Advent activity 17 - baking day

We filled the cake tins with gingerbread biscuits and mince pies yesterday as I like to keep them topped up in the week before Christmas so a festive snack is never far away to boost the flagging energy levels. Harry is proving to be a bit of a whizz in the kitchen this month and managed half the mince pies and half the biscuits completely on his own (he wanted to try making both), all while dressed as an elf! I did make some royal icing for the biscuits (which I will never do again without the help of an electric beater!) but then realised we had neither piping bag nor plastic bag to use for icing, so they are as yet un-iced but still very tasty.

We also gave the Christmas cake its last feed of brandy before I plan to ice it at the weekend. I have made Christmas cake for the past 2 years but have never iced it and I am looking forward to doing that.