This years Christmas cakes.

This year I made my usual Christmas cakes into individual size cakes to make more gifts and to look prettier and be more economical at the same time. I love it! 

I posted the recipe here last year. Christmas cakes.

To make them in smaller sizes I just bake the mixture in my biggest baking dish and when it is cool cut it carefully into the sizes you want. I got 20 small cakes from my baking pan mix. We have had some of these for ourselves for desert and the rest are gifts. They are a perfect size for the ladies at the nursing home, for anyone who lives alone and for little gifts.

All I did is roll out purchased royal icing. I warm it slightly first and it is so easy to work with. I just cut out a section and drape it over the little cake and nudge the edges into position so it is kind of neat like a little parcel and trim the excess.

I tied tulle ribbon around each one and sprinkled them with edible glitter. Done!

The end results I packed into cellophane bags.

As these keep for months you can prepare them miles in advance which is really handy.

Really you could do this with any cake that would slice well and use them for small gifts, party favours, individual sized deserts... they just look really sweet. Imagine them stacked on cake stands!

Even on special the ingredients for a fruit cake are not inexpensive. Making them this way gave me a lot more gifts and made it much more economical. But it also seemed prettier.

Fruit cakes are great in that if you do them ahead you don't have to do so much cooking all at once In December. And this recipe, if not iced, can be warmed up and served with ice cream and cream as pudding and no one is likely to know it's not. It is delicious this way.

This recipe keeps for so long that you can make cakes and keep them in tins and you always have something on hand to serve visitors or just for treats. I have kept it one year and it is still fine. It also is better after a month or two that it is on the day you make it.

This week I have so many things on the go! And our weather is lovely and mild so while it is like this I want to make the most of it. Once the heat sets in my energy just isn't the same.
Have a wonderful week. xxx