Christmas Time. Pudding and Wine.

FIRSTLY, sorry about my severe lack of pudding posts as of late. It is been a busy time of the year, as it has for everybody, and I have been awful at documenting my desserty experiences.
But as you can probably imagine, Christmas time for me is by far one of the most pudding rich times and so many food babies were had that I cannot even begin to describe my constant excitement!















Christmas Cake! Made by my Amazing  Grandma, decorated with lovely homemade icing characters by my very talented cousin Abbie. I got a wonderful delivery of this fruity alcohol fuelled cake with my parents when they came to visit for dinner and Chocolate Chip Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding. I could not wait to taste this Christmastime staple! And when I did it did not fail to impress! Packed with fruit it was moist, soft, chewy, and layered with tangy nutty marzipan, and sweet sticky icing! It has gone down very with my housemate Amy, and I this holiday season, trust me.

“Merry Christmas”- The Birmingham Bullring Bull

Christmas Dinner. What a magical experience that was. My lovely friend Sarah-Jayne kindly asked me and Amy to join her and her boyfriend for Christmas Dinner, because I could not go home until Boxing day due to work commitments.
After a scrummy starter of pate and warm bread rolls we tucked in to an outstanding Christmas Dinner. So many delicious things on one plate. Turkey and all the trimmings. Two kinds of stuffing. Roast potatoes. Different varieties of broccoli and cauliflower cheese. El dente steamed vegetables. Gravy. Yorkshire puddings. It could not have been beaten!
What Xmas dinner would be complete without a steaming hot Crimbo Pudding!? Yes we had to wait about 2 hours for dinner to digest. And yes I did actually require a sleep in this time, but when it was served, with lashings of Salted Caramel and Chantilly Cream. DELICIOUS!! Soft, sticky, gooey and tangily fruity! I could eat a hundred of them! If it didn’t clog up my stomach like a cakey puddingy lead weight that is…
And if that was not enough, when I go to work, our entire coffee room had been invaded by a buffet!! I have never seeeeeeeeeeeeen so much food!!! Spread over the whole countertop were a whole array of delicious things! I only wish I had not already eaten my bodyweight in Christmas deliciousness, I was unable to really enjoy the festive-food-ness!

[A rather rubbish panoramic photo of the Aladdin’s cave of delights!]

Oh if only I could have eaten and blogged about all of the delicious puddings, cakes, pies and gateaux’s I had the utter delight of being in a room with on Boxing Day! Post night shift sleep after work, I had a lovely family Christmas at my Auntie’s house for food, fun and frolicks. And the works of art above are just a few samplings of what puds were on offer! Lime and Chocolate Cheesecake, Viennese Mince Pies, Chocolate gateaux, Trifle, Raspberry Pavlova you name it, we probably had it! Never has a more beautiful sight besought me!
The baking component of my Crimbo consisted of these beauties, Lemon Butterfly Cakes, and Chocolate Fairy Cakes! I made these to take to my works Christmas Day night shift, and also to take home for Christmas for my family. This is by far the easiest recipe ever!

For the Lemon Butterfly Cakes:	For the Chocolate Fairy Cake
3 eggs- weigh them (Whatever the weight is, weigh the same of)- Caster Sugar, Self Raising Flour & Butter Zest of 3 lemons Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp Baking Powder And to decorate: 200g icing sugar Juice of half a lemon 100g butter Edible glitter	3 eggs- weigh them (Whatever the weight is, weigh the same of)- Caster Sugar, Self Raising Flour & Butter 100g Cocoa Powder 30mls water 1 tsp Baking Powder And to decorate: 200g bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk Silver balls
Method:	Method:
Pre heat oven to 180C Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy Beat in an egg and a third of the sifted flour at a time until all three eggs are combined Zest 3 lemons and add the zest to mix and combine Juice a lemon and mix with the baking powder, combine into the mix Distribute even the mix into prepared cake cases and tins, or silicone cake cases Bake in pre heated oven for 20-30mins or until the cakes are cooked (springy to touch and golden brown- not burnt!)	Pre heat oven to 180C Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy Beat in an egg and a third of the sifted flour and baking powder at a time until all three eggs are combined Mix together the water and cocoa powder to a paste Mix the paste into the cake mixture until totally combined Distribute even the mix into prepared cake cases and tins, or silicone cake cases Bake in pre heated oven for 20-30mins or until the cakes are cooked (springy to touch and golden brown- not burnt!)
To decorate: Wait for cakes to cool Once cooled beat together the butter, icing sugar and lemon juice to form a butter cream Using a sharp knife, cut a circular shape out of the top of the cake to form a “short cone shape” when removed In the hole you have created, fill with the lemon buttercream Cut the cone shape of cake in half and place on top of the cake at an angle in a “butterfly” shape Spoon a small amount of lemon curd on the butterfly and top with edible glitter ENJOY!	To decorate: Wait for cakes to cool Once cooled, melt the chocolate over a Ban Marie until fully melted Using a teaspoon, spoon a little of the melted chocolate in a blob on top of the cake Top the chocolate with a silver ball ENJOY!

Finally…

New Years Day. Me and Stacey were happy to be invited to my Auntie Andrea and Uncle Darren’s house for another lovely family gathering. Buffet time was once again upon us! So after many a homemade sausage roll, pork pie and cheese and crackers, it was delicious pud time!!
I had the treat of two helpings of profiteroles and cream…. Om Nom Nom! [Unfortunately I ate this before a picture could be taken]
But my Auntie being the wonderful human being she is, sent me home with THIS. 2 slices of Homemade Baileys and Profiterole Cheesecake!!!! Yes! Baileys AND Profiterole! OMG it was amazing! very rich and decadent, with a very tangy boozy note. Just what the New Year needs to kick of off!
So…. that was my Christmas and New Year! A big thank you to everyone for reading my blog and getting me to nearly 3900views! In 52 blog posts I am very proud! So happy reading my lovely readers! AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!