Christmas is always an exciting time of year … work is quieter … people are in ‘holiday mode’ … the weather in Melbourne is lovely … AND I have more excuses to bake (and plenty of time to bake since the footy isn’t on).
Leading up to Christmas the past two years, I’ve baked for family dinners as well as charity fundraisers which both present their own challenges. This post showcases the cakes I baked for Christmas dinner in 2015 and as well as the macarons baked for a fundraiser leading up to Christmas in 2014.
For Christmas 2016 … check out the posts on my Gingerbread House and Croquembouche journeys.
Christmas themed macarons:
I really enjoy baking macarons and will find an excuse to bake more macarons whether it’s for a wedding, Christmas, Easter or just any party. Here’s my selection of Christmas macarons for a Christmas charity fundraiser:
- Christmas pudding macarons: decorated with tempered white chocolate
- Christmas coloured macarons: raspberry and matcha flavoured
- Reindeer macarons: red m&m’s for the nose and pretzel antlers
Christmas cakes:
Being in charge of dessert for my family’s Christmas dinner is always a challenge – trying to keep all 9 people happy which includes: my parents who don’t like anything too sweet, my sister who always requests something coffee flavoured and a brother-in-law who wants nothing but a tart (more specifically … the Strawberry and Berry Tart from Le Petit Gateau in Melbourne).
Given these requirements, I came up with the following desserts:
- Opera cake: to meet the request of a coffee flavoured dessert
- Matcha mousse cake: something not too sweet for the parents
- Raspberry & passionfruit tart: not quite the same as the tart from Le Petit Gateau, but still a tart with berries
- Mango Cheesecake: At this stage I may as well keep baking and use up everything I have in the fridge
Opera cake:
A decadent cake made from layers of almond sponge soaked in coffee liquor syrup, chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream – this cake is always one of my favourites to bake (recipe to be posted soon).
Matcha Mousse cake:
Following the matcha trend – I decided to bake a matcha and white chocolate mousse cake for my ‘not too sweet’ dessert. Sitting on top of the matcha almond sponge is a layer of white chocolate mousse which adds a hint of sweetness to the bitter matcha cake.
Raspberry and Passionfruit tart:
Although the tarts from Le Petit Gateau look amazing, I opted for a more ‘traditional’ tart … baked in a tart pan with plenty of custard and topped with fruit. I made a passionfruit curd to add a bit more flavour to the custard and topped the tart with raspberries, raspberry jam and chopped pistachios. Not quite Le Petit Gateau standard … but still relatively happy with the finished product given it was my first tart or pastry crust attempt.
Mango Cheesecake:
I wasn’t joking earlier when I said that I was using up the ingredients in my fridge. We had several ripe mangos in the house and cream cheese in the fridge. The bright colour of the mango also looked great with the red/green/brown of the other cakes.
This was a very simple cheesecake to make, comprised of a Arnott’s Nice biscuit base, vanilla cheesecake (recipe to be posted soon) and a mango jelly.
I’m always looking for new ideas and challenges for Christmas themed baking, so if you have any great posts or recipes, please share below 🙂
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