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I don’t bake a Christmas cake because I would end up eating it entirely by myself. Fair play to you for making one. Will you feed it weekly with brandy or are you going to put on the almond and royal icing as soon as it cools completely?

I do Love Christmas cake. My girlfriend is in Blighty this weekend and is bringing me back a Christmas pudding from Marks & Spencer’s ❤️
Your going to love this!

I soaked all the fruit in brandy for about five days. Now the cake is cooked, I’ll use a syringe and wide bore needle to inject the cake with more alcohol, possibly an almond liquor that we have but don’t enjoy drinking. It is so boozy 🤪 In a few weeks I’ll cover it in marzipan and icing. In the meantime I’ll wrap it up well.

Good choice of Christmas pudding, will it be just a small one? I used to make them as well but they are too much faffing around.
 
Your going to love this!

I soaked all the fruit in brandy for about five days. Now the cake is cooked, I’ll use a syringe and wide bore needle to inject the cake with more alcohol, possibly an almond liquor that we have but don’t enjoy drinking. It is so boozy 🤪 In a few weeks I’ll cover it in marzipan and icing. In the meantime I’ll wrap it up well.

Good choice of Christmas pudding, will it be just a small one? I used to make them as well but they are too much faffing around.

Wow, you are a man to marry 😂😍 My Mum used to stab hers with a knitting needle 😂😂 I hope your family appreciates all the time and effort you went to with the Christmas cake. Seriously well done.

Yes, just a small one for me. My family cares for neither and prefer Stollen and Lebkuchen ( spiced and glazed gingerbread rounds) so they can have those 😂❤️
 
Wow, you are a man to marry 😂😍 My Mum used to stab hers with a knitting needle 😂😂 I hope your family appreciates all the time and effort you went to with the Christmas cake. Seriously well done.

Yes, just a small one for me. My family cares for neither and prefer Stollen and Lebkuchen ( spiced and glazed gingerbread rounds) so they can have those 😂❤️
I also make my own Mince Pies with homemade mincemeat. It’s been maturing for a few weeks already. What I really need to do is make it in July but it’s hard to think of Christmas in July. I’ll make some with mincemeat bought from Waitrose that is laced with Ameretto.
 
I also make my own Mince Pies with homemade mincemeat. It’s been maturing for a few weeks already. What I really need to do is make it in July but it’s hard to think of Christmas in July. I’ll make some with mincemeat bought from Waitrose that is laced with Ameretto.
It pisses me off that rellies will say "Oh I don't know why you bothered making them when they're so cheap in the shops..." .
Good for you! I just pickled beetroot which is cheaper in the shops too.
 
Here have something mass produced vs I made these. Homemade every time.
Don't get me wrong - there's nothing bad about shop bought and plenty of people don't have time or it's not their thing to home bake. It's like anything else - paintings v photos or hand embroidered v machine done. How it makes you feel is the key - if we're made to stop and think for a moment about the love that went in to the mix.
 
Don't get me wrong - there's nothing bad about shop bought and plenty of people don't have time or it's not their thing to home bake. It's like anything else - paintings v photos or hand embroidered v machine done. How it makes you feel is the key - if we're made to stop and think for a moment about the love that went in to the mix.
The love and time, more importantly the thought.
I saw this and thought of you which is nice

I thought of you and made these as I know you love/need x
 
My mother was a pastry chef who took Christmas cake and mince pies very seriously. Somehow, I seemed to inherit her passion. And so, in the run up to the first Christmas with an earlier wife (now sadly passed), I made the cake and, under the watchful eye of said wife, began feeding the cake, alternately, with orange liqueur and Navy rum. Wife Number One was a quick learner. Unbeknownst to me, she also began feeding the cake and, by Christmas Day, the cake was heavy indeed, and we had to declare a neighbourhood prohibition on naked flames. But it tasted fantastic. :)
 
My mother was a pastry chef who took Christmas cake and mince pies very seriously. Somehow, I seemed to inherit her passion. And so, in the run up to the first Christmas with an earlier wife (now sadly passed), I made the cake and, under the watchful eye of said wife, began feeding the cake, alternately, with orange liqueur and Navy rum. Wife Number One was a quick learner. Unbeknownst to me, she also began feeding the cake and, by Christmas Day, the cake was heavy indeed, and we had to declare a neighbourhood prohibition on naked flames. But it tasted fantastic. :)
Mine might not be quite that laced but it will get a lot and using the syringe really gets the boozy into it
 
Oh, I love beetroot. I tend to eat it as part of a salad, are you braver and have it as a vegetable?
I've had beetroot unpickled, even roasted them in thins and they're great. I didn't grow much this year so they're all pickled now
 
My mother was a pastry chef who took Christmas cake and mince pies very seriously. Somehow, I seemed to inherit her passion. And so, in the run up to the first Christmas with an earlier wife (now sadly passed), I made the cake and, under the watchful eye of said wife, began feeding the cake, alternately, with orange liqueur and Navy rum. Wife Number One was a quick learner. Unbeknownst to me, she also began feeding the cake and, by Christmas Day, the cake was heavy indeed, and we had to declare a neighbourhood prohibition on naked flames. But it tasted fantastic. :)
I'll take notes as I've been challenged to make my first this year. I think this means I'm a grown up now :(
 
I'll take notes as I've been challenged to make my first this year. I think this means I'm a grown up now :(
When I was about eight or nine, and my younger sister was a maybe seven, we made my mother a surprise birthday cake. Unfortunately, it came out of the oven a bit lop-sided. One corner was maybe three-and-a-half inches high; the diagonal corner was only a couple of inches high. We evened things up when we applied the chocolate icing. :)
 

Parliament Hill Lido sees one hypothermia case a day​

Shocking news from the BBC - swimming in an outdoor pool in winter can make you ill.
in other news
water found to be wet
ice to be slippery
 
I rarely like shop mince pies - too sweet pastry, filling too like jam. But my mum's are fantastic so a few dozen is my main Christmas present. She assured me last week that Dad had mixed the mincemeat and chopped Bramley apples to mix in - she's now more of a overseer role in their mission of creating dozens of pies.
I suppose you could call it Operation Mincemeat...

This year the pudding will be flambéed with amaretto. A quarter bottle should suffice.

Roast beetroot is my favourite. Or beetroot crisps.
 
Has anyone been watching Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne? It's on iPlayer now and quite fun. They've been a few BBC "Oh lets talk sex" series but this is better one - she still sniggers but it's not the obligatory BBC embarrassed sniggers that have featured before. It helps that she is DDG as well :heart:
 
Has everyone got there Christmas tree up? Here’s mine

View attachment 2194173
Wooo! Sparkly preddy
Most of my decs got crushed when I moved. Haven't bothered replacing them so... I'll come round and press my nose to your window! There's just me and the bf and we'll be spending time with parents anyway and not home much. Also grinch bah humbug
 
Nope just me so no point.
Do not really do Xmas apart from the not having to work and stuffing my face.
Nice and quiet just me and my choice of music movies and dare say a splattering of porn
 
Has everyone got there Christmas tree up? Here’s mine
I love your tree! Nice and neat and sparkly.

My son has promised to axe one in our back garden so I am waiting with bated breath. I am not a fan of putting up decorations too early. I do have an advent wreath with 4 candles to symbolize the 4 Sundays of Advent.

❤️
 
I love your tree! Nice and neat and sparkly.

My son has promised to axe one in our back garden so I am waiting with bated breath. I am not a fan of putting up decorations too early. I do have an advent wreath with 4 candles to symbolize the 4 Sundays of Advent.

❤️
Now that's a contradiction, isn't it? An 'advent wreath'... it's like giving someone a sympathy card for their birthday, although ... I could get behind that! :D

I haven't given my Xmas cake any more booze. A friend cautioned that it can encourage it to go mouldy. Lots of advice around over cakes. I've got mine wrapped up to stop it drying out but no more booze! Apparently I've got to buy apricot jam to glue the marzipan?! Wallpaper paste not good enough?
 
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