So where was I with the Christmas cake?
So I had made it, and cooled it, and did the brandy thing.
Then I did the first batch of icing, the almond.
I actually had some almonds, so ground them up, and made the icing mixture, which tasted yummy.
Then I rolled it and laid it over the cake and extended it down the sides. Let it sit for a day or so and did the white/royal icing.
In the end the recipe was simple to make. Some egg whites with icing sugar added, beaten and beaten until it goes like meringue in glossy peaks. All the recipes said to add glycerine, which I didn't have so I added a few drops or more of lemon juice (not sure why) and then spread it on the cake, and left it a day.
Thus the cake was complete. The glycerine is to keep the icing soft, as it sort of went hard-ish but that didn't bother me.
So, my first attempt and how was it?
Verdict:
It was a bit dry on the outsides, a tad over-cooked on the underneath but all in all, it was pretty good.
A bit crumbly but nothing to get too upset about. That's what spoons are for, right?
The flavour was great, and icing pretty yum.
I would not hesitate to serve it to someone outside the immediate family, put it that way.
So I had made it, and cooled it, and did the brandy thing.
Then I did the first batch of icing, the almond.
I actually had some almonds, so ground them up, and made the icing mixture, which tasted yummy.
Then I rolled it and laid it over the cake and extended it down the sides. Let it sit for a day or so and did the white/royal icing.
In the end the recipe was simple to make. Some egg whites with icing sugar added, beaten and beaten until it goes like meringue in glossy peaks. All the recipes said to add glycerine, which I didn't have so I added a few drops or more of lemon juice (not sure why) and then spread it on the cake, and left it a day.
Thus the cake was complete. The glycerine is to keep the icing soft, as it sort of went hard-ish but that didn't bother me.
So, my first attempt and how was it?
It was a bit dry on the outsides, a tad over-cooked on the underneath but all in all, it was pretty good.
A bit crumbly but nothing to get too upset about. That's what spoons are for, right?
The flavour was great, and icing pretty yum.
I would not hesitate to serve it to someone outside the immediate family, put it that way.