Christmas Cake

I once again used Ruth Clemens' recipe for Boozy Fruit Christmas Cake and left it rather late to marzipan and decorate them! So with the Christmas countdown getting nearer and nearer and with my plan to cut one of my cakes into 8 portions to give as gifts I needed to get a wriggle on!

I'm rather pleased with the results.  I have kept it simple this year.  We have a house full of colds and coughs and I wasn't feeling particularly inspired!

 

Christmas Cake!

Here's my glittery holly Christmas Cake! The glitter looks a bit yellow in the pic ... but looks all lovely and sparkly in real life!

I had some help with the decorating ...

How are your Christmas preparations going?

Christmas Cake and Experimenting with Babywearing

Having spent last week sat mainly on the sofa holding baby Plum because i) of the snow and ii) baby Plum has decided she hates her cot/gym/bouncy chair ... everything that isn't mummy! I thought I would give "Babywearing" a go ....

So I popped Baby Plum into the sling and headed into the kitchen to marzipan my Christmas cake ...

This year I have followed Ruth Clemens excellent tutorial so I sliced off the slight dome

Then ate the bit I had sliced off ... delicious!

One marzipanned cake ... not sure how much Baby dribble made it into the cake!!

Turns out that Baby Plum also hates the sling so I am back on the sofa, catching up with Replay, doing a bit of knitting, and babe in arms!

Peach Crumble Cake

Having managed to put on another half a stone since delivering Baby Plum in August (don't ask how* - I thought that breastfeeding was supposed to help you lose the 'mum tum'?!) I finally realised that enough was enough and that it was time to go back to Weight Watchers .....

On Monday WW released a new version of their programme "ProPoints" where all the components of food are taken into account, not just the calories and saturated fat. It seems to make sense ... and I am sticking to my 51 points (sounds horrifically high when you are used to being on 18 or 20 points a day!). I'm doing it online at the moment as it is easier for me .... I lost 4 lbs in my first week - am hoping that I manage to lose something this week!

I've got my NCT friends coming round tomorrow for tea and cake so have knocked up a Weight Watchers cake - Peach Crumble Cake. I have never made it before, it looks ... ermm ... interesting! I have recalculated the ProPoints and it is 5 points a slice. Not bad eh?

I thought it looked suitably stodgy for a blustery November day ... I'll post the recipe once I have tried it!

[* living off chocolate digestives for 6 weeks probably didn't help ... and then there is all the cake, cake, cake, cakey, CAKE!!!]

An update from Plum Cottage!

Where does the time go?!

I'm a little behind with my posts as have been busy with Baby Plum and enjoying a lovely 10 days in the country with my parents. Feeling rejuvenated by 10 days worth of fresh country air and my mum's scrummy food ... it's time to stop sitting on the sofa feeling brain dead and start to get on with things!!

First things first ... Christmas Cake!!!

You may remember me making my boozy fruit back in September ... I have been stirring this lovely concoction of fruit and sloe gin since then and finally got around to making the cake! You can find the recipe for the cake on The Pink Whisk blog. This is the first time since I started baking Christmas cakes (back in 2002, I think) that I have not used Delia's recipe ... and sadly, the first time that my house has not been filled with the beautiful smell of Christmas as the cake bakes. Not to worry, I'm sure it will taste divine - and there will be plenty more opportunities for Christmas smells, I'm sure!!

I have also been avidly watching Jamie's 30 Minute Meals (the joys of being at home at 5.30!) and decided to whizz up some frozen yoghurt. Yum Yum and so easy to make.

Get some yoghurt

Get some frozen fruit

A bit of honey

Chuck it into the mixer and whizz up

Delicious!

My eighth marvellous make has been some sundried tomatoes .... not my homegrown ones obviously (yes, still a little bitter about those!)

Last year I had a fabulous family holiday in Venice

While meandering around the tiny streets, over bridges and down dark alleys, I picked up a packet of sundried tomatoes.

They have been languishing in my cupboard ever since!!

That is ... until the day Mr Plum decided to knock up some pizzas!

Unfortunately I didn't realise that we couldn't just bung a couple of the tomatoes onto the pizza! They needed preparing first....which is what I have now done!

In 15 days time we will hopefully have a jar full of lovely tomatoey-garlicy-basilly goodness!

52 MMMC Week Five: My Best Ever Cup Of Tea Cake!

Here it is ... perfectly risen - no sunken middle or peak this time! Made for friends who had trekked all the way down from Hull with their (gorgeous) 2 year old to visit us and Baby Plum.

You can find the recipe here

Ditching Delia ...

It is that time of year again ... the time when people start thinking about Christmas.

It is at this time of year that I start to think about making my Christmas Cakes. Yes, that's plural ... I like to make cakes as presents for friends and family but ... as I am not working this year, I don't have the need for as many homemade gifts for work colleagues ... so will just make the one cake this year....and I always use my trusted Delia Smith cake recipe.

Well, not this year!!

This year I have decided to try a recipe from The Pink Whisk - Ruth is posting this recipe in two parts. The first part is "Boozy Christmas Fruit" which will take 6 weeks of soaking and stirring. The second part will then be posted. I think that I will be soaking my fruit in my homemade sloe gin, rather than brandy.

Have you made your Christmas Cakes yet?

Feeling fat and fed up at 40+5 weeks pregnant ...

Hello!

Yep ... still pregnant (and yes, I know that the first baby is often overdue ...) and just feeling huge at the moment! I just want to have this baby NOW!!

I found out at my midwife appointment on Wednesday that naughty Baby Plum has decided to disengage herself ... silly girl! I have now got to go and see a consultant next Wednesday ... not sure what he will do - and there is a chance that I will have had the baby by then anyway (I do hope so!). Only one of the girls from antenatal has given birth now ... another one who was due on 1st August was booked in for an induction tomorrow - but has just sent me a text to say that she has started having contractions! Hurray!

So ... what have I been up to since Tuesday?

I have watched an awful lot of "The Tudors" which I really enjoyed (once I got over the historical inaccuracies and put my John Guy "Tudor England" aside!) ... I have also made good progress with the teddy bear I am knitting for Baby Plum ... today I met up with another friend from antenatal (who is due tomorrow!) for a coffee in the local Starbucks and then came home and did some baking! I do enjoy my "Baking Fridays"!

On this week's menu we have Victoria Sponge and Mary Poppins' "Strike Me Pink Raspberry Cakes" the recipe for which can be found in the wonderful book by Jane Brocket "Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer" YUM!

I also took delivery of my Terramundi money box this morning which I picked up for the bargain price of £6 on ebay (the rrp is a rip offingly £20 or so!) ... and have put in my first £2 coin!

Birthday Tea Party

It is my birthday on Thursday!

So yesterday I invited some friends around for a tea party ....

I made a nice variety of cakes (from the top pic) ...

Earl Grey and Lemon Macaroons

Scones with Raspberry Jam and Cream

Victoria Sponge

Sparkly Star Cupcakes

Coffee Cupcakes

Lemon Cupcakes

Raspberry Cupcakes ...

Coffee cake ...

Chocolate Cake (I only invited 15 people ... do you think I have made enough?!)

Tea loaf and shortbread!!

Polished off with some Rose Lemonade (everyone else had Pimms!) ... if you squint it could almost be rose champagne ...

Followed by a delivery of fish and chips from the local chippy!

It was lovely to catch up with friends ... and we have a LOT of cake left over ... so if you are passing by - pop in!!

(If any of the cakes take your fancy - let me know and I will send you the recipe!)

Snowmen!

When I was younger (and even now!) one of my favourite Christmas cartoons was Raymond Briggs' "The Snowman". I love it ... even if it does have a sad ending (and just thinking about it now brings a tear to my eye....)

So this evening, when I decided to ice my Christmas cakes, I decided to make ....

Snowmen!!!

A little bit rough 'n' ready ....

But rather fab looking I think ... and I hope that the people who will be getting them as little pressies will like them too!

The cakes were made using Delia's wonderful classic Christmas cake recipe (fed with plenty of home made sloe gin) and divided between six tin cans and cooked for about 3.5-4 hours! Mmmmm I love Christmas!!

Last year's Christmas Cake can been viewed here

How are your Christmas preparations going??

A day spent in the kitchen ...

Today I have made crab apple and herb jelly ....

After what seemed like hours, I finally reached the setting point!

I also made some Rosehip Relish ... I think that I should have de-pipped the rosehips as although it smells wonderful and has a real kick to it - the pips are a bit of a mouthful. Not sure what I can do to rectify this one.

I love the contrast of the vivid red rosehips against the wonderful balsamic and red wine vinegar ... the smell was out of this world!

I have also finally got around to straining my final jar of last year's Sloe Gin. Thankfully, this one tastes very nice. The Spicy one doesn't and will be poured down the sink very shortly ...

I have also made my Christmas cakes! A bit later than normal this year ... but nevermind! Still plenty of time to feed with Sloe Gin. I'll blog about that separately!

I have had such a lovely weekend ... Mr Plum is cooking dinner and I have a pile of ironing to do ready for tomorrow - so I will leave you now. I hope that you have all had lovely weekends too!

Autumn days ....

It's been a while since I last blogged ... not sure where the time has gone! I think it might have something to do with my (rather late) discovery of the Twilight Saga ... I have now read the three books which are out in paperback (and will see if I can restrain myself for a while longer and wait for Breaking Dawn to be released in paperback!). I even bought the DVD last week! For some reason these books and film had passed me by, but I picked up a copy of Twilight while walking in Guildford and am hooked! I am looking forward to the release of the second film in November!

This posting will be a bit of a catch up post! Here goes ....

I finally got to see the latest Harry Potter film! I know that it has had mixed reviews, but I thought it was fab!

Last night we had a new arrival! Yes ... finally, welcome to Plum Cottage Pansy and Twister - our lovely little kittens!!

Pretty little Pansy playing with my apron!

Gorgeous Twister!

We had a trip up North to visit the inlaws ... and watch the start of the round the world clipper race, a fly past by the red arrows ... of course a visit to Betty's in York! My favourite place ... we stocked up on tea loaf, parkin and a fat rascal!! YUM!

Mr Plum took some fab pics ...

I have also been busy harvesting my vegetables .... golden sunrise tomatoes and scrummy red peppers ...

More tomatoes and a green pepper ...

As promised ... here is the picture of my yummy coffee cake!! Mmmmm mmmm tasty!! You can never have enough buttercream!!

I haven't forgotten my giveaway! Sorry for being so behind with things. I will draw a name out of a cake tin tomorrow!

Coffee Cake on a Rainy September Day ...

I love Autumn ... woolly jumpers, big boots, hats and gloves all come out of the wardrobe. I almost froze to death at work today in my still summerish office clothes! What better way to warm up than get into the kitchen and make a cake!

I'm making my first ever coffee cake. While having a cup of tea and piece of coffee cake in Seale on Saturday - I suddenly thought "why have I never made coffee cake?" So here I am with my first ever coffee cake baking away. My parents are coming to visit this weekend, so another reason to get something yummy in the oven!

Here is the recipe:

175g self raising flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

175g marg

175g soft brown sugar

2 tsp instant coffee mixed with 2 tsp boiling water

Bung all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until smooth. Divide between two tins and bake at 180/gas 4 for 25 minutes.

Sandwich together with coffee buttercream and a good dollop spread on the top of the cake .... decorate with walnuts, choc buttons etc .... picture to follow!!!

Out and about in London on a random Tuesday afternoon!

I had a half days holiday today ... me and a friend had decided to take one of our "random half days for doing something splendid". What a lovely afternoon we had!

Today we headed to The Women's Library to see the "Between The Covers" exhibition about women's magazines and their readers. It was very good (and most importantly - free!). I have done some research on 18th century women's magazines at University ... so it was good to revisit this topic. I would definitely recommend it if you find yourself in London with a spare hour to kill.

After the exhibition we headed towards Carnaby Street so that I could introduce my friend to "All The Fun Of The Fair" which was full of lovely little bits and pieces ... but I didn't get anything. It was thirsty work though, so treated ourselves with a cup of tea and a lovely cupcake in C'est Ici in Kingly Court ... very tasty.

We wondered around the lovely vintage shops and felt a little depressed that everything was so expensive ... and decided to start walking towards Victoria Station...via Piccadilly - a wander around Fortnum and Masons and a couple of delicious macaroons at Laduree!

Pret a Portea at The Berkley

I'm very lucky that someone close to me works at The Berkley Hotel in London and last Sunday (before heading off on the EasyBus to the EasyHotel in Luton -y'see it's not all 5 star for me!!) I went in for afternoon tea with one of my best friends (who I have known since I was 6!) and my brother's fabulously glamourous Italian girlfriend .... it was wonderful.  Have a look here 

Here is the cake stand with all the fabulous cakes based on this season's fashions! 

It was lovely and of course I wore my new Joules dress and the red patent shoes (picture to follow!) that my parents bought me for my birthday (and I wore a little bit early!)

I love cakes!!

Can I tempt you to a cupcake?

It's my birthday tomorrow and it is tradition that we take cakes into work ... I thought I would knock up a batch of cupcakes to take in on Thursday when I go back after my holiday!  They are just basic cupcakes with yummy flavoured buttercream (the purple ones have a dash of cassis and the green ones a dash of creme de menthe!)  I'm just waiting for Mr Plum to get home with my required ingredients for the chocolate and raspberry cupcakes! Yummy!!