Iced Christmas cake with home-made marzipan

A few weeks ago I told you about how I had made mini Christmas cakes in Kilner jars. Well the time had come to decorate them all ready for a hamper.

First I made home made marzipan, the recipe can be found here. I did substitute the vanilla for a drop of almond extract though.

I rolled my marzipan out to the thickness of a pound coin, and cut out a circle the same size as my cake. I glued it to my cake using warmed raspberry jam. I know traditionally it is meant to be apricot but raspberry is what I had in the fridge.

I then left the marzipan to dry out for two days, this is very important with fresh marzipan.

I then rolled out ready made white icing, again to the thickness of a pound coin and 'glued' it to the marzipan with a little sterile water.

For added decoration I cut out a star from the icing and dusted it in edible gold shimmer, I then glued this to the top of the cake and sealed the jar.

The cake should keep for one to two months.

Mince pies

So it turns out I do like mince pies! A while back I commented how I was confused that I did not like them as I like pastry and dried fruit. I made my own mincemeat and below is the pastry recipe I used. This pastry is lovely, short, crisp and buttery, not at all soft and mushy like some shop bought mice pies.

Mince pies

makes 6-9 depending on size

90g butter
110g plain flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
egg yolk
1-3 tablespoons ice cold water

mincemeat

Pulse the butter and flour in a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and egg yolk and pulse again. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, and pulse until until the dough comes together, I have made this pastry a couple of times and always have needed 2 tablespoons of water, but it will depend on the butter you use and the size of the egg yolk.

Gather the dough and wrap in clingfilm, chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN. Spray or butter cupcake tins and add a strip of greaseproof paper, this will make removing your mince pies a doddle.

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out your pastry to a few mm thick. Stamp out circles bigger than the bases in your cupcake tin. Stamp out an equal number of stars for the tops. Line the cases with the pastry, gently pushing it to the base and up the sides.

Fill each case with heaped teaspoons of mincemeat and top with a star. Use the leftover egg white to glaze all exposed pastry. 

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly then devour whilst warm!

If you cannot eat them all in one sitting they are lovely up to two days later gently warmed through. They may last longer than 2 days but in our house that did not happen...

These were so good a second batch has already been made... don't judge me I have spent the last 20 or so years missing out, I have a lot of catching up to do!

Rubarb and ginger Jam

I like jam but quite often it can be a little too sweet. This jam is perfect. The rhubarb adds a natural tartness and the ginger gives it warmth. If you are a ginger sceptic or have ever been put off by overpowering pure ginger jam, don't let this prevent you from trying this. It is so good I am not wanting to give it away, the original plan, and I am going to have to make more.

Thankfully it is rhubarb season now, and the forced rhubarb around at this time of year results in a beautiful sherbet pink coloured jam.

If you have never made jam before, don't be scared, this jam is neither difficult nor time consuming and the result is well worth it.

The recipe can be found on the bbc good food website and I urge you to give it a go.

Myself and the boyfriend tried some on home-made buttermilk scones and declared it truly delicious!

Sausage rolls

The sausage roll, a staple of children's parties and buffets, not to mention Christmas party food. A bad sausage roll is often tasteless and stodgy but a good one is indeed a wonderful thing. And how to guarantee you have/serve a good one? Make your own!

By making your own you can spike your sausage meat with whatever flavours you wish. Here I have used apple and sage. You can use shop bought pastry, but the one I use is so quick and easy and tastes so good it is most definitely worth the small amount of effort.

Sausage rolls also begin with 'S' so I will be entering them into this months alpha bakes.

Sausage rolls

makes 12, easily doubled

for the pastry

4oz plain flour
pinch of salt
3oz butter

for the sausage meat

225g sausage meat
1 apple, grated
small handful of chopped sage
1 egg to seal

First off make the pastry. Your butter will need to be very cold so if it feels a little soft from the fridge pop it into the freezer half an hour before you start. Place the flour into the bowl and add the salt. Grate the butter into the bowl.

Using a knife stir the butter through the flour, making sure it is well  coated. Add enough ice cold water to make a dough that cleanly leaves the side of the bowl. I used 16 tsp. Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile mix the sausage meat (I used regular sausages with the skins removed), the grated apple and finely chopped sage until everything is well distributed.

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C FAN. Roll out the pastry into a rectangle and cut it into two strips. Divide the sausage meat mix into two and place down the centre of each strip.

Brush beaten egg down one side of each strip and fold the pastry over the sausage meat, pinching to seal.

Turn so that the seal is on the underside and cut each long roll into six. Snip the top with scissors  to allow steam to escape. Place the sausage rolls on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until golden and crisp. Transfer to a wire rack to fully cool.

These a very tasty and make a great lunch, they were fantastic paired with Mary Berry's Christmas chutney. I also took some to a party and they were snaffled pretty quickly. Like I said these can be flavoured how you wish, how about chilli? Or honey and mustard?

Buttermilk Scones

The reasons I made these scones is two fold. First of all I needed a way in which to sample the rhubarb and ginger jam I had made (recipe coming soon), and secondly I realised that scones begin with 'S' which is the letter for this months alpha bakes.

These scones are very quick and easy to whip up and the result is a very light delicious scone. I will definitely be making them again.

Buttermilk scones

makes 7 small scones, maybe 4 bigger ones, easily doubled

110g self raising flour
25g cold butter, cubed
20g caster sugar
80ml buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla (extract or paste)


Preheat the oven to 220C/200C FAN. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs and then stir in the sugar. Mix the buttermilk and vanilla together and add to the bowl. Bring the dough together, starting with a fork and moving onto your hands.

Lightly flour a work surface and pat the dough out to ~3cm thick. Stamp out rounds. Re pat the dough trimmings and stamp out the rest. 

Place the scones on a baking sheet and if you wish glaze with buttermilk, or an egg-wash  Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes util golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy smothered with jam and cream!