12 days of christmas...

so ive been a little busy this year and haven't done an official 12 projects for Christmas, but ive put together some of my favourite projects from this year ...

 

 

Christmas cake simply decorated with icing, using the holly leaf cutter, with a little help from the family in the spirit of Christmas !!

 

I used craftwork card products to create this door hanger... you could take this idea to make your own version using any scraps and off cuts of paper or card left over from this seasons makes!!

 

 



 



 

I hope you have all enjoyed my makes this year, have a lovely Christmas and a fab new year !!

 

 Mx

fiery chilli jelly

well what an eventful day. i made chilli jelly and got slighty more heat than i planned...

ingredients:

2kg granulated sugar

500ml white wine vinegar

200g scotch bonnet chillies

1 large red pepper

250ml certo apple pectin

method:

1. pour sugar and vinegar into preserving pan, over low heat (stirring frequently) dissolve sugar.

2. once dissolved, turn up heat and boil for 20 mins. until mix is syrupy & clear.

3. meanwhile, cut chillies and pepper in half and remove seeds. pulse in blender until finely chopped.

4. once sugar mix is ready add chilli mix and boil for a further 3 mins.

5. remove from heat and cool for 15 mins. then stir in certo, keep stirring until mixture thickens and chillis are suspended.

6. pour into clean sterilised jars. leave to cool, then seal tightly

!! if chillies rise to the top pour back into the pan and stir over low heat until suspended, then repeat step 6.

DO NOT let the jelly boil over during stage 4 ... i learnt the hard way that it sets on fire and makes a mess !! so please peeps go careful with this recipe and enjoy. (i cant say how mine turned out as i dont eat it, this one was for my sis and dad so they best like after all this drama and cleaning up!!) hopefully yours wont make flames like mine did, but with the scotch bonnet chillis i think it still deserves the label of fiery chilli jelly 

Mx  

2 milk bottles...

sitting on the cake... lucky me none fell off!!

 close up off the bottles

this is a retirement cake i have just done for a milk man. the milk bottles are made from a krispie recipe to make them light enough to go onto the cake, which caused some trouble this week when decorating. i am pleased with how it turned out in the end though, hope you all agree...

Mx

 

christmas jammy biscuit project!!

well this is the last project for christmas some christmas jammy biscuits. they are using christmas berry and mulled wine preserve in a mixed spiced cookie/biscuit. i put a few biscuits in each bag and made gift tags for the final few presents, or just to have in as a christmas

treat for guests .

 

hope you have all enjoyed the 12 blogs/projects 

for christmas

merry christmas

and have a wonderful day!!

Mx

christmas cake project!!

i have used roll out sugarpaste, and a selection of patchwork cutters. i also painted with edible dusts to colour the penguins and text and finished off with some ribbon out of my christmas stash.

i used red roll out sugarpaste, and pme snowflake plunger cutters and some white satin ribbon from my craft stash. i have added extra sparkle with edible luster dusts.

this was done using white roll out icing, dusted with luster. then cut out some pme snowman plunger cutter and i have painted them to match my merry christmas ribbon.

i have iced with royal icing and peeked, i added blue luster to renshaw edible icing ribbon and added a snowflake using the pme snowflake cutters.

 

i peeked this cake with royal icing and added a few pme snowflake cut outs dusted with blue luster.

these are a few christmas cakes done for friends and family to be enjoyed over christmas.

a big thankyou to mum for all your help and the washing up!!

Mx

gingerbread house project!!

this is the gingerbread house that i baked and put together, before my cousin's lucy (6) and oliver (4) came to decorate it. it worked out great, they had a roof panel each to tile (with sprinkle covered chocolate buttons) stuck on with royal icing glue i piped on for them. then they moved on to the rest of the house and the characters. oliver even piped the gingerbread man, i think they both did a fabulous job!!

 

oliver's roof

lucy's roof

us all doing the roof

i bought the gingerbread house cutter set from lakelands and followed the recipe on the back of the pack. i halved the royal icing recipe and that was more than enough. it was a really good set but you do need to trim the pieces after baking. all the decorations and sweets are a personal choice and can be bought from any local supermarket or sweet shop.

the kids  will also get a suprise when they break it open because i put it all together this year before they came to decorate it, i have hidden a little something inside. i will give you blog readers a clue its a few of my little fella's from marks & spencers.

you can do your gingerbread house neater and i generally would have, but if you have children or children in the family its nice to let them have a go every now and then and projects like this are perfect.

Mx

you have got to love 'american frosting'

well the order of the day was a

frosted walnut layer cake ...

you have got to admit a simple american frosting is not that simple if you are on the short side of life

but make do and mend as they say or

find a chair if all else fails!!

the cake is a simple sponge with chopped walnuts added.

there is three layers with frosting inbetween each layer then on top and round the sides

a few half walnuts on top to decorate.

the frosting is made by whisking ingredients in a bowl over a pan of hot water for 12-15 mins.

if you fancy a go at this recipe i got it out of the

mary berry's baking bible.

i bought it when i bought my mixer and

swore to do every recipe

so i am working through each one and putting a

tick next to them when they are baked...

so on the check list for today 

a tired arm ...check

messy kitchen ... check

a fab cake? ... well fingers crossed it looks ok...

if nothing else its one more tick in the book!!

Mx