Poncetastic Mark 2

[Trumpton]

Just starting the new thread in haste .

I've got one flower out on the ones I bought. I'm going to put them in the lantern soon. I just hope they'll be ok in there.

Good luck with the gingerbread house Lucysmam . I did not have any success with glueing with caramel, beyond burnt fingers, but stiff icing worked. But you are probably better at it than me. I’ve just got the Lidl one, no cooking involved.
Don’t forget a photo!
I ponced my marzipan fruits yesterday. I wish I remembered how long they take, each year I get caught out. Yesterday it took me right through Peter Wimsey, Cadfael and most of the Browning Version on radio 4 extra.

Ooh, really? I thought it was a good idea! I could whip up some icing instead, I have plenty of eggs.

Lucysmam, unless yours is Gingerbread mansion, I don’t think you will need more than one egg white for plenty of icing.I just use stiff icing sugar and a tiny amount of water for the gluing part. I guess you used proper egg white royal icing for your dad’s beautiful cake.

My marzipan fruits. There are another 51 to keep marzipan lovers going.
Also my Nativity tableau, in honour of little DGS, a baptised Catholic amidst a family of heathens.

Definitely not at the point of gingerbread mansion making Tricky

Those fruits look fantastic; marzipan is one of my favourite treats at this time of year. Everyone looks at me like I've lost my marbles when I buy a block just for me to nibble on!

You lot will know - what are the rings called that you can buy to put on a rolling pin so whatever you're rolling out is even? I think we need some!

Oh such wonderful marzipan fruits! 🍇 🍑 🍓

I made the components for a little gingerbread house yesterday. Was thinking I’d need to buy a cake board to display it on but I’ve just realised I can use part of a cardboard box instead. Love it when I can save a few pounds here & there...I’m going to use royal icing to glue it together, and chocolate buttons for the roof tiles.😊

I also made a honey cake dough (traditional danish spiced honey cakes), which is resting for 24 hours so I’ll bake it tomorrow.

Rolling pin rings or spacers. Amazon do them.

Oh @lucysmam your gingerbread house will likely be a lot easier to build if you let it rest for a night to dry out a bit.

I didn't know that Holly! We'll just do the baking part for today then & build tomorrow. It'll spread it out a bit.

Thanks Tricky, I'll have a look now :)

Oops...I've just trimmed a roof panel down to side panel side. Warm gingerbread's very tasty though!

Mine is drying out in the dining room (DH’s temporary home office) and it smells delightfully Christmassy in there.

I stuck some bashed up sweets in the front windows. It's all a bit wonky round the edges & I was abandoned by the girls but I've quite enjoyed myself this afternoon I think I maybe want a cutter set though for next year, might be a bit faster.

I used a cutter set this year and it did make it a lot easier; I didn’t recut after baking so it is a little wonky, but I don’t mind that - I purposely didn’t do so because a) I couldn’t be bothered and b) I think it looks cuter when it’s not quite perfect - it’s a good thing too 😆 as i haven’t done one in years and it’s definitely not going to be pristine...

I forgot all about the boiled sweets for the windows so I had to make do without.

I had some left over from last year's stained glass biscuits so used those.

Which cutter set do you have? I've just had a scroll of ebay & there are some fairly cheap ones on there. I haven't read the descriptions yet though so they may be tiny!

I got one from amazon. I paid about £8 but I’ve seen what I think is the same one for about £5 so I obviously should have shopped around a bit more!

I think this is the same one:

kit

They're what I was looking at on ebay for around the same price; I'll stick a note in my diary to check after Christmas now, in case they come down in price. Got to be easier than cutting with a knife and pizza cutter wheel!

Cake is iced . Thank you dd !

Beautiful cake! Almost made me change my mind re: icing ours, but I’ve got a gingerbread house to do already so I think I’ll stick with the glazed nuts this year.

@Trumpton what a beauty of a cake!!

Adult dd is amazing at cakes . Such a treat to have her decorate mine. I just hand over the cake I made and covered with marzipan and she works her magic !
Her are the last 6 years’ cakes.

Three days later than planned the gingerbread house is drying ready to decorate.

It turns out dd1 is quite handy at using a piping bag & making royal icing that isn't too stiff or runny!