'Tis the Season to Be Baking
I feel like I've been baking all week. But maybe that's because I've accomplished so little on the culinary front lately. Eating a lot, mainly. But the gloves came off and the apron on this past week, as I faced the challenges of gingerbread men, my favorite almond torte cake, and a few other odds and ends for family holiday parties and new year's visits. Despite the nimbleness of my overly floured fingers, though, I did not accomplish the one feat I had hoped to - the task of baking a traditional English Christmas cake - essentially a light fruit cake (think, Panettone) with dense, glossy white icing all around its visible surfaces. In taste, it's a little like a stollen, I think. Though, I couldn't find the time, energy, or, after all the other desserts, the audience for yet another cake, so I contented myself with a close parallel - a new drink I've recently discovered: the Hungarian liquor, Zwack! Like Christmas in a bottle.