
So, ingredients wise you will need
200g of glacé cherries (French style are best but to be honest it won't make much difference in this cake)
200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)
1kg of currants and sultans mixed
(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)
175ml of dark rum (just buy a bottle of the super market own brand, as we'll need more to feed the cake weekly)
25ml of vanilla extract or essence (NOT flavour. Flavour isn't real vanilla and lets just not go into what it is)
250g v. dark brown sugar
250g butter (I actually use a butter substitute as I've got a dairy allergy)
6 medium eggs
400g plain flour (all purpose)
1/4 of a teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g ground rice or ground almonds.
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)
See! Nothing scary there at all!
So any special hardware?
A large (23cm or so) Spring form pans (or two if you prefer a shorter cake)
A roll of grease proof baking paper
Some kitchen string
A flat baking tray that's wider than the cake tin
A large bowl to soak the fruit and mix the cake in.
A pastry brush
A kebab skewer
A wooden spoon
So far so good? Any questions yet?
Now given that my recipe is the way I like my christmas cake, so I'm going to link to the classic christmas cake.
Delia smith's christmas cake is a really traditional cake, it's smaller than mine and made with brandy, treacle and chopped almonds. Still quite simple.
But a quick search will bring up any number of versions of the classic! Not all are made as far in advance, this is because my cake is quite a dry cake and the rum keeps the cake and adds much needed moisture.
We won't be starting for a few weeks yet so we've all got plenty of time to buy the ingredients and supplies with out breaking the bank. So don't feel panicked into buying everything at once!
I hope that wasn't too over whelming minnie xoxo
Friday, 24 August 2012
The Christmas count down begins.
"Ha! That's ages away you crazy lady!" I hear you scoff but it's less than 18 weeks till Christmas! 18 weeks people! 122 days.
Yikes.
I love Christmas, and we're usually quite ahead by now, but I'll be honest this year I'm not even ready for Bloke's birthday next month much less Christmas. The move, the wedding planning, my depression, uni. Everything has been so intense this year. So its time to take a massive step back. Do an august spring clean and hunt out the christmas cake recipe.
Which brings me to my point, who's up for a Christmas cake along?
Anyone? we'll bake it in september feed it over the months and decorate in December. And I'll post an alcohol free version in December too. I strongly encourage recipe swapping and any questions with regards to technique I will answer as best I can, with videos even!
Most importantly a good, tasty christmas cake does not have to be expensive (really!) or full of weird green glacé cherries unless you like that sort of thing, you weidos.
And if you don't like fruit cake don't worry, there will be plenty going on as we get a bit closer to the festive season!
Now I'm off to have a cup of tea while I try to pretend like I'm not the crasy person who just brought up Christmas/Yule cake in August...
Take care, Minnie x
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