An alternative Christmas cake with Hobbycraft....

Can you believe that it's less than 6 weeks until Christmas? Crazy hey! If you follow me on instagram then you'll have seen from my instastories that one evening this week I planned all of my Christmas food for the whole week from Christmas Eve to New Years Eve as we have friends and family staying with us the whole festive period. I am a firm believer that the better prepared you are the less stress there will be at a time when you should really be enjoying yourself!

As you know I LOVE baking and I love baking even more when you can fake it! By faking it I mean making an incredible full of love bake that essentially has been born from a box! A fake it bake it if you would!

Well to celebrate the opening of the brand spanking new Hobbycraft store in Farnborough I've teamed up with them to bring you an alternative Christmas cake! I love the idea of baking a Christmas cake and decorating it but the reality is that my family despise it. So, when Hobbycraft asked if I would like to attempt to make something for my readers to try at home I naturally was lured to this Christmas tree cake! It is the perfect fake it bake it for you to try this festive season and it's such a jolly little number that it will force a smile on even the Grinchiest of people! Did I mention that it's also hideously easy to make and can be baked and decorated in under a couple of hours.

When I mentioned to my sister in law that I was doing this collaboration she was surprised to hear that Hobbycraft did cake ingredients and accessories. I love Hobbycraft and have long been a fan of their baking section - in fact for a long while it was one of the only places you could source Wilton baking accessories (a brand I discovered in the USA about ten years back).

Everything in the recipe below you can get in store - well with the exception of the oil, eggs and water needed for the cake and the Smarties and Flake!!

So here goes.....

What you'll need 

- A box cake mix - I used Betty Crocker Devils Food Mix
- Henshaws ready to roll icing in white and yellow (available here)
- Wilton decorator icing (available here)
- Wilton Christmas tree tin (available here) CURRENTLY ON SALE FOR £5!! (17.11.2017)
- Wilton cake release (available here)
- Wilton Kelly green food colouring (available here)
- Star cutter
- Smarties
- 3 x Flakes

How to make it...

1. Use the Cake Release as directed all over the inside of the tin.

2. Preheat the oven and make up the cake mix as directed on the packet.

3. Pour the cake batter into the tin and bake until the skewer comes out clean.

4. Leave to cool in the tin for fifteen minutes then turn onto a cooling rack.

5. Take three large dollops of the decorator icing and add a small amount of the green food colouring and mix to incorporate. The green colour depth you want can be achieved by adding less or more food colouring.

6. Take the green food colouring and spread evenly over the "branches" of the cake.

7. Take some of the decorator icing and spread over the bark.

8. Cut the 2 x Flakes into thirds and place on top of the icing on the bark and then crumble the remaining one and then press onto the sides making sure to cover all the icing.

9. Take your yellow icing and roll out to the depth of a £1 coin. Cut out the shape of the star and place in the freezer to firm up.

10. Next roll out your white icing and cut in to three equal strips measuring approx 1cm wide. Take one of your strips and place at the lowest part of the tree (like in the photo) and trim to width. Do the same with the two remaining strips.

11. Now for the lights, well the Smarties! Decorate with as many or as little as you'd like.

 Now in true prepping ahead of time the cake can be made in advance and frozen to be taken out, defrosted and decorated closer to Christmas.

I have been a HUGE fan of Hobbycraft's blog page for a while and there are so many things on there for the first time crafter to the most experienced. I so tempted to make the stags head for this Christmas - always wanted to try my hand at some decoupage! 

So, if you want to have a browse in store at all the fabulous things besides just crafts that Hobbycraft have, then why not visit its new store in Farnborough located at Horizon Retail Park. The new store is packed with crafting materials to suit all ages and abilities, and beginners through to experienced crafters are all welcome to pop in and chat to one of the colleagues, who are all passionate about arts and crafts. 

Well, I do hope that you give my alternative Christmas cake a try - it really is so very easy to bake and decorate and really does have the wow factor and will knock spots off any fruit cake this festive season!

Nathalie x

DISCLAIMER: This was a sponsored post in collaboration with Hobbycraft to promote the opening of their new store in Farnborough.