Meringue Christmas Tree

Meringue Christmas Tree

by | Dec 2, 2017 | 0 comments

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The best kind of Christmas tree? The one you can eat, of course! Imagine not having to worry about table decorations for Christmas this year? Imagine that the table decorations ARE the dessert! I came up with the idea for this Meringue Christmas Tree when I was dreaming up desserts that guests can have fun with and assemble themselves. They’ll have more fun, and more importantly, it’s less stressful for you! One giant meringue christmas tree in the middle of the table then becomes the pavlova at the end of the meal! Simply put bowls of ice cream, whipped cream, custard, fresh fruit and maybe a bottle or two of liqueur and everyone breaks off shards of meringue to create their own masterpiece!

Meringue Christmas Tree

Because this is quite a structure, you’re going to need to make sure you make a really good meringue! Here are my tips:

  1. Use room temperature egg whites
  2. Make sure your bowl and whisks are sparkling clean – any grease or fat will stop the whites from frothing
  3. There shouldn’t be any egg yolk in sight.
  4. Use a really good-quality sugar, I love the Natura Sugars Golden Caster Sugar because it’s unrefined which means it’s not just sweet, it has a light caramel flavour which adds so much extra flavour oomph to the merinuge! The fine texture is also important so it can dissolve and form a crisp shell.
  5. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form before you start adding the sugar, and then add it gradually – not all at once.
  6. Whip the meringue until the Natura Sugars Golden Caster Sugar is completely dissolved.

 The meringue stars can be made up to a week before serving which means the only thing you need to worry about on Christmas day is stacking them, adorning the ‘tree’ with gold balls, glitter and a generous dusting of Natura Sugars Demerara Icing Sugar.

Meringue Christmas Tree

Watch how to make the Meringue Christmas Tree below:

 

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Meringue Christmas Tree

Ingredients

  • Serves 6-8
  • 10 large egg whites
  • 550g Natura Golden Caster Sugar
  • 150ml cornstarch
  • 1 tsp drop vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup Natura Demerara Icing Sugar, for dusting
  • Decorate with gold leaf, chocolate stars or any other desired decorations.
  • Whipped cream and berries, to serve

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 100 ?C and line two to three large baking sheets with non-stick baking paper. Trace star shapes onto one side of the baking paper, ranging from 25cm wide to 5 cm wide then flip the paper over onto a baking tray. Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip to stiff peaks. Combine the cornflour and caster sugar together then gradually start adding the mix, little by little, continuing to whip, until the meringue is very thick and glossy. Whisk in the vanilla then place the mixture in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe the meringue into star shapes on the templates created. Place in the preheated oven to dry (wedge a wooden spoon between the oven and the oven door to keep it ajar) until the meringues are crisp but still soft in the middle, 1 – 2 hours. Take out and allow to cool completely.Once all the meringue stars have dried out and cooled, stack the stars on top of each other. Twisting each star so the points don’t all face the same way. Decorate with desired decorations and dust generously with icing sugar. Serve the Meringue Christmas tree with whipped cream and berries.
https://thekatetin.com/meringue-christmas-tree/

What will you be making for Christmas dessert this year? Let me know in the comments below! And if you don’t already know, here are a few more ideas:

 

Chocolate Mousse Christmas Fruit Cake

Chocolate Mousse Christmas Fruit Cake

by | Nov 16, 2017 | 14 comments

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Meet your new Christmas cake! It’s a moist chocolate fruit cake made with Food Lovers’ Market Luxury Festive Cake Mix, which is loaded with raisins, sultanas, cherries, flaked almonds, candied fruit and citrus peel. I also added some molasses and 70% dark chocolate, to really make it deep and dark! Of course the moist chocolate fruit cake wasn’t enough on it’s own so I sandwiched the layers together with a velvety chocolate mousse and a shiny gold-lustred mirror glaze. No marzipan or fondant icing in sight! Mirror, mirror, who’s the fairest cake of them all? Mine. Obviously.

The chocolate fruit cake itself is super moist – what’s the secret? I measured out the Food Lover’s Market Luxury Festive Cake Mix and then soaked it with some other delicious goodies like cherries and prunes overnight. This really plumps up the fruit and keeps it moist. Check out some of these other tips on how to keep your cake moist –  the apple idea is very clever!

Now, let’s talk about that shiny mirror glaze. I know it looks intimidating but I promise you that it’s WAY easier than covering a cake in fondant. And it goes without saying that it tastes better too. The best thing about this mousse cake, is that you can make it and freeze it weeks in advance, then the day before, pour over the mirror glaze and stick it in the fridge to defrost. And if you think it’s too early to start thinking about Christmas, it’s just 6 weeks away – eeek!

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Chocolate Mousse Christmas Cake

Ingredients

  • Chocolate Mousse Fruit Cake
  • Serves 8-10
  • 215g Food Lovers’ Market fruit cake mix
  • 150g dried soft prunes, chopped
  • 100g glace cherries
  • 90g salted butter, softened
  • 90g dark muscovado sugar
  • 60ml molasses (or honey)
  • 60ml spiced rum (or brandy), plus extra for soaking
  • zest and juice of 1 orange
  • 1/2 tsp mixed spice
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tbsp The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 75g self-raising flour
  • 50g flaked almonds, toasted
  • 50g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped roughly
    • Chocolate Mousse
  • 375ml whipping cream, divided
  • 170g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped
  • 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
    • Chocolate Glaze
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup cream
  • ½ cup The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder, sifted
  • 1 ½ Tbsp gelatine powder

Instructions

  1. Place the fruit cake mix, prunes, cherries, butter, sugar, molasses, rum, zest and juice and spices in a large saucepan and heat gently until the butter is melted. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely then cover and allow to stand overnight. Preheat the oven to 150C. Line 1 x deep cake tin 20cm round, with a double layer of baking paper. To the soaked fruit cake mix, add the eggs, flour, almonds and dark chocolate chunks. Pour the mixture into the lined cake tins and bake in the preheated oven for 1 ½ hours. A skewer inserted into the middle should still have a few crumbs clinging to it. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the cake tins. Once completely cool, cut the cake in 3 so you have 3 cake layers. Wash the cake tin and line the sides with a 10cm high collar made from foil or baking paper – this is to extend the height of the pan. Set aside.
  2. To make the mousse, whip half the cream to stiff peaks then refrigerate until needed. Heat the rest of the cream to just below boiling point, then pour over the chopped chocolate. Allow to stand for a few minutes then stir until smooth. Set aside. Whip egg yolks on high speed in a stand mixer until light and stiff. Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the syrup reaches 120 degrees celcius on a sugar thermometer. Start whipping the egg yolks again and gradually add the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl. Whip until the mixture has doubled in volume and is body temperature.
  3. Test the temperature of the ganache (it should also be body temperature), then fold the ganache into the whipped yolks. Fold in the whipped cream in 2 batches.
  4. To assemble, place a fruit cake layer in the bottom of the prepared cake tin. Brush the cake layer with the extra rum or brandy, pour in 1/3 of the chocolate mousse, then alternate with fruit cake, rum and more mousse, ending with the chocolate mousse. Make sure to press the cake layers down into the mousse. Freeze the cake for at least 4 hours or overnight.
  5. To make the glaze, bring the water, sugar and cream to the boil. Whisk in the cocoa and simmer for 4 minutes while stirring. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the gelatin over ¼ cup of cold water, allow it to absorb and then whisk this into the hot cocoa mixture to dissolve. Allow to cool completely at room temperature.
  6. To assemble the cake, remove from the freezer and unmould (use a hair dryer on low setting to release it if necessary). Peel away the paper collar and place the cake on a cooling rack with a baking sheet underneath. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake in one go, making sure it drips down the sides evenly. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Notes

TIP To add gold to the glaze, add a few drops of liquid gold lustre (available at baking shops) before pouring onto the cake.

https://thekatetin.com/chocolate-mousse-christmas-fruit-cake-mirror-glaze/

Christmas Gingerbread Cake with Brandy Butter Frosting

Christmas Gingerbread Cake with Brandy Butter Frosting

by | Dec 22, 2016 | 14 comments

Forget dense, heavy fruit cake – this light but complex gingerbread cake is the new Christmas cake in town!

This is hands-down the best cake I have made all year! And I’ve eaten a lot of cake, people! By now you’ll know about my love for proper dark muscovado sugar – that deep, dark treacle flavour gives me all the feels and I loved how this cake was the epitome of that flavour. It’s loaded with molasses too – which, by the way, is high in B vitamins, so this cake is healthy too!

Unlike fruit cake, it’s light and spongy making it easier to eat more (if you are arguing about this statement, refer to the previous paragraph re vitamins) and the brandy butter, well it was just destined to be the frosting. The little Christmas tree decorations on top (made with this gingerbread cookie recipe) are simple, elegant and anyone can make them – even the kids can help out (less work for you!). To sum up; Fruit cake be gone because there is a new Christmas cake in town!

Christmas Gingerbread Cake with Brandy Butter Frosting
Serves 12
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Nutrition Facts
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* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Does this look wrong?
For the cake
  1. 170g salted butter
  2. 170g molasses
  3. 170g golden syrup
  4. 180g (260ml) Natura Sugars Dark Muscovado Sugar
  5. 425g (3 ¼ cups) cake flour
  6. 1/4 tsp salt
  7. 2 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  8. 2 tsp ground ginger
  9. ½ tsp cinnamon
  10. 2 tsp The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder
  11. 2 large eggs, beaten
  12. 1 ½ cups whole milk
  13. Brandy Butter Frosting
  14. 250g butter, softened
  15. 350g Natura Sugars Demerara Icing Sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting
  16. 2 tbsp brandy
  17. 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180° C (or 160C fan-forced). Grease and line the base of 2x22cm round cake tins. In a saucepan, melt the butter, molasses, syrup and sugar over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved completely. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Whisk the eggs and milk into the cooled molasses mixture then pour into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Divide the batter between the lined cake tins and bake in for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool completely then slice each cake in half horizontally to form 4 layers.
  2. To make the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy then add the brandy and vanilla. Assemble the cake by layering the icing inbetween the cake layers leaving enough to cover the sides. Decorate with gingerbread Christmas trees and a dusting of icing sugar.
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The Kate Tin https://thekatetin.com/
Christmas Bun Wreath with Sherry Caramel

Christmas Bun Wreath with Sherry Caramel

by | Dec 21, 2016 | 0 comments

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There are a few things that define being a South African; if you use the word ‘Ja’ instead of ‘yes’, if you know what a ‘bakkie’ is, if you call it a granadilla instead of a passion fruit and, if you have at least one memory of OBS (Old Brown Sherry). Mine specifically revolves around Christmas and the generous glug my Great Aunty Margot always adds to the family trifle, but my story isn’t nearly as exciting as the one’s Sedgwick’s have compiled in a sweet little book to celebrate their 100-year birthday! One story, specifically, had me in fits of giggles because it sounded exactly like something my late grandmother would do! It’s called ‘The Undefeatable Tipsy Tart’ and was submitted by A. Nel.

“For over 15 years, my Grandmother was the reigning Tipsy Tart Queen of the local Agricultural Show. No other tannie could come close and every year, as she walked away with another first-prize ribbon, you would see them flocking around, fishing for her “secret ingredient”. Ouma would just laugh and say: “It’s made with love”.

 

Two years ago, my Gran passed away and my mother inherited all of her cookbooks and the hand-written recipes she had collected over the decades. Obviously the first dish my mother tried to replicate was the Undefeatable Tipsy Tart and while it tasted delicious, well, it wasn’t THAT good.

 

It was only 6 months later, after the gentleman who had been the judge for all those years stepped down, that Grandma’s trick was finally revealed. Turns out, the “secret ingredient” wasn’t actually part of her recipe – it was the shot of Sedgwick’s she always gave him beforehand that sealed the deal!”

If you’d love to get your hands on this special book (and a bottle of Sedgwick’s to drink while you mull over the stories), I’m giving away a gift set over on my Facebook page this week so click here to enter! You can also read all the funny OBS tales over on Sedgwick’s website here. But before you head on over, I’ve made some deliciously sticky Christmas buns stuffed with proper almond marzipan and fruit mince and drizzled with a Sedgwicks caramel which, if I could, I would bath in! Make them on Christmas eve, pop them in the fridge to prove overnight and bake them on Christmas morning to nibble on while you open presents! Merry Christmas everyone!

Sticky Christmas Bun Wreath with Marzipan and Sedgwick’s Caramel

Makes 12

 

DOUGH

500g flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp mixed spice

75g muscovado sugar

75g butter, softened

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

10g instant dry yeast

10g salt

175ml lukewarm milk (or water)

 

FILLING

60g butter, softened

½ cup fruit mince

100g almond marzipan (not persipan*) – optional, grated, plus extra for star cut-outs

 

SHERRY CARAMEL

1 cup light brown sugar

½ cup Sedgwick’s OBS

60g butter

1 tbsp cream

 

Make the dough by placing all the ingredients in a mixing bowl (I use a stand mixer to make it easier) and combine until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes or until it’s smooth and springs back when poked with a finger. Cover the dough and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour). You can also do this in the fridge overnight which gives it a lovely sourdough flavour. In the meantime, prepare the baking tray by rubbing a large 30cm spring form cake tin with butter. Knock down the dough and knead it lightly to press out the air then roll out into a 20x30cm rectangle. Spread the dough with the softened butter then spread with fruit mince and sprinkle with grated marzipan. Roll the dough up tightly (from the longest side) to form a sausage then slice into 2cm thick wheels. Pack the buns around the outside of the prepared cake tin and place a small ramekin in the middle (to keep the wreath shape. Then cover loosely with cling wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. In the meantime, make the caramel; place the sugar in a pan or saucepan with 2 tbsp water and heat gently until dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer until deep golden brown. Add the OBS, butter and cream and swirl to combine. Allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 200C (conventional, 180 fan-forced) and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden (with the ramekin in the middle). Allow to cool slightly before serving warm, drizzled with the sherry caramel. Decorate with marzipan stars.

 

TIP You know when people say they hate marzipan? What they really mean is they hate persipan – the fake marzipan sold in most shops which is actually made from peach and apricot kernels and tastes like almond essence (also fake). Woolies now sell proper marzipan so do yourself a favour and give the real deal a try.

Gingerbread Beach Huts

Gingerbread Beach Huts

by | Dec 19, 2016 | 1 comment

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Gingerbread Beach Huts

I’ve built quite a few gingerbread houses over the years – my very first one was a gift sent by my cousins. It came in a beautiful big box with all the pieces already baked, little plastic containers filled with icing and all sorts of sweets and sprinkles for decorating. My brother, sisters and I spent an entire day engrossed in building the (what felt like) gigantic edible house. Now that I think about it, it was probably more of a gift to my mother, who must’ve relished an entire day without 4 holiday-bored kids annoying her! By reliving and building this childhood memory over the years, I’ve learnt two tricks to making a gingerbread house:

 

  1. Always cut your gingerbread pieces out AFTER baking. The raw pastry cutouts simply stretch or spread in the oven leaving you with a wonky house. Not ideal.
  2. Stick the house together using caramel – not royal icing. Caramel hardens quickly giving the perfect structure. You can then pipe on royal icing afterwards if you’re going to keep the house for a few days.
Gingerbread houses are one of the European traditions we’ve somehow inherited and while it’s fun to dust them in icing sugar and pipe on icicles hanging from the windows, it just doesn’t make sense in our 30 degree summer! For us South Africans, Christmas is about having sand between your toes, licking a quickly-melting granadilla lolly and (depending where you’re holidaying) attempting to swim in the frigid Cape Town waters or basking in the warm Durban ocean! Since I’m a Cape Town gal, I decided to create a house that reminds me of a South African summer; so why not recreate the colourful Muizenberg beach huts – in gingerbread!
Not all gingerbreads are created equal – especially if you’re going to actually eat them – which if you aren’t, what is wrong with you?! Traditional gingerbread is all about that dark, deep molasses flavour so when Natura Sugars gifted me with their new Molasses sugar, it was a sign! Because it’s unrefined, it’s oozing with flavour and just takes any gingerbread to a whole ‘nother level! I’ve used 3 other kinds of Natura Sugars in this recipe (because, well, why not?!); demerara icing for the ‘bright paint’, light brown sugar for the caramel ‘glue’ and the silky soft brown sugar makes the perfect beach sand! Happy Holidays everyone – enjoy the time with your family, eat a gingerbread beach house or two and forget about the calories. Life is too short .

Gingerbread Beach Huts

Makes 1

 

125g butter, softened

90g Natura Sugars Molasses Sugar

230g golden syrup

375g cake flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

 

Royal icing

1 egg white, beaten

2 cups Natura Sugars Demerara Icing Sugar, sifted

squeeze of lemon juice

Food colouring

 

Caramel

1 cup Natura Sugars Light Brown Sugar

 

To assemble

Wooden chopping or cake board, to display

Natura Sugars Soft Brown Sugar, for beach sand

Cocktail umbrellas

Ocean sweeties, to decorate

Gingerbread house template here

Preheat the oven to 180C. Cream the butter and sugar well until very pale and fluffy. Add the syrup, flour, spices and bicarb and mix until a smooth dough forms. Roll the dough out on a floured surface or between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Refrigerate for 30 minutes if too soft. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden and crisp. While still hot, cut out templates using a sharp knife. * If you want, cut out doors, a beach towel and a surfboard from the off cuts. Set aside to cool.

To make the royal icing, whisk the egg white gently then add the icing sugar until a stiff paste forms. Add the lemon juice. Divide the icing into 4 bowls, colour the batches in red, blue, green and yellow. Ice the biscuits with the royal icing, using sweets to decorate if desired. Allow to set completely.

To assemble, prepare the caramel by placing the sugar in a saucepan with 2 tbsp water and heat until dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer until golden brown. Remove from the heat. Use the caramel to glue the beach hut together onto the cake board. Then glue on the roof and decorate as desired. Sprinkle the soft brown sugar around the base for ‘beach sand’ and arrange the beach-themed sweeties around.

 

TIP  If the gingerbread gets hard, simply pop it in the oven for a few minutes to soften up.

WATCH HOW TO MAKE THE RECIPE AND ASSEMBLE HERE:
Milk Tart Éclair Trifle with Pinotage Jelly and Naartjie Caramel

Milk Tart Éclair Trifle with Pinotage Jelly and Naartjie Caramel

by | Dec 12, 2016 | 3 comments

Here’s a question for you; if there’s a Christmas lunch and there’s no trifle on the table, was it even Christmas at all? These are the things I lie awake and think about at 3am. Also, why do we still struggle with Christmas puddings, custard and roast turkey’s in the middle of summer. I’m not saying we should abandon traditions that spilled over onto our South African shores, but, each year I long for us to inject our own flavour and twists onto them. In our home, we’ve stripped the British Christmas down to one thing; gammon. That’s it for us! Give us gammon, and it’s Christmas! Last year was the fall of the trifle and the year before that, the turkey got the axe.  But unlike all the other hot puddings, trifle fits with our climate which is how it came to get a bit of Pinotage, some milk tart and a drizzling of naartjie caramel. And because we’re huge fans of the eclair in SA, I thought I’d get rid of the sponge too. These flavours together are just magic – in fact, the trifle may just be making a comeback on our Christmas menu! If you’re skipping the booze, then swop the Pinotage for Naartjie juice but it really does taste incredible with the milk tart filling. And the best part about this dessert is that it can be made ahead of time – bonus! Which traditional Christmas dessert do you wish would get a local makeover?

Milk  Tart Éclair Trifle with Pinotage Jelly and Naartjie Caramel

Recipe originally shot and created for Food & Home Entertaining Magazine

 

Éclairs

75g cake flour

40g butter, cubed

125ml (½ cup) water

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

 

Milk tart filling

500ml (2 cups) milk

1 cinnamon quill

40ml cornflour

45ml (3 tbsp) caster sugar

5ml (1 tsp) ground cinnamon

2,5ml (½ tsp) vanilla essence

4 large egg yolks

2 large egg whites

 

Pinotage jelly

3 (2g) gelatine sheets

310ml (1¼ cups) pinotage wine

30ml (2 tbsp) sugar

2 whole star anise

1 cinnamon quill

 

Naartjie caramel

225g castor sugar

225ml naartjie juice

To serve

 

500ml (2 cups) fresh cream, whipped to soft peaks

60ml (4 tbsp) icing sugar, sifted

225g castor sugar, to dip and to make spun sugar

edible gold stars (optional)

 

1 For the éclairs, preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C for fan-assisted). Sieve the cake flour. Heat the butter and water in a pot over high heat until just melted and bring to a rolling boil. Immediately remove from heat and add all of the flour at once. Mix until a smooth dough forms, return to the heat and cook, about 1 minute or until the pastry pulls away from the sides of the pot. Allow to cool completely. Transfer the mixture to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle and beat until cool. Add the beaten eggs into the pastry, a little at a time, until smooth, shiny and of a piping consistency. Add a little more egg, if needed. Place the pastry in a piping bag fitted with a large plain nozzle. Pipe tablespoonfuls of mixture into lined baking trays, leaving enough space to puff up. Bake, about 15 – 20 minutes or until puffed up and golden. Switch off the oven, remove the puffs, pierce each with a skewer to allow steam to escape and immediately return to the oven to dry out, 5 minutes.

 

2 For the milk tart filling, heat half of the milk with the cinnamon quill until just below boiling point. Set aside to infuse, 5 minutes. Whisk the remaining cold milk with the cornflour, castor sugar, ground cinnamon, vanilla and egg yolks. Whisk into the hot milk. Cook over medium heat until thick and the flour taste is cooked out, about 5 minutes. Remove the cinnamon quill. Beat the 2 egg whites until soft peaks start to form and slowly fold into the custard. Pour into a medium-sized dish, cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate until set.

 

3 For the pinotage jelly, soften the 3 gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water. Once soft, squeeze out the water and transfer to a small pot with 250ml (1 cup) of the wine, sugar and spices. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the gelatine and sugar are completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve into a jug and stir in the remaining red wine. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a large 4-litre capacity trifle bowl and refrigerate until set.

 

4 For the naartjie caramel, place the castor sugar in a saucepan and heat until caramelised and golden. Deglaze with the naartjie juice, bring to a boil and remove from heat. Set aside to cool.

 

5 To assemble, fold half of the whipped cream into the set milk tart filling, place in a piping bag with a plain tip nozzle and fill the profiteroles. Make a caramel by heating the castor sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and cooking until golden. Remove from heat and dip the tops of the profiteroles into the caramel, working quickly so that it doesn’t set hard (use the remaining caramel to make spun sugar, if desired).

 

6 Stir the icing sugar into the remaining whipped cream, and layer the profiteroles and whipped cream in alternate layers. Drizzle with the naartjie syrup in between. Decorate with spun sugar and edible gold stars, if desired.

 

 

 

TIP  To make the spun sugar, tape 2 wooden spoons, 10cm apart, onto a benchtop with the handles hanging over the side of the bench. Place a sheet of baking paper on the floor under the handles. Once your caramel starts to set, use a fork or whisk and quickly flick the caramel back and forth between the handles of the spoons to form thin strands. Once set, gather the strands and shape into a large ball. Use immediately.