Christmas Cake

Well its that time of year again to get the cake made so it has time to stand before getting decorated and then finaly eaten.

Does anyone make their own or do you buy one. I always made my own but now Gemma makes it. Fourth generation family christmas cake maker. She makes all the mince pies her dad can eat too. Mind you its awonder anything turns out right these days cos she just has to have a cheeky drink to help the process along.

Gemma certainly has a talent. Not keen on christmas cake myself but it always looks pretty

Oh i was already all excited about crimbo before i saw the photos, now you've made me even worse!

this is the only bit of christams that is allowed at this time of year cos i still have 7 birthdays to do yet and one of them is Lemmy's 1st birthday <:-P

expensive time of year for you then!

oh yeh. the birthdays start in september and dont finish till february then we have a break till my 2 in may and july. 13 nieces and nephews then the parents.

rather you then me!

its their ages that get me. my 2 are 21 and 23. then it goes 15, 15,12, 10, 9, 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4, 2, 1.

Kinda no the feelimg, I have 2 nepews and 1 nieces birthday, my brothers and my sisters birthdays and christmas all in the space of a couple of weeks! Xx

i think they should ban anyone having babies in november december and january

Or just make sure there is a gap between birthdays and christmas.....so baring sex in April!

The only thing i have is the OH's birthday on the 20th of december which is bad enough!

janey wrote:

.....so baring sex in April!

never mind april any time of the year for me will do

Agree

what a lovely cake, i love making christmas cake, but dont do the icing or marzipan, no one likes it

my OH birthday is December and my eldest is in February. it makes buying presents hard

That looks lovely!!! My husband, originally from UK, makes his mum's Christmas pudding. He's starting next week... but I have to buy 3 more pudding bowls, because we have a few friends that loved it so much they now request it! Takes him ages... I stay away while he's preparing them... then in a few weeks time while he's trying to boil them Your cake looks very yummy, Julie!!!

and my husband would love very much one of those mince pies!!! he loves them and those ones of yours look very yummy indeed!

I have already made 6 Christmas puddings these will go into Christmas hampers me and hubby do for relatives. We have also done homemade plum jam and pumpkin chutney for them too.

I already have my stuffing balls and sausages in bacon in the freezer ready for Christmas. Will get the vegetables in there soon too.

We have a very small kitchen so preparation is everything. 7 weeks on Sunday is Christmas day

Not that keen on Christmas cake so don't bother with it really, love mince pies though. I did make my own mincemeat for them last year. It's so easy too, thanks to Nigella Lawson

isn't it too early to make christmas cakes?

i think i will also make some this year. last year i didn't

staffbulls.at wrote:isn't it too early to make christmas cakes?

i think i will also make some this year. last year i didn't

Christmas cake is best made about 3 months in advance, that is for a rich fruit cake.

Yep.. Lee (the husband) said he is a few weeks behind... but we have just been too busy

if your doing a really rich fruit cake with the alcohol then it needs to made really early but we dont do tlcohol it just needs to stand for a while so if we make it in the next week or so it will be fine then it can be decorated about a week or 2 before.

one thing my mum always did was bake when we were kids then i baked for my kids and now gemma does all the baking in our house. my sisters mum never baked so she doesnt but i think i ams tarting to rub off on her now she has her own kids cos she gives it a go. she made her daughters birthday cake and did a good job of it too.

I think baking is a wonderful skill to have and should be passed onto others . My mother is not the world best baker but I seemed to have inherited it from somewhere maybe Grandparents.

Unfortunatly we have no children to pass onto but I do have a nephew who is almost 10 years old and seemed to be quite interested. Maybe I should give him the Christmas pudding recipe now as I have guarded it so secretly for too long

them minces pies are looking lovely i haven't had one for years

Can't cook for toffie! Can make a caserol or pork skewer (easy!) Wish I could tbh, mum is always bringing me cakes and soup, thats probably why I can't

Ohh Janey if I can cook anyone can. Maybe you just need to find a good book. Nigella has done a few, How to be a Domestic Godess, Kitchen and Feast to name a few. They are well writen and easy to follow, she has been called Frank as in Frank Spencer and does sometimes get in a mucking fuddle but you can follow the recipes. Start off with the basics and gradually build up. Have fun with it.

https://youtu.be/tiwEdR2mpvM

You end up cooking for 2 or 4, but its only me, I attempted it but ended up throwing out more than I eat. I still have things in the freezer from last year! One day maybe, even what I have made tonight I give mum half and I still end up throwing it away. Its so hard to cook for 1 Xx