Decorating Christmas Cakes For Gifts

This year I made and decorated small Xmas cakes to give as gifts. Rather than the marzipan and fruit decoration I used last year, I went back to using icing to make the flowers and leaves for this year.

Here are a few photographs showing how I did the decoration.

A finished cake

Levelling the top of a cake using marzipan

My first step was to level the uneven tops of my cakes using a little apricot jam and small pieces of marzipan.

Cake coated with marzipan

Next, a layer of marzipan was added over the whole cake.

Cake after icing

The marzipan was followed by a nice smooth coat of icing.

Basic flower shape cut out of icing

Using a suitable cutter I cut basic flower shapes from thinly rolled icing. To prevent sticking I make liberal use of cornflower.

Re-shaping flower

I added some 3-dimensional form with the aid of a toothpick.

Adding colour to the flower

I have both liquid and powder forms of cake decorator’s colours. Here I used a little of the powder type to colour the flowers.

Creating the final flower form using foil

The final form of the flowers was set by placing the soft icing shapes into a pre-shaped bed of kitchen foil. The flowers were then allowed to stiffen before adding them to the cake.

Making flat leaf shapes

Flat shapes such as leaves are much quicker and simpler to make.

Adding all the individual parts to the cake

When all the pieces are ready they are attached to the cake using drops of icing.

Another finished example!

With a little dusting of icing sugar to provide a “snow effect”, the cake is complete.

This may seem like a lot of work but I found that it did not take too long provided I stuck to variations on a simple theme and did not get sucked in to exploring design possibilities!

Technical note: I made my own gelatin icing for decorating these cakes. This is probably a little easier to form 3-D shapes with but regular fondant icing could also be used.

A Simple Chinese Meal

Steamed Chicken with Ginger and Spring Onion accompanied by Stir-Fried Broccoli

Here is a very straightforward meal for everyday eating that is always a big favourite in our house. It can be prepared quickly for a family meal, though these two dishes would also be excellent when combined with others as part of a larger, more formal Chinese banquet.

The two finished dishes

Chicken with Ginger and Spring Onion

• 2 chicken breasts
• 5 cm ginger (grated)
• A bunch of spring onions (around 6), finely sliced
• A few coriander sprigs
• Half teaspoon ginger powder
• One and a half tablespoons sunflower oil

Put around 300ml water into a pan (the water should reach just half the depth of the chicken.)

The water should be half the chicken depth

Bring the water to the boil and add the chicken. Simmer on a low heat for 3 or 4 minutes then turn the meat over and continue to simmer until the meat is cooked, probably around another 5 minutes. It is very important to cook the chicken on a very low heat. Otherwise the meat will be dry.

Let the meat has cool slightly, then slice neatly.

Slice the meat into neat bite-size pieces

Heat the oil in a pan until it is very hot, add the ginger powder then the grated ginger and stir for 20 seconds. Then add the spring onion and cook for just another 10 seconds or so before turning off the heat.

Transfer the ginger and spring onion sauce to a bowl, and then add salt and a little juice from the steamed chicken.

Serve the sliced chicken with a generous portion of the sauce spooned on top. This dish can be served at room temperature.

Serve the chicken with a generous covering of sauce

Stir-fried Broccoli

• 500g broccoli / one head
• 1 small carrot
• 2cm piece ginger
• 2 tablespoons of sherry or Chinese rice wine
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil

Cut up the broccoli and slice the carrots

Separate the broccoli into small florets and thinly slice the stalk. Slice the carrot diagonally (for a decorative effect you can cut each slice into a leaf shape.)

Carrots can be cut in decorative leaf shapes

Crush the ginger and chop finely.

Crush then chop the ginger

While it is possible to put the uncooked broccoli directly into the wok, many people may find they get better results by lightly steaming the broccoli before stir frying. Restaurants often use this method.  Place the broccoli in a pan and add just 3 or 4 tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt. Put the lid on the pan and steam for around 3 minutes. Make sure that the pan does not dry up. Drain the vegetables well. This short steaming should leave the broccoli looking a nice bright green.

Heat the oil in a wok or deep frying pan, add the ginger and carrot then fry for a minute or two. Then add the broccoli and stir fry for another 2 minutes or so.  Next add the sherry or rice wine. Cook until the vegetables are tender. If the pan seems a bit too dry during cooking then add a dash of water.

Fry the ginger and carrot before adding the steamed broccoli

Make the broccoli the last dish you cook and serve immediately. Serve with steamed rice and you have a wonderful Chinese meal!

Time your cooking so that the broccoli is served immediately

Glass Beads

A few weeks ago I spent a fantastic day at a glass bead workshop, thanks to a lovely friend who arranged it as a present. The workshop was held at the studios of Mango Beads, run by Manda Muddimer in Barnstaple: http://www.mangobeads.co.uk/

Some of my first attempts

I’ve never worked with glass before and found the whole day was enormous fun, although some of the techniques felt a bit like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time! Like any skill it’s mainly a question of familiarity and I definitely feel like this is a craft that I could become really absorbed in.

I need much more practice!

The trial beads I made during the day were a bit too crude to be really satisfying, but I am so glad that I had this opportunity to try out a new area of craftwork. Sadly, I may have to face the fact that there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to pursue all the things I am, or could be, interested in! I hope that one day I’ll find the time for a deeper exploration of the world of glass.

How it should be done!

The beads shown above were made by Manda and are an example of what can be made using the lampwork beadmaking process.

Beads by Manda Muddimer

Chinese Beef Hotpot

I have not posted anything relating to food for a while so here is my own recipe for Cantonese style Beef Hotpot. This makes a very rich and satisfying maincourse and is very simple to make.
If made with good chuck steak this can be cooked quite quickly using a wok or similar pan. If you subtitute something like shin of beef, it would be more suitable for slow cooking in a casserole.

Cantonese style beef hotpot

Ingredients
500 grams  cubed beef  (chuck steak or skirt)
1 tsp 5 mixed spice
1 tsp curry powder
3 cloves of garlic (crushed)
2cm ginger (crushed and roughly chopped)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
½ tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine or sherry
1 tsp brown sugar
Cornflour to thicken
Spring onion or wild garlic flowers and coriander leaves to garnish
Options:
Carrot or mooli (daikon) cut in chunks

Cubed beef

Cut the beef into cubes and marinade with the 5 mixed spice and curry powder for half an hour.

Crushed ginger and garlic

Frying the garlic and ginger before adding the beef

Heat two tablespoonfuls of oil in a wok or frying pan. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 30 seconds (taking care not to let the garlic burn.) Introduce the beef and fry until brown. Add the wine and cook for another minute, then add the soy sauce and cook for 30 seconds more.

Adding Mooli chunks after the beef is browned

Now put in the carrot or mooli, the sugar and enough water to cover the beef. Bring to boil and simmer for around 20 / 30 minutes. Check that the meat is tender. You should have only a little bit of sauce left in the pan. If the dish seems too dry then add a little bit of water. Just before turning off the heat, mix a teaspoon of cornflour with a little bit of water then stir into the other ingredients.

Carrots can be used in chunks as a main vegetable or as decoration

Shredded spring onion for garnish with carrot “leaf”

Cantonese style beef hotpot

Serve with rice and stir-fried vegetables. Enjoy!

Wai-Yuk’s Filled Bread

Since food is one of my great loves in life I thought I would give you another recipe. This way of making filled bread is not exactly original but it is one I have developed over time and is always enthusiastically received!

Filled bread – Ready to eat – Delicious!

Dough Ingredients:

450gms bread flour
50gms wheatgerm or oatmeal
5ml (1 tsp) yeast
0.5 tsp salt
30ml (1 tbsp) oil
320ml lukewarm water (may need slight adjustment depending on flour)

Preparing the dough:

1) Mix dry ingredients.
2) Make hole in centre, add oil and water then mix.
3) Transfer to flour-dusted worktop and knead dough for 5-10 minutes until soft and silky (Note: If dough is sticky this means too much water).
4) If dough is hard and dry add water by wetting palms during kneading.
5) Seal dough inside a large polythene bag.
6) Leave until it has doubled in size (approx. 2hrs at room temperature).

The first kneading of the dough

Fillings:

Option 1: Cheese ‘n Bacon
2 sliced medium onions plus 2 crushed garlic cloves (fried until golden)
100gms grated cheese
Bacon pieces (fried)

Option 2: Chorizo with Mushrooms
Onions fried as above
Cheese as above
Chorizo or other spiced sausage
Button mushrooms
Crushed garlic

Slice and fry chorizo to get rid of excess fat. Add sliced button mushrooms and garlic plus a little tomato ketchup and herbs and cook on gentle heat for 5 minutes or until mushrooms are soft

Option 3
Any other fillings you can think of!

Some suitable fillings – cheese, onions and salami

Adding the Filling:

1) Knead the dough for 2 minutes
2) Divide into 10 equal pieces (this makes 5 filled breads).
3) Roll out pairs of dough balls into long ovals of equal size (You can scatter some sesame seeds on the worktop before rolling for a tasty outer crunch).
4) Place fillings on one piece keeping them at least 1.5mm from the edges.
e.g.  Sprinkle a layer of cheese, then a layer of onion and some bacon followed by another layer of cheese.
5) Brush edges with water then stretch the second oval of dough over the top so that the two halves match up. Press the edges firmly together then turn over the edges slightly to ensure a good seal.
6) Brush both sides with a very little oil.
7) Heat a frying pan with a lid to a medium heat.
8) Fry both sides for 5 minutes or until golden, keeping a lid on the pan.

Enjoy! (They are best warm from the pan but will keep a few days in the fridge and can be reheated in a microwave).

After mixing the dough must be thoroughly kneaded

If dough is too dry add water by wetting hands while kneading

The first kneading of the dough

Fry some onions with a little garlic

Some suitable fillings – cheese, onions and chorizo

Dough divided into portions

Dough rolled into two equal ovals

Layers of cheeze, onion and chorizo added

Wet the edges of the base around the filling

Placing the lid over the filling

The edges crimped together (can be done more neatly than this!)

Ready to cook

In the pan

Ready!

Filled bread – Ready to eat – Delicious!

Brooch Experiments

This brooch is one of my favourites. The photos below show my experiments with different ways of folding and shaping the fabric – sometimes the same cut-out shape can be moulded into completely different forms. After finding a shape that I like, I embroider the surface, finish the edges and stitch the final form together. Then I add the beads and the brooch pin.

Fabric Making: Some Samples

My jewellery making starts with creating the basic fabric in a mix of colours and textures, this is then cut into shapes ready for stitching, shaping, and further embellishment.

My husband and I often work together to prepare the sheets of fabric, and here are a few that we’ve just finished:

Another project: Indigo dyeing

In 2008, Sarah Montague and I ran an indigo dyeing club after school. The kids really enjoyed it – they couldn’t wait to untie their fabrics after dyeing!

At Christmas, we had an exhibition in a lovely gallery in Torrington, called The Plough. By selling our work at The Plough and at school, we were able to raise over £500 for a charity chosen by the children.

I can’t upload any photos of the kids without parental permission, but here are some photos of the techniques we used, and the finished creations.

A little project: Monsters

I made these dolls as samples for a Year 9 project at the school I work in. The main aim was to create a fun project based on the ‘Uglydoll’ craze, which would encourage the kids to use their imaginations and give them a chance to learn lots of different textile techniques.

(I had fun too).

Textile Art: Dragon

A little while back I took part in the Cornwall Crafts summer show at Trelowarren. I wanted to create a much bigger textile relief than any I had previously designed, and the result was Dragon. A bigger piece meant a lot of different challenges; there were difficulties that were never an issue for smaller pieces, particularly how to keep such a large surface interesting whilst maintaining a sense of unity of form.

Designing the Template
I began by cutting smaller scale paper templates in order to explore different shapes. The relief was cut from one piece, then shaped and stitched into a three-dimensional form. I cut out a template from fabric of roughly the same stiffness and flexibility to my own fabric to confirm that the design would work.

Making the Fabric
I used the same techniques as on the smaller pieces, but much more attention was needed to make sure that the entire surface flowed together. Different parts of the dragon were shaded in bronzes and golds, and white was used as a highlight. Alex cut brass tubing into lengths, which were added to provide contrast and structure.

Framing the Dragon
I wanted the background to be an integrated part of the design, and so rather than use a plain colour fabric, I used Japanese shibori techniques with indigo dye on silk. The silk panels were mounted over canvas onto wooden frames, and then finally the dragon was hand-stitched onto the silk.