In 2008 I bought some resin Nativity Figures from the flagship Lakeland store in Windermere to decorate my Christmas cake. At the time I said they would have to be used for many years to justify the expense. This is their 11th outing. Down the years they've appeared on the cakes on various arrangements
One of my earlier attempts was a copy of a Waitrose cake, where a piece of the cake was sliced off and stood up to make a semicircular stable. The roof was chocolate finger biscuits.
I thought I'd do something similar this year. But I ran out of time. I packed icing sugar, eggs and some Mint Matchmakers along with the marzipanned cake and planned to finish it as soon as I could.
So on the evening of Boxing Day I set to in the kitchen at Cornerstones. I usually use Delia's recipe for Royal Icing, because it works.
Except I beat it all up in my big Kenwood. And that's in Dorset! Try as I might, I couldn't get the icing to go into stiff peaks using a spoon, or the tiny whisk attachment on my stick blender. It remained resolutely runny.
So I improvised. I balanced the rack from the grill pan on some baked bean cans, and carefully placed the cake on top. I gently spooned icing on the cake. It moved like a glacier coating the top and sides, with some drippage onto the plate below.
I'd already abandoned any ideas of fancy cutting and shaping. But I did want a stable. However the pack of rectangular biscuits I intended using as a framework were in Dorset with the Kenwood! So I chopped up a chinese takeaway box and used icing to glue the chocolate sticks in place.
I'm not planning on entering the GBBO with this one...
The family have already decided it looks like the Holy Family are waiting at a bus stop in Macclesfield.
Despite the appearance, the cake tastes fine.
Jon picked off a chocolate stick to nibble - whereupon Rosie promptly told him off - "that belongs to baby Jesus, Daddy!"
I shall declare a caption competition - what do you think they are saying to each other, as they stand on the slippery icing?
“Well this is certainly not what I expected when we set off!”
ReplyDelete"The icing is melting - global warming is real!"
ReplyDeleteYour nativity is well-used. I Iike the 3wise men one!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't think of a caption but those two are great - especially global warming!
ReplyDelete