Skipping into Advent
A week and a half ago, I’d have told you it was far too early to get excited for Christmas. But since then, I’ve spent an afternoon volunteering in the charity shop selling Christmas cards, eaten a pigs in blankets toastie, and made a cake full of warming spices, and I am ready.
So now, here I am, gingerbread latte in hand (a big hand to the team in my local Pret who put up with my requests for just half the amount of syrup), telling you how much I love Advent.
For me, it’s always my favourite part of the Christmas season. The sense of anticipation, the twinkling lights up everywhere, and how every social occasion becomes an excuse for a mulled wine or a mince pie. One downside of being in Scotland (not a very cider-y place) is that very few pubs here offer mulled cider - and no, heated-up spiced Rekorderlig doesn’t count - so I’ll almost certainly make up a pot of it myself before the season is out. Compared to January and February, which are still dark and cold, but at least have the optimism that each day is slightly longer than the one before, November and December have the potential to be long and depressing. I try to take some holiday in November each year to counter that, and leaning into the more hyggelig aspects of the season massively helps too.
And that spiced cake - let me tell you about it!
Three words: Cinnamon Cream-cheese Frosting.
This is the Smitten Kitchen Spiced Applesauce Cake - and if you’ve been around here any length of time you’ll know I’m a devotee of Deb Perelman, the woman behind Smitten Kitchen. This is a gorgeous cake made with a jar and a half of smooth applesauce, a tonne of warming winter spices, and not a lot else. It made me think of Snacking Cakes, a book I’ve had my eye on for a while, in that it’s a simple square 8x8 inch cake, perfect for dipping into at any time of day.
And then of course the star of the show is the cream-cheese frosting, made with cinnamon. I think UK ‘soft cheese’ is different from the American variety, which is why my frosting is so much softer/ runnier than the one in Deb’s recipe pictures - but it’s delicious regardless.
Over the coming weeks, I’m looking forward to diving back into Kate Young’s Little Library Christmas cookbook, which is full of delicious things for this time of year. I’ll be sure to report back - and to pick up a copy of her newest, The Little Library Parties cookbook.
Something good…
Courtesy of a Peloton ride last week (I know, I’m a broken record) I discovered that the stage musical of Moulin Rouge, which premiered in 2018, contains a new set of songs (compared to the 2001 film). I’ve been dancing around my kitchen to the cast recording album ever since. If you watched Glee, you’ll know what I mean when I say it has intense Vocal Adrenaline vibes… but that’s not necessarily a bad thing?
With the obligatory disclaimer that I haven’t yet tried it, I was tickled pink to see that Subway have included in their Christmas menu, alongside pigs in blankets, a pot of dipping gravy. There’s something so delightfully absurd about that, right?
Speak to you soon,
Lily