Tuesday 1 October 2013

Christmas is coming...

Christmas time is my favourite time of year, I get really excited when I can pull the Christmas tree and decoration box out from under the bed, put on Miracle on 34th Street and warm a bottle glass of mulled wine on the hob, but the thing I love the most is my family's baking and craft competition! Every year, my Mum, my two sisters and I compete to make the best and most extravagant Christmas cake or centerpiece.

Over the years as we have all got older the entries have just got bigger and better, we are by no means qualified or skilled crafters or bakers but the urge to out do one another just spurs us on!

One of last years entries consisted of my Mum's Lindt Tree which was used as the centerpiece for our Christmas table and then the evening buffet table. The idea came from a lollypop tree that I was planning on having at our Wedding but never came to be. She bought a polystyrene ball from Hobbycraft, covered it in tissue paper and stuck on Lindt chocolates with a glue gun, to make the tree stand up she bought a silver bucket and filled the bottom with plaster of Paris then put an old piece of curtain rail in and fixed the ball to the top, she then added a pretty bow as a finishing touch. Doesn't it look so pretty!


My youngest sister (now 21) made this Father Christmas cake last year. It's a vanilla sponge, covered in icing and decorated like Santa. She also decorated the gingerbread house in the photo below.


There are no real winners or losers (otherwise there would be tantrums - mostly from me!) it's just so nice to sit down after Christmas dinner, choose a piece of cake and do our Christmas quiz (another tradition of ours where we each make up a quiz or game that everyone can play).

Here is a sneak peek at my inspiration photo for this years entry! I can't wait to see what it turns out like! (Probably nothing like this!) I'm also going to attempt to make my own Christmas crackers this year, Blue Peter styleee with old toilet rolls and these cracker snaps!

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This post counts as my entry into TheDotComGiftShop's Christmas competition. The dotcomgiftshop have a wide range of Christmas gift and decoration ideas. Hopefully these will help me with my cake entry this year!




Does your family have Christmas traditions like these?



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5 comments:

  1. That Lindt tree is a great! And aw wow, having a cake competition sounds great, good luck for this year! x

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  2. Wow I am sporting a bit of Christmas envy right now! I'm also a little in love with that Santa cake... I don't suppose you've saved a slice in your fridge for little old me have you?!

    Would you mind if I saved the photograph of that as a bit of inspiration for my own Christmas baking? I would only be making it for family not commercial use, my baking skills aren't that advanced hehe

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    Replies
    1. Haha, that got gobbled up pretty soon after Christmas lol. Of course, you can save the photo, thank you for asking first :) x

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  3. am so excited for Christmas my mum makes lovely cakes!
    joannavictoria.co.uk

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  4. These are amazing!
    I have never tried to properly decorate a cake..... I ususally make the cake and then throw icing at it in some sort of messy fashion and end up with "well as long as it tastes fine....". Might start making more of an effort as these are amazing! You will need to put pics up of this years ones too! :D
    Kammi
    xx

    http://beautybookblog.com

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