We celebrated a very special anniversary recently – 25 years of marriage – and as I have my paternal grandmother’s wonderful recipe for Special Occasion Rich Fruit Cake it seemed only right to make the cake myself. As usual the recipe was moist and delicious and it was lovely to feel that my Nanna, who died many years ago when I was a teenager was, though her recipe, able to ‘share’ in our special occasion.
The cake was made and decorated in the week following our anniversary as it was made to share with the close friends and family who came to a special meal and party at home. It seemed odd, however, to add this post on any day apart from the actual anniversary. Here’s to many more and the next 25 at the very least!
The recipe for the Special Occasion Rich Fruit Cake which I use at Christmas and Easter, is versatile and can be made with or without alcohol. Finish with or without traditional marzipan and icing as appropriate to the occasion for which it is to celebrate.
In this case, when deciding on decoration, I puzzled for a while as I am a total novice with a piping bag (and usually fairly short on time!) In the end I decided to keep it simple, using more of the edible glitter and silver balls bought for the Starry Night Cake I made last Christmas. I googled ‘Number 25’, chose one of the many images available, enlarged it to size and printed it, after which I carefully turned it into a stencil. It was fairly easy, after slightly wetting the inside of the numbers, to thickly sprinkle on the glitter and push small balls into the outline of the numbers at regular intervals. After carefully removing the stencil, the excess glitter was brushed away with a pastry brush. The cake was finished with a ruched band of transparent wire edged ribbon with silver printing. The finishing touch was a silver bow which I have had from ages – probably rescued from a gift (I often squirrel bits and pieces away in the hope they will come in useful one day!) On reflection, perhaps a little more colour would have been good – a touch of pastel colouring to offset the greyness of the silver – however the jewel colours on the numbers glittered very prettily in the sunlight. I was not really disappointed and most importantly the cake tasted just as good as I knew, from experience, it would – thanks again Nanna!
A note about cake glitter…
The edible glitter I used was bought from a local cake making suppliers (but is widely available). Craft glitter, which is often made from crushed glass, should never be substituted. For an unusual (non cake) idea of what to do with edible glitter look no further than here! I wonder what other culinary uses this dust fine glitter can be put to (bearing in mind that it’s far too expensive for normal craftwork).
Congratulations not only on the 25 years but for the amazing cake too….btw, I am a BIG cake glitter fan!
Karen
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Thanks Karen for your kind words and wishes. I discovered glitter last Christmas and think it’s such fun to use. I have one question, though: How on earth do you get it to stick to the (fondant) icing? There were no instructions on my little glitter jar and in the end I dampened the area I wanted sparkly to help it stick. It seemed right but I have no idea if there is a better way!
Any thoughts – or from anyone else reading this …!
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That cake is absolutely beautiful! I love that your Nanna got to share the celebration :) I’ll need to give your cake a try, the next time I’m making a celebratory cake. My last one wasn’t a patch on yours!
Happy Silver Wedding Anniversary to you both :)
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Thank you Catherine for your kind words & wishes…
I do hope my nan would have been proud – she was a lovely lady and I remember her well even though she has been gone for many years. We are very fond of this cake – and not just because of its family connections. It alwasy comes out moist and crumbly rather than solid, like some cakes of this type – the slices do not always hold together perfectly but it tastes great!
I see other cakes which I wonder about trying but in the end I always end up making the one I know and love!
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That is beautiful, such a simple idea but really well executed. Always the best way in my opinion.
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Thank you Janice – cake decorating is not really my skill, though I would love to learn a bit more about piping. I decided on something simple to avoid making a mess and spoiling everything. Think I pulled it off, though perhaps a little more colour? Silver can be very dull.
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Lovely cake and congratulations – that’s quite an achievement!
Thank you for linking to my glitter jam :o)
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Thank you Hannah! I thought the glitter jam was a lovely and unusual idea. Perhaps good as part of a Christmas gift…?
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