My annual Christmas cake

17 years ago

It was 1996. I was newly married and living in an apartment when I received my first Southern Living Annual Recipes. It had the most adorable cake on the cover-a square cake made to look like a gift. It had a candy ribbon and gingerbread cookies all around the edges. Now I enjoyed baking, but this looked way too intimidating for me to tackle. But I REALLY wanted to make that cake, so I called up my best friend Les and proposed that we get together and each make the cake to take to our prospective holiday gatherings. Les, having been my buddy since the age of 2, readily agreed. And thus a Christmas cake making tradition was born and has continued to this day. We had a fill in for Les in 1998 when she was struck by a severe auto immune disorder and was hospitalized for several months. We are by no means professional decorators, which is readily evidenced by some of the cakes, but we have an absolute blast every time we get together to bake. This year's cake had to be made early as Les is planning to be in Montana this year for Christmas. We planned something easy that would freeze well since we have two months till the holidays. This year's offering is a chocolate peppermint ice cream cake. I'm going to try and attatch a slideshow of most of the other cakes (1998 was not a good year :)

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Comments (15)

Terri_PacNW
17 years ago
What a great tradition..I love that you guys do a new cake every year too....

How do you decide?
teresa_nc7
17 years ago
Fantastic! You two are an inspiration to the rest of us! Do you make the cake layers from scratch also?

I'm impressed!
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I can't really help exactly with your questions, but I just wanted to butt in to say, make sure you cool your cakes first before freezing. Every time I freeze my cakes and breads without cooling them completely, I get terrible ice crystals all over them. (Maybe you knew this already!) GW
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trixietx
17 years ago
I loved your slide show. All your cakes are beautiful, but I think my favorite would be the first one, the package cake.

I have the 1996 Southern Living Annual Cookbook. That cake is so pretty on the cover. I have not made it, but maybe you will inspire me!

I bet you and your friend have alot of fun making Christmas cakes each year.
annie1992
17 years ago
Tracey, I agree, my favorite was that first cake!

How nice to have a friend and a holiday tradition that lasts through the years. I want to know what you're planning for this year....

Annie
Tracey_OH
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks guys!

Terri-For several years we just used whatever cake was on the cover of that year's Southern Living Annual Recipes, but one year it was something that was not at all Christmasy so we branched out and from then on we've just used whatever struck our fancy.

Teresa-Honestly, it just depends. Usually we do bake from scratch but I know there have been a few years where we broke out the cake mixes.

Trixie-That cake is really a showstopper and pretty easy to assemble. I say go for it!
compumom
17 years ago
How fun was that? It looks like a great way to have an adult playdate and enjoy the reminder in the days to come! Thanks for the inspiration and those wonderful looking cakes!
mitchdesj
17 years ago
I loved the slideshow, this is an amazing tradition, thanks for sharing that with us.
Tracey_OH
Original Author
17 years ago
Annie-This year's cake is done already! I should clarify that Les and I have lived in different states for the past 6 years, so there's a bit of planning that goes into the date we make the cake. With her being out of town for Christmas this year, we decided to do it now while we were up in Ohio for fall break. It's the Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream cake. We got the recipe from Epicurious and I think everyone is going to like it, unless they are not a peppermint fan!

Thanks for looking everyone!

Tracey
stacy3
17 years ago
Tracey - they're beautiful and I love the idea. Great idea to do an ice cream cake this year since you had to do it early!
jain
17 years ago
fun, and now i am starving for cake...
CA Kate z9
17 years ago
What a neat thing to do with a friend. I especially liked the white-frosted cake with the candy canes and trees behind.
dixiedog_2007
17 years ago
Tracey I loved the slide show with the cakes. You and your friend have made some really wonderful cakes. What a great thing to do together. Thanks for sharing!
eileenlaunonen
17 years ago
I like all but my favorite was the christmas ornament.
Solsthumper
17 years ago
Tracy, that's so sweet. Not just the cakes -which are obviously beautiful- but I think the friendship between you and Les is nothing short of wonderful. How cool to have remained friends since childhood.

Btw, my eyes popped out of my head at the sight of your chocolate peppermint ice cream cake. They're one of my favorite flavor combinations.

Sol
Tracey_OH
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks again everyone! We really do have so much fun planning and making these cakes every year. Nothing beats hanging out with an old friend who knows you in and out. And it's amazing how far our culinary skills have come since 1996. Our second cake (the angel cake)literally took us 8 hours to make. We had no idea how to shortcut or streamline back then and followed the recipe faithfully. We made the cake layers, the white chocolate buttercream frosting, the angel cutout cookies, and the chocolate pecan truffle filling which included a recipe of pecan pralines in it! The cake tasted amazing but it was a LONG day :) Our worst cake was a chocolate hazelnut torte (not pictured) from the cover of Bon Appetit a few years ago. Tasteless and a big letdown from the picture.

Here's the link to this years recipe if anyone is interested!

Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Cake

My annual Christmas cake

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My annual Christmas cake

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