Christmas is coming.....

It's been a funny few days but I think I'm starting to see the wood for the trees....I started my Christmas baking this afternoon...much to the grumpy hubby's annoyance...he almost resorted to the old bah humbug stuff at one point!

We usually go out to eat on Christmas day but it's expensive and often not as relaxed as a meal at home would be so this year I asked him if we could just have our meal at home instead...which he was happy to agree to....our youngest son will be with us as usual but he suffers with a severe nut allergy so shop bought cakes or puddings are just impossible...resulting in my decision to search for nut-free recipes for Christmas cake and pudding.....

I found a rather interesting recipe for the cake...a Hot Toddy Christmas Cake...made with black tea and whisky....now that's a first for me as I've used the traditional brandy and even vanilla vodka in my cakes before...

Well here it is not long out of the oven after cooking for over 3 and a half hours....it does look just a bit too moist but as it will be sitting for just over a month I'm sure it will be ok....I can't add any marzipan this time but will probably just ice it very simply....

The pudding mixture was made with brandy (no wonder Grumpy hubby was annoyed...it's his favourite tipple) and it's now sitting in the fridge waiting to be steamed later on today....I can't remember the last time I made a Christmas pudding...but don't remember having to steam it for 5-6 hours!  That will be my entire afternoon's job...I'm not bothering with mince pies this year as we don't really eat them so won't be making my own mince meat....besides couldn't find a nut-free recipe for it online....