To my friends all over the world,
** ... ** ... ☆... ** ... Merry Christmas ** ... ** ... ☆... ** ... **
I didn't do much for Christmas this year, but I did make a small Christmas tree and baked a bundt cake.
This is the Christmas tree I made in five minutes.
Maybe, to long-term readers of my foodblog, these ribbons and ornaments look somewhat familiar? Haha... I've been using the same things in different combinations for years, as you can see here:
(Scroll down to see Christmas trees.)
Anyway, about the cake. I definitely wanted to use my bundt pan, so I did a net search for bundt cake and pound cake recipes. Finally, I picked this almond cake recipe (in Japanese). Unlike typical bundt cakes, this is a pretty light and almost fluffy almond cake, so I was a little worried that it may not keep its shape nicely.
Anyway, about the cake. I definitely wanted to use my bundt pan, so I did a net search for bundt cake and pound cake recipes. Finally, I picked this almond cake recipe (in Japanese). Unlike typical bundt cakes, this is a pretty light and almost fluffy almond cake, so I was a little worried that it may not keep its shape nicely.
So this is how my cake looked when it came out of the oven. :)
Not bad. Not bad at all. But it wasn't perfect... I forgot to add almond extract to the batter! When I realized it, the cake was already half-done, so there was nothing I could do at that point. All I could do was making syrup, adding bunch of almond extract to it and brushing it onto the bottom surface of the cake before taking it out of the pan.
And on the next day, I iced the cake. At first, I thought about making orange flavored icing, but after all, I chose to make simple icing (milk & confectionery sugar) with lots of almond extract added. Here's now I drizzled it over the cake.
And at night, after coming back from Christmas caroling at a local church, I tasted my cake with sparkling wine.
This year, I didn't have a nice, big candle and didn't do a good job in photo-taking. But the cake and wine were good enough for enjoying the relaxing Christmas Eve in my room.
.No great pic, but it captured the cozy atmosphere, at least. :)
Hope everyone had a peaceful Christmas with lots of joy.
.