That’s why I like Bundt pans/cakes - with at most a dusting of powdered sugar or drizzle of glaze.
4 Likes
Second iteration of the Camilla Wynn stollen pound cake from “Nature’s Candy.” I failed at decorating it, but in every other way it’s a superior bake compared to my first try.
16 Likes
Nope, the powdered sugar “snow” is perfect!
Everything looks amazing!
10 Likes
I really like these. I have many more of the snaps to stuff and enjoy, and I’m glad.
2 Likes
He’s seven and enjoys helping.
1 Like
A few notes to myself before I forget:
- The pan-bang ginger molasses cookies were the crowd favorite. I have yet to find someone who doesn’t really love this cookie.
- I baked both the Sarah Kieffer cookies from frozen, which I’ve never done before. I weighed every dough ball before freezing, and made them a bit/a lot smaller than she calls for (the red velvet recipe says make an 85 gram/ quarter-cup cookie - what? No.) I had to add two minutes to the initial bake time (time from when I put them in the oven to the first pan-bang.) Otherwise, they were just as good as if I’d baked them just after mixing.
- The chocolate ginger cookie was puffier than I would have liked.
- The cream cheese dip/icing on the red velvet cookies was an enormous PITA. It was hard to get the consistency right for application, it was finicky once on the cookie, and it would not set even after several many hours of open-air drying.
- Sleeper hit for me: the just-published Caroline Shiff recipe for gingersnap-and-orange-cream sandwich cookies. The prescribed cookie size is quite small, but they are really delicious.
- The Nature’s Candy fruitcake cookies are much, much better quite a bit smaller than the recipe prescribes, and it’s important not to let the bottom brown too much. Underbake them a bit for best moist, slightly cakey deliciousness.
12 Likes
The best reaction I got to a cake I baked and decorated was when some years ago there was a nurse looking after me during a rough patch I was going through. She walked in the door one day just as I was putting the finishing touches on a cake, and when she saw it she exclaimed, “That’s beautiful!”. I responded, “I’m glad you think so because it’s your birthday cake.” She started crying, and then hugged me.
It was a glazed chocolate torte, not a layer cake. I don’t mind doing layer cakes, but they ARE a lot of work.
10 Likes
That’s so sweet! Tortes and entremets I don’t mind making since the process is quicker and less fussy.
2 Likes
Biberle (gingerbread almond nuggets) very popular in Switzerland for the holidays. I have bakedthese twice before and wasnt very satisfied. The dough was very stiff and hard to work with. This time i reduced the flour from 265grms to 250. Baked at 375convection for 9 minutes and they came out nice and soft. They are tedious to make. Dough is divided into 8 pieces. Rolled into a 4 1/2 ×9 1/2 recttangle and 300 grms of almond paste is divided into 8 pieces. Almond paste is rolled to 9 inches and placed on the edge of the dough . Dough is rolled over the almond paste and then cut into sections. I got 90 nuggets, so it was worth it. Nice honey gingerbread taste. The recipe is from Classic German Baking.
15 Likes
I’ve been interested in these since I saw them in Classic German Baking. Never had one, though!
@mig have you recovered? Do we get a party report?
5 Likes
My family likes them. If your interested there is a YouTube by a woman who took lessons from Luise. Just type in biberle. Reducing the amount of flour really made a difference to me.
1 Like
Bo Friberg’s mustard gingerbread. This is really a pumpkin spice cake rather than classic gingerbread. The mustard gives you a bit of a tingle as opposed to tasting like mustard in any way. I’d probably reduce the sugar by 20 g if making again. It has equal parts sugar to flour, but I generally find pumpkin to add to the sweetness of baked goods, so this for me is a touch sweet. I’d also bake at 325° since this took a while to finish baking. The flavor and texture of this is really nice, but I’m sure tomorrow it will be even better.
9 Likes
Semi-recovered, yes!
This was an “open house” with a start time of 3. A majority of people showed up right at three, though - mom says a couple of the ladies avoid driving after dark, so it wasn’t a complete surprise.
I got up early to finish my prep: baked some frozen cookies, made the cream cheese glaze and applied it to red velvet cookies, glazed my shortbread, stuffed the sandwich cookies, and made the meatballs from scratch. The balls are roasted naked, then sauced and roasted again briefly, so I gave them the initial roast and then paused til about 30 min before the start time. I finished two batches during the party, so they wouldn’t be dry and overcooked.
I’ve made this recipe a hundred times, so even though it was a triple batch, I was comfortable waiting til the last minute to make them.
The first pot of crab soup came out of the fridge 45 min before start time, was heated through on the stove, then put in a vintage crock pot on low (I use the vintage one when I want a truly low temp. Modern ones run too hot, even on low.)
At 20 min til show time, I re-showered the cake in powdered sugar and put it on its stand. I put out the cookies and the savory nibbles. Arranged and re-arranged the serving platters. Lit the tea lights, turned on the Christmas playlist I made, and slapped on some lipstick and a sparkly reindeer headband 
(I will post the recipe for the vegetable crab soup in the soup thread, but it’s a very old recipe of my mother’s on a crumbling piece of paper that makes something crazy like 40 servings. I halved it. )
Menu:
Vegetable crab soup
Meatballs in sauce, optional buns to make meatball sliders
Local cheeses and local butcher bologna
Local chips and pretzels (snack foods are something of a local specialty)
Stollen cake with home-candied fruits from “Nature’s Candy”
Eight cookie varieties:
Fruitcake cookies from the same book
Dorie’s jammers with my own jams (peach, blackberry, plum)
Sarah Kieffer’s pan-banging ginger molasses cookies
Sarah’s pan-banging red velvet cookies with cream cheese glaze
King Arthur’s ginger shortbread
Gingersnap and orange cream sandwich cookies
Chocolate ginger sparkle cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Cardamom snowdrops
Assorted sodas and wine, coffee and tea
———————
Every single person at the party ate soup and I’m pretty sure everyone ate meatballs as well. Even so, I have a bunch of both leftover for the freezer.
The cake was very well-received as well. Calling something a fruitcake can be risky, but everyone was very appreciative.
I decided I wanted to NOT have dozens of leftover cookies, so I bought little handled treat bags and handed them out to whoever was leaving, telling them to grab for the road whatever cookies they enjoyed. I have to bake another round for another event next week, so I was happy to unload some of these.
Of the seven, the two I won’t make again are the red velvet and the chocolate ginger. I’ll probably make one or two different kinds for next weekend’s party. As well as another stollen cake, which means I need to candy more cranberries first
19 Likes
Having leftover meatballs is always a good thing in my mind! 
Nice of you to give everyone to-go cookies. I’m sure they appreciated being able to enjoy them a day later.
10 Likes
It all sounds wonderful! Lucky folks to get cookies to take home! I really love the way you embrace these project events - you are so hospitable and generous! And it is such fun to follow along as you plan, test and deliver, thank you.
10 Likes
I’m a fan of fruitcake and today made my first ever home baked one. This recipe was surprisingly easy, although it took me 45 minutes to prep - mostly due to reading the recipe closely to be sure I got all ingredients and also because I am slow at slicing/chopping. I am very pleased with the look and flavor of the finished loaf. Another time I’d chop the nuts smaller - closer in size to the cherry halves. And perhaps chop pitted dates for larger pieces of those, rather than using the bag of chopped dates.
11 Likes
Recipe
Christmas Special Fruitcake from Country magazine Dec/Jan 1993
3 cups coarsely chopped Brazil nuts or other nuts (walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts)
1 lb pitted dates, coarsely chopped -per original recipe - reduced to ½ pound today
1 cup halved maraschino cherries
¾ cup flour
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Grease a 9 in x 5 in x 3 in loaf pan, and line with waxed paper/ parchment
In a large mixing bowl, combine nuts, dates and cherries.
In a small separate bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add to nut mixture, stirring until nuts and fruit are well-coated.
Beat eggs until foamy. Stir in vanilla. Fold eggs/vanilla into nut mixture. Mix well.
Pour mixture into greased/waxed-paper lined loaf pan.
Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes (105 minutes). Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing to a wire rack.
Yield – 24 servings
Will you eat right away, or “soak” for later?
