Up to my ears in Icing!

On Thursday I put almond paste on my 4 Christmas cakes (one for us, a bigger one for friends, and two tiny ones for little Christmas presents for our French friends to try). Yesterday I made my Christmas terrine (Duck and Pork with cranberries & pistachios) We'll be allowed to eat it from toĆ¹morrow onwards (though I have had a little sneak taste of the main meaty bit, without the cranberries and nuts, as there was a mini terrine made from the bits that wouldn't fit in the loaf tin. It's not bad, though I say so myself) and I also made the dough for my Christmas cookies.

And today I made the Christmas cookies, having let the dough rest overnight in the fridge. They're not quite as spicy as they should be, as I ran out of AllSpice. Never mind. I also set to and made gallons of icing - rather too much, if truth be told - following Delia's recipe. Unfortunately I don't have any glycerine, so the icing might be rather hard and crunchy! I beat in a good couple of tablespoons of agave syrup, in the hope that it might help keep the icing softer...we shall see.

Here are some pictures:
1) One of the mini cakes:

2) Our Christmas cake, decorated with gold-and-silver sugary strands round the outside and little stars on the inside:

3) A selection of the Christmas cookies, with icing smeared "decoratively" on top, and more of the gold-and-silver sugar strands (You can see a glimpse of my Christmas table runner)


4) The dining room table covered in my icing efforts, 4 cakes and about 30 Christmas cookies:



I'm going to put some of the cookies on two decorated wooden plates for Monique & Michel. I was going to give them a Christmas cake until I remembered I'd soaked the fruit in alcohol, & Monique doesn't drink alcohol. Not knowing why, we thought it best to avoid alcoholic cake, just in case it's a medical reason (or a taste reason!)

I've put the left over icing in the freezer. I don't know if it will freeze (& defrost) successfully, but I didn't want to just throw it away!

Tomorrow we're off to the covered market to buy our cheese at the fantastic Mons Cheese Store


plus some exotic fruit for our simple desserts - Mr FD has recently stated a liking for fresh lychees, so I shall try to find some.


 and then it's off to see our friends for our first Festive lunch!!

If I don't get to write another post before now and Christmas, I'd like to wish you all a very happy Christmas


Comments

  1. Merry Christmas to you, Mouse!
    I like the way you talk about food and the preparations. Cheese, icing, VERY English-y cakes. I wish you and your hubby great peace.

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  2. Oh my-- your holiday cakes and cookies are just beautiful! I baked nothing this year- lol--- trying to stay on the big diet!!

    Merry Christmas my dear-- I hope your holiday is rich with blessings.
    Love
    Vicki

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