Christmas baking

Sadly, I haven't been able to do as much Christmas baking as I would've liked this year due to straining my arm very seriously.....so much so that I even had to take a few days off work which wasn't exactly ideal. Thankfully, with a bit of help from the physio its on the mend but I still need to do exercises and be mindful of my posture. I can't change habits of a lifetime overnight but with a little luck, I can do it with a bit of time :)

The last time I made a Chrimbo cake for JD's mam was back when I was still living in the Emerald Isle.......which was a while ago! Ever since then, she has always wanted me to make her a cake for Xmas but one way or another, I've never managed it. Well this year, I got ultra organised and managed to make said cake before my arm decided to break down. I then iced and toasted it a few days before JD was due to head home. I also made sure that I made a bigger cake this year -  the last time, JD had told me that nobody ate fruit cake in his house except his mam so at the time, I decided to make a small 6" for her to enjoy. The cake got demolished in record time so I armed him with a more generous 8" this year - hope it was worth the wait!! :)

I had some extra cake batter which was enough to bake a little 6" for us and the almond paste even stretched to cover this ickle cake. Between the chaos at Heathrow and snow dump at Dublin, JD was delayed for 5 days before he managed to get home - not ideal but luckily, there was cake for him to enjoy.......all that time being stuck in the big smoke means there is not much cake left - oh wellos :)