My Dad bought my Mum a Wilton cake decorating kit when I was about 11. She started to use it and I got interested in what you could do using the tips and other equipment. She started letting me have a go and by the time I was 13 I was making all the family birthday cakes and Christmas cakes. My early attempts were pretty terrible (including a half baked cake!) but still my family indulged me and thankfully for everyone concerned, I got better!
I love making a cake for Christmas, choosing a design and even better, eating a slice! Coming from an American/English home, fruit cake never really featured. I did attempt to make one once, but it was so choc full of fruit that the batter had a hard time cooking! It was early on in my cake making days so I am sure I will attempt another one at some point!
I do like to choose something that tastes of or feels like Christmas though, peppermint, cranberry, orange, red velvet, spiced, the list goes on! I then have great fun choosing a design and decorating the cake so that it looks lovely and festive.
These are some of my favourite 'Christmas' cake recipes.
If you are nervous about making cakes you can doctor box mixes. A friend, (thanks Sarah!) recommended a book called 'The Cake Mix Doctor' by Anne Byrn (get it here). This is an American book taking regular box mixes, adding ingredients to them to make them taste more home made. My favourites from this book for Christmas are the Festive Cran-Orange cake which I frosted with orange buttercream, and Applesauce spice cake which I frosted with cinnamon buttercream. This recipe is similar to the spice cake version in my book Cinnamon apple spice cake.
I found some similar from scratch recipes.
Cranberry Orange Bundt cake
Doesn't that look delicious! Plus this is easy to convert to a regular shaped pan if you plan on decorating say a round cake.
A selection of apple spice cakes.
Apple spice cake with salted caramel frosting
Oh my, salted caramel frosting!
Apples and spice
That glaze would make this so quick and easy!
If you have never heard of the Hummingbird bakery or had a cake from one of their shops in London, I urge you to purchase their books! The recipes are easy to follow and I have never had a bad experience when using one of their recipes. My all time favourite is their Red velvet. I have made this as a whole cake and as cupcakes. A rich red colour, smooth batter, tasty cream cheese frosting, need I go on? Go here, here and here to get your hands on one of their books, you will not be disappointed.
For more inspiration head over to my cake boards where you will find many tasty bakes!
A selection of my boards!
Mint cakes
Spiced cakes
Come back tomorrow to see how I decorated up these tasty Christmas treats!
I found some similar from scratch recipes.
Cranberry Orange Bundt cake
Doesn't that look delicious! Plus this is easy to convert to a regular shaped pan if you plan on decorating say a round cake.
A selection of apple spice cakes.
Apple spice cake with salted caramel frosting
Oh my, salted caramel frosting!
Apples and spice
That glaze would make this so quick and easy!
If you have never heard of the Hummingbird bakery or had a cake from one of their shops in London, I urge you to purchase their books! The recipes are easy to follow and I have never had a bad experience when using one of their recipes. My all time favourite is their Red velvet. I have made this as a whole cake and as cupcakes. A rich red colour, smooth batter, tasty cream cheese frosting, need I go on? Go here, here and here to get your hands on one of their books, you will not be disappointed.
For more inspiration head over to my cake boards where you will find many tasty bakes!
A selection of my boards!
Mint cakes
Spiced cakes
Come back tomorrow to see how I decorated up these tasty Christmas treats!
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