Made It Seller Picks

Last week it was my turn as a Madeit seller to provide some of my favourite items for everyone to see on the Picks page of their website...
I didn't get a chance to link it up then so I thought I'd share with you a few them here 
- some of these thing are things I've purchased and some are thing I'd love to buy... Enjoy!


















My birdcage shaped, gluten free Christmas Cake

My birdcage shaped, gluten free Christmas Cake by Torie Jayne

This Christmas I am planning on a making a birdcage-decorated cake to sit on my Winter Wonderland dessert table. To get the shape I need, I have baked two 15cm (6") round cakes and half a 15cm (6") ball cake. Below you will find my recipe for a rich fruit cake that is gluten free.

Fruit cakes are ideally made at least a month before you need to decorate and eat it. They should be fed regularly and left to ripen. I feed mine every week.

Gluten free Christmas cake (makes one 15cm (6") round cake)

Ingredients
225g (8 oz) currants
90g (3.5 oz) sultanas
90g (3.5 oz) raisins
650g (2.5 oz) chopped glace cherries
50g (2 oz) cut mixed peel
3 tbsp cream sherry
50g (2 oz) chopped almonds
175g (6 oz) plain gluten-free flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
150g (5 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
150g (5 ounces) soft brown sugar
3 medium eggs
grated zest of half a lemon
grated zest of half a orange
3 tbsp brandy

Cooking instructions
  1. Place all dried fruit and mixed peel in a bowl, pour in sherry and mix well. Cover with a clean cloth. Leave for 12 hours or overnight so fruit can absorb the sherry
  2. Preheat oven to 150 deg C (300 deg F)
  3. Grease and line tin with baking parchment
  4. Wrap newspaper/brown paper around tin and secure with baker's twine
  5. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture turns a pale colour
  6. Beat in eggs slowly on medium speed
  7. Sieve flour, salt and spices into the mixture and mix slowly on low speed
  8. Fold in soaked fruit, almonds, lemon & orange zest until well mixed
  9. Pour mixture into tin, level with spatula
  10. Place sheet of grease proof paper on top, and make sure to leave a small circle missing from centre
  11. Bake for 3 hours and 15 minutes on middle shelf
  12. Place cake on a wire rack to cool
  13. When cake is completely cool, remove cake from tin
  14. Pierce cake several times with skewer
  15. Pour 3 tsp of brandy over the top of the cake (feeding)
  16. Wrap in baking parchment
  17. Wrap in foil or store in an airtight container
  18. Feed at regular intervals over the next few weeks


Soaking dried fruit in sherry ready for Christmas cake
Cake tins for birdcage cake

Cake tins are available in my store on page 2.

After at least a few weeks comes the fun part - decorating it!

In case you missed it, here's last year's Winter Woodland Christmas cake with full instructions on how you can create it yourself.


Winter Woodland Christmas cake

Have a sweet day!

A new love....

my dear blog I have been negelcting you ..... I'm so sorry but I have found another love and just finding it so hard to keep in touch with all my social media bits and pieces.

I promise I will be back but look how fun instagram is.


Do you instagram? 
Leave your profile name so I can see what you've been up to.



This week I'm grateful for... being grateful x 200


Today marks an amazing 201 things that I've been grateful for since I started this grateful thingy on my blog. I posted my first 100 things a while back, and today I'm celebrating the next 200. Next week I'll post my 101 - 200 list.


Hi you. Thank you for being a part of the grateful thingy (I think that's it's new name...). Maybe you read along each week and visit the links, maybe you're one of the grateful ones, maybe this your first time here and you're wondering WTF?... whatever you're up to, I thank you.


This week I'm grateful for...


199. Regulars - my lovely grateful regulars, you have become my friends and online community. I look forward to seeing you every week and sharing a special moment or two in your life.


200. Newcomers - I may have 200 things down on the grateful thingy list, but every week is an opportunity for someone to begin at one. Being grateful as a regular thing slows you down and makes you reflect on what's good in the past and the present, rather than always thinking about what's around the next corner. There is something in that. The past and present are full of memories and feelings, the future is full of maybes and perhaps.


201. Number celebrations - I have no idea why we are all so obsessed with celebrating groups of 10, 100, etc, but we are. And don't you think it's funny how we still celebrate our 21st when 18 has been the new 21 for over 50 years? Regardless, counting down the numbers with a celebration here and there is fine by me!




So, what's making you smile today? Add your post to the list below (and please, we love you, but it really does matter that your post is a Grateful one and not just a random) and pretty-please add a link back to this linky. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine.




[Image by Reny Photography]
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