Thursday, December 22, 2011

Glazed and confused

I'm on holiday as of today, but before I log off and concentrate on packing the Small Girl, my best apron, Delia and Nigella into a suitcase so we can then hop on a very small plane in about, oh, an hour,  I wanted to show you my Christmas cake...


As much as I love marzipan I don't really enjoy royal icing, so this kind of glazed topping is much more my kind of thing. Doing it really reminded me of my mum, who used to get me to do it when I was a teenager, claiming I could be more 'artistic'. In hindsight, I think she was just trying to keep me busy, but I fell for it every time. A few days ago a friend was bemoaning the fact that her mother still kept the Christmas cake for her to ice on Christmas Eve and I felt an infinite sense of loss.

Glazed Christmas Cake Topping
The advantage of a glazed topping is that you can do it in about five minutes, then run outside on the wet grass in your socks to take a photo. Delia devotes pages to this sort of thing, but really, there's nothing to it.

Just melt together some apricot jam or marmalade with some brandy or rum - say two parts jam to one part brandy/rum (about 4Tbsp jam and 2Tbsp booze should do it). Brush the surface of the cake with the sticky mixture, then arrange fruit and/or nuts of your choice on top. Brush with more of the sticky goo to keep them all glued on and leave to set. Keep somewhere cool until you unveil it.

Thank you all for your friendship, stories, comments, cooking advice and recipes this year - this might be my vanity project but I couldn't do it without you. I wish you a very merry and safe Christmas.

I'll be back next week to tell you all about cooking the first turkey my in-laws have EVER had for Christmas dinner (that's why Delia and Nigella are coming with me). Wish me luck!

Lucy x Pin It

10 comments:

  1. Your cake is beautiful! And I bet next year you will be letting your Small One go crazily creative with decorating ;)
    Happy Christmas, and good luck with the turkey! x

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  2. That is one glorious looking cake - perfectly decorated, wet socks or not lol

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  3. It looks beautiful. Much better if the icing doesn't appeal to have a glazed cake - then you can just eat the marzipan you buy all on its own.....

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  4. It looks beautiful. A work of art. Have a wonderful wonderful Christmas. And enjoy the turkey with your in laws. I'm sure it will be great.

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  5. Oh that looks lovely! My mum always does the glazed nut and fruit topping rather than icing, so it takes me back to the memories of Christmas past!

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  6. Cake looks so pretty and I love these traditions. I hope you pass it on to the little girl!! Have a divine Christmas and Happy New Year and if you need any help with the turkey I'm just a tweet away xxx

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  7. Beautiful cake! Have a lovely Christmas :)

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  8. Lucy, Happy Christmas to you, Nigella and Delia (these your kids names or something?!!!). Looking forward to checking in on you in new year. Claire

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  9. looks great, but I'm a marzipan and icing girl ;)

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  10. your cake looks gorgeous - I am not an icing type of girl so this pleases me so much more - in fact I was wondering if the chocolate and fig cake would work with a ganache frosting - am enjoying it immensely - thanks again for a great recipe - hope you had a lovely christmas day

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Hello - thanks for stopping by. If this was real life I'd make you a cup of tea and open the biscuit tin, but in lieu of those things, let's have a chat anyway...