Super simple fondant icing for super simple too easy Christmas Cake…

As a follow on from my post about the ‘Super simple too easy Christmas Cake’ here is how I decorated it with marshmallow fondant, made the snowflakes and text template and finally the ribbon and bow... (apologies now for the long lengthy post… can you tell I love talking???)

Firstly I decided that I wanted it to be fairly simple and have a snowflake design on it with a short but sweet Christmas quote. I settled on two snowflakes and the words ‘Peace Love & Joy’ because I love all the feelings of warmth the saying conjures up.

In my word program I did up a basic template, which you can find in pdf form later in this post.

I printed it out and lay it over the cake to get a bit of a visual…



Now, you’ll notice that the snowflakes on the above picture are different to the finished product… I wanted an easy and quick cake decoration and honestly the above snowflakes were just a little too fiddly and my patience led to a much more basic but still impressive design.

Now the fun begins… I started off just levelling the top of my cake using a sharp long knife so that I had a nice flat top to work with.

Totally optional, but I chose to do an almond flavoured buttercream layer to the top of the cake (I didn’t realise till just now but I totally neglected to take any photo's of this step). I didn’t do the sides because they were already nice and smooth but I wanted a really flat, smooth cake top with a gentle curve where the sides meet the cake top.

Buttercream recipe (Beware I am the queen of approximates and this is my lazy method of making buttercream which I only use if its going UNDER fondant…)

Approx 185gms vegetable shortening (SOLITE) Approx 2 cups icing sugar (confectioners powder/sugar) About 1tbsp milk Melt shortening in microwave until liquid (here in Australia I use ‘Copha’ vegetable {coconut derived} shortening which I think may have slightly different properties to the American style veg. shortening) ***UPDATE - I now use a product called SOLITE - Awesome stuff!!!*** Mix in icing sugar – you can use a mix master but I sometimes just do it by hand… the heat from the copha helps get a smooth consistency… and add in the milk until it is a nice firm but malleable texture. Spoon onto top of cake (and sides if you wish) and using a hot spatula spread and smooth making a nice base for the fondant.

Marshmallow Fondant

385gms white marshmallows

4 cups powdered sugar

2tbsp water

*Place water and marshmallows in bowl and microwave for approx 1 minute – the marshmallows will get all puffy and soft – remove from microwave and stir till smooth, then mix in all icing sugar.

The mixture will get very sticky and hard to stir (normal) and some of the sugar wont be incorporated but that’s fine.








Turn out onto a well powdered board or work surface and knead like bread until the mix is soft, smooth and no longer sticky (takes a few minutes)

I like to line my bench with freezer film that I tape down on the edges – makes clean up so much easier.








Use a rolling pin to roll out fondant to about 4 – 5mm in thickness (make sure your surface is well powdered prior to this otherwise you wont be able to lift it off the bench without it sticking and tearing)



* Prep cake for fondant by either brushing lightly with milk or special bonding liquid – I used a little milk.Using the rolling pin (and maybe even your arm… whatever works for you) carefully lift the fondant and place centred over the cake.

***I apologise for the lack of photos for the next few steps… it was getting late and I honestly thought I was taking photographs but it seems I merely imagined it!***

Gently shape the fondant over the corners and sides then using a sharp knife trim away the excess (don’t trim too close the the cake base or you might find that once you cut off the excess the lack of weight holding the sides down will cause the icing to ‘shrink’ up the side a little – I tend to allow an extra 5 –10 mm).

Now rework the excess into a ball and roll again (if its getting a little firm I find that about 10sec in the microwave will help soften it up again but don’t zap it for too much more than this or it will ruin).

Xmas snowflake ‘Peace Love & Joy’ template is here.

I lightly sprayed my snowflake template with cooking spray so that it would not stick to the fondant and then placed it on the fondant and used a pin to prick through the outline into the fondant creating a guide line to then cut the snowflakes using a small sharp knife (you can get specialised tools for this but a knife does the job too). After cutting the snowflakes I gently smoothed and shaped the edges.

Brush the back of the snowflakes with almond essence and lay onto the cake.

I also made a couple of holly leaves and berries using some of the extra fondant and food colouring.

For the writing I used the same technique as for the snowflakes but lay the template directly onto the cake and used a pin to prick the icing gently leaving a guide line that was then covered when I completed the words with coloured icing. Oh, and I added some silver cachous balls to the snowflakes to make them a little more special.

For the ribbon I used a metallic type wired ribbon in red and green. I cut 2 x 3 different lengths of each (each about an inch shorter than the last).

This will give you 12 pieces.





Fold the ends of each piece in towards the center so the ends overlap by about 1 cm.







Beginning with the shortest length of ribbon, double over as detailed in the previous step and then pass a pin through each layer working in a criss cross pattern from shortest to longest (click on the picture for an enlargement). I ended up re-pinning the bow with a red sparkly craft ball to start with… seemed to make it look a little more finished (check out the final pictures).


Measure out enough ribbon to go around the cake and using a couple of pins (sterilised dressmaker pins with only the little metal head do the job well) secure the ribbon around the cake.

Fluff up the bow a little (I found just scrunching it a little worked well because of the wired ribbon) and use a pin to attach bow over the ribbon join…. TaDaa…. DONE… time for a little victory dance around the kitchen!

Super simple too easy Christmas Cake…

Not quite as easy as just purchasing a pre made but not that far off it as far as ease, expense and time go.

A little while ago I posted my Christmas cake recipe on here. Well, for one reason or another (and quite a few in fact) tonight I am baking a super easy ‘frugal’ but tasty (so I am told – and hope to affirm) fruitcake.

I first heard of this recipe from another mother at my daughters playgroup and have since learnt that it’s recipe can be found all over the web courtesy of the magic of google. (As I have heard and tend to agree on…. if you can’t google it, it can’t be done!)

Here it is again, and I’m really not sure who to credit with the recipe or where it originated so if anybody knows just where this recipe first hailed from let me know… hmm that google theory may already be prooving a little shaky!

INGREDIENTS: 1kg mixed fruit 500ml iced coffee 2 cups self raising flour METHOD: Soak mixed fruit in iced coffee overnight. Next day, mix flour with fruit/coffee mixture and spoon into greased, floured and lined baking tin. Bake at 140c for approx 1 1/2 hours. DONE!!!

***Now never being content with leaving a recipe well enough alone here is how I modified my cake:
1kg mixed fruit and nuts (I used sultanas, currants, dried citrus, figs, dates, glace cherries, brazil nuts, macadamias and walnuts)

Approx 350ml iced coffee (compliments of darling husband who spotted the iced coffee in the fridge and guzzled a mouthful or two before I was onto him)

Approx 1 shot (or two) each of baileys, brandy and cold espresso

Oh… as you can see along with my lack of constraint in following recipes is my habit to guess-timate measurements…

Everything else remained the same (I will however continue to dredge the cake for the next week with brandy before icing and decorating it).

Now, I wanted to post some pictures of my cake in the making but here’s a warning… fruit cake in its prep stages does not photograph all that nicely… you have been warned!


The above photo is of the fruit and iced coffee mix… looked horrible but smelt divinely sweet, boozy and caffeinated all in one!


…now here it is with the two cups of flour mixed in…




…and now in the pan ready to be baked for 1 1/2 hours at 140C (about 230F)…
And …. straight out of the oven…



So, so easy it kind of feels wrong but I’m going to have to wait till the family get together to deliver a verdict on taste (my kitchen sure does smell delicious right now though)… I just have to decide how I will decorate this…. I will keep you posted.

Easy Pillowcase Dress…

Well, after a relaxing weekend catching up with family in the city I finally sat down at my machine tonight when the girls were (finally) in bed.

I have had these pillowcases for months now. I had purchased them both for $1 at a thrift store because I just loved the red and black flower print.

I have been meaning to convert them to a pillowcase dress for so long that tonight was the night!

The first thing I did was to take some lengths off so the dress wouldn’t be too long for my Big Little Miss M (I cut the excess off the open end).

Now because the pillowcase only had the print on the face of the pillow I used both for one dress and simply used the white pillow back as lining.

I then cut armholes out of the top left and right corners of both pillowcases and then cut both side seams off.

This left me with two pillowcase pieces that I could open out flat.

 

I then over-locked (serged) the armpit openings and the new side seams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then to ensure I had an opening to feed the neck ribbon through I folded the over-locked edge under right at the top where the lining was attached to the print side.

Then I flipped the lining to the inside and topstitched the remaining armpit (ensuring not to stitch over the opening that I’d done in the previous step).

The next step I did was to sew a decorative ribbon around the lower section of the dress and feed a coordinating ribbon through the neckline and hem the dress and lining.

I kept the lining and dress separate at the hem to avoid any bunching and to achieve a better hang.

Well here it is…..

I also did a quick little yo-yo in a piece of the scrap material just to give it a little extra touch and to cover the ribbon join.

Tomorrow I will add a picture of my little one wearing it… overall for my $1 and about an hour of sewing I am fairly happy with the result.

Here are a couple of photos of my Big Little Miss M. I just love how my little 3 year old works the camera… she makes me smile with her poses!

And here’s a photo of her with lil sis (Little Little Miss M). I love when I get a shot of the two of them sharing some sisterly love… I hope they grow to treasure these as they get older.

 And the one below is just because it really makes me laugh. They were both facing the morning sun (silly I know, but it made me think… doesn’t almost everyone have one of these photos from childhood, all squinty and such?)

 

Oh, and Little Little Miss M’s dress was the Christmas dress I made for big sis last year! Still looks just as good :)

Marshmallow puddings & Dex Hamilton

I have finished the Dex Hamilton shirt… yay! My first foray into boys clothing. I am fairly pleased with the final result and I can definitely say I learnt along the way!

Here it is beside my example picture:

 
If I had to do it again I’d tweak the collar design a little but on a whole I am happy with it…. just hope the little boy who’s getting this for Christmas likes it too!

And just a flash of insanity… its 3am Australian time and I’ve just finished making a plate of marshmallow puddings. There really isn’t enough hours in the day sometimes…



These little puddings are just the easiest plate of Christmas party treats I think you could get. With only a packet of Chocolate Marshmallow biscuits, 100gms of melted white chocolate, a bag of Jaffa's and some cut up mint leaf lollies you’re all set!

Check out the link party at

My gingerbread house…

Well, I’ve never made one before but as I mentioned yesterday the local community church have an annual gingerbread house night… It was so much fun – there were 50 of us busily loading up our houses like candy was going out of fashion!


The one thing I found was, that a gingerbread house in my opinion, can never have too many lollies! Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera along so the only photo's I have taken are from when I got home and the house was already all wrapped in cellophane but I’m just so wrapped (…doh, pun not intended). I am definitely going to have to make one again next year!



So, its starting to feel a little like Christmas… I just cannot wait until the morning and to see the girls faces when they see the house. I’m getting all excited just thinking about their reaction – I will have to remember to have the video camera handy!

Dex Hamilton Update…

Well, this one's just a quickie... haven't achieved as much sewing wise in the last 24hrs. My poor little pumpkin has been a little off colour (Little little Miss M) and has needed lots and lots of cuddles. I love the cuddles but really hope she is feeling better in the morning.

The Dex Hamilton outfit is coming along - I have cut the shirt body, cut and sewn the sleeves and also done some badges for the arms using freezer paper in the same way as I make my freezer paper labels.

Here they are on the material prior to cutting:

 

I am just loving using the freezer paper to print on fabric and have a whole lot of crafty ideas floating (read: madly bashing about) in my head of things to do utilising the technique - but they probably wont see the light of day until after Christmas when things slow down again.

Anyhow, back to Dex, after printing the badge pictures I used heavy fusible interfacing to bond another layer of base fabric and then cut and fused the badges onto the sleeve (prior to sewing into a sleeve tube). I then used my sewing machine to tightly zig-zag around the edge. (Picture Below – I haven’t topstitched the arm cycle yet)



Tonight I just played around a little with the collar design - I think this will be the trickiest bit... here's a reminder of what I'm hoping the finished shirt looks like....

 

keep your fingers crossed for me (otherwise there will be one disappointed 7y/old come Christmas day).

Well, with that I think I should get some sleep (just on midnight here Australian time)

Oh, and tomorrow night I attempt my first gingerbread house – the local Community Church have an annual gingerbread house decorating night – it should be fun. I love decorating cakes but have never tried my hand at gingerbread houses – so stay tuned!!!

Pattern Drafting – Boys basic collared shirt…

Today I finally began drafting a pattern to use to create a 'Dex Hamilton' costume shirt. I found a really helpful tutorial on drafting a shirt block here at burdastyle.com.
It is for a men's collared shirt but I just modified it slightly to resize it down to a boys size 7.
For those of you who don’t know who Dex Hamilton is (I only have 2 girls and had never heard of him before but apparently a pretty popular cartoon character for young boys), here’s a picture to give you an idea of what I’m hoping my shirt will replicate:
 
I am going to use the shirt block as the base for the pattern and then create a collar and shirt front to match the picture….
Here’s the start of my pattern draft:

I drew the pattern up on some spare wrapping paper (I’d normally use butcher paper but I’d packed it away in the girls room and they were sleeping so I didn’t want to risk waking them up). I did start to draw on the white side but made a bit of a boo boo with my first measurements so I flipped it over to the lovely gold side.
Here it is again but with the sleeve draft too:

The directions from burdastyle.com were pretty good (a little confusing on first read but it all made sense once I got started).
I then re-traced the sleeve onto a sheet of tracing paper so I could cut the pieces out.

Tomorrow I’ll cut the fabric and start to sew this baby together… Remember, this is what I want to end up with:
   So, I’ll keep you posted on how it goes… hopefully in a day or so I’ll have a lovely Dex Hamilton shirt to show off. This one’s a special request for the son of one of the mum’s at playgroup… really hoping it works out.

Oh, and if you like any of my posts or projects, let me know, leave me a comment, tell me what you like and what I could do better, what you’d like to see ….AND become a follower – make me feel loved