Christmas Cake/Pudding/Ham bake/steam/roast-a-long 2023 edition - The Bear and Badger

davyK

Was too hung over on Sunday to make the pudding and still felt crap yesterday. Hope to get it done tonight.

davyK

Couldn't be arsed last night. Got all ready tonight and forgot I have to soak the dried fruit in sherry overnight.

So that's prepped and soaking now. But it's unlikely I'll get this done tomorrow as I am on a gentlemen's outing tomorrow afternoon.

Saturday with a hangover then.

Picked up some nice marzipan fruits for the cake decor today.

davyK

Pudding done at last. No pics as there was too much happening last night. Got it made in spite of wifey and the girls.

It rattled away on the hob for 4 hrs last night and is in cool dark storage now.

davyK

Meant to say I used Glenfiddich 12yo in the pecan and cherry pudding topping boiled briefly with golden syrup. You put that into the base of the pudding bowl and then add the main pudding in on top of that before steaming for 4hrs.

Pedro Ximinez in the pudding body as per usual. It's a splendid drink I'd recommend anyone gets a bottle of for Christmas. It's gorgeously over the top. A figgy, datey, dark treat of booze. Cheap too.

g.man

No pictures

davyK

There will be when the finished articles are presented..

g.man

davyK

Fed the cake last night - some more rum-a-pom-pom.

Time_on_my_hands

Mince pie making this weekend. Mincemeat is an old Delia Smith recipe with added cranberries and any leftover blackberries from the garden.

Pastry is the best, though. 225g flour, 150g butter, 150g cream cheese.

davyK

Sounds splendid. Some pictures of that would be good.

b0r1s

I’ve stalked in this thread but never posted as I have to say I really don’t like Christmas cake. But I watched Jamie Oliver today with some cheese expert and he put cheese with Christmas cake and Jamie thought it was a revelation. And then I realise Christmas cake is very similar to Jamaican bun which I grew up on and I always used to have it with a sharp piece of cheddar. It’s an amazing combo. So my tip for badgers this Christmas is if you can’t get a Jamaican bun at least get some nice cheddar and try it with your Christmas cake :-D

LivDiv

I'm intrigued by this nuts on christmas cake.
I love a good fruit cake, happy to go richer. It has always been the thick layers of marzipan and icing that put me off.

I cant remember ever liking icing much, even as a kid. Marzipan is lovely in small amounts. I like a good stollen.(sic)

Unfortunately mama livdiv long stopped making Christmas cake because noone ate it. A nut topped version would be a hard sell given she cant eat nuts.

I will stick to her mince pies. Already had a dozen on a couple of visits over there. They really are the best things.

b0r1s

Forget the icing. Have the filling and add some cheese :-)

LivDiv

I'm on the other side when I comes to cheese I'm afraid.
I dont get it.

Waste of fat eating.

davyK

@Dubs made a great looking nut topped caked last year.

Cheese with the cake you say? I'll be trying that.

I'll be marzipanning and icing mine as usual, but won't be including that in any cake/cheese interfacing action.

Gremill

Tried my hand a gluten free mince pies today - it's the first time I've made any kind of pastry. I made 20 and 17 survived - the three that never made it out of the tray in one piece were laid to rest in my gob. Bloody hell, I'd forgotten how orgasmic mince pies straight from the oven are.

davyK

Home madey.

yum

Wookienopants

Yum!! Look amazing there Grem!

I’m halfway through experimenting with Christmas themed breads. Today I’m making a cinnamon and raisin loaf. The dough is currently rising in the kitchen, will be ready for the oven about 7.30 so hopefully by 8 will have some delicious smelling bread for tomorrow mornings toast.

I’m gonna try and bake something nice for Christmas morning to take to my brothers place

Gremill

Dear Jesus, they taste great - some of them have a wee disc of marzipan in them. Mmmmm.

Wookienopants

Wookienopants

Delicious!! It makes amazing toast

Minnesänger

That looks banging, Wook!

Gremill

Oh man, that looks good.

davyK

Top work that.

Wookienopants

As I’m now off for the Christmas period I’ve bought a plane ticket to go spend time with my wife and kids whilst they visit my in laws.
Every year my mother in law always takes care of big meals for dinner, my father in law always makes amazing desserts and my wife takes care of lunches.
I’ve decided that I’m going to practise a few different festive loaves so we can have fresh bread most mornings with breakfast.

g.man

Good for you!

Wookienopants

Any decent ones I come across I’ll share in here

g.man

Woooooo!

Minnesänger

Wookienopants wrote:

festive loaves

I am a child and I tittered.

Nina

Wookie, don't know where you currently get your recipes from, but King Arthur Flour is a good resource. Just make sure to set the recipe to grams etc and not cups. Not accurate enough. They also have a couple of YouTube videos about folding.

On r/breadit a lot if people bake from Flour Water Salt Yeast, I'm not familiar with it myself but it's supposed to be very good.

I enjoy your baking updates, keep it going!

Howdy, Stranger!

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