Guest Post: #Christmas In July With Robbie And Michael Cheadle - #Holidays #Recipes #Baking

Christmas in July
By Robbie Cheadle

In South Africa, along with some of the other Southern Hemisphere countries, we celebrate Christmas in July. Apparently, we Southern Hemisphere country dwellers feel deprived because Christmas falls during the height of our summer season. We miss out on a white Christmas with snow, frost and warming eggnog. Personally, I think we just feel we need a bit of cheering up by the end of July, our coldest month, and Christmas in July is as good a reason to celebrate as any other.

This year we are celebrating with a traditional lunch of roast lamb, roast potatoes, pumpkin, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli and gravy. My entire family will come and all 21 of us will sit down together to enjoy this delicious meal.

For dessert, my sister, Catherine, is bringing a bread and butter pudding and my sister, Laura, is bringing a vegan Malva pudding. Both delicious treats are way to stodgy and heavy to eat during our December when it is over 30 degrees Celsius every day. Our traditional Christmas fare comprises of cold meats and salad, eaten on the verandah as the children [and some adults] drink long and cool fruit drinks and jump into the pool every five minutes.

I have made a Christmas parcel Christmas cake for this year’s family festival.

The first step was to make the Christmas cakes. I used my Grandmother’s famous recipe and scooped the mixture into two well lined square cake tins. One tin was bigger than the other. You can find the YouTube video with instructions on how to make this Christmas cake here.

The fondant pieces must be made in advance. These include the lid of the box and the Christmas bow.
The box lid was easy to make. I rolled out white fondant to a thickness of 5mm. I then cut out a square slightly larger than the tin I used to bake the top cake. I cut four sides out of the white fondant. Two were the same length and approximately 1/5 of the depth of the top square cake. The other two pieces were 10 mm shorter. The shorter pieces fit inside the longer pieces when forming the sides of the lid.

Next, I made the Christmas bow. I cut 11 pieces of white fondant 2 cm wide and 7 cm long. I folded these over loosely and gathered the edges to make the loops. I cut out a small circle of white fondant and attached five of the loops to the circle in a circular shape. I left this to set of 30 minutes. I then attached the next 5 loops, ensuring that each new loop was over the gap between the two loops underneath. Lastly, I attached the final loop to the middle of the Christmas bow. I left the bow overnight to dry thoroughly and then I painted it with edible gold food colouring.

The next weekend I iced the cakes. I cut a square hole into the top of the smaller square cake and then covered the entire cake with a thin layer of royal icing. I rolled out a large piece of white fondant and gently placed it over the entire cake, smoothing it downwards with my hands.

My idea was that the top “box” would be open with the items inside spilling out. I bought chocolate coins and sweetie bracelets to go in the box. I attached these inside the box using royal icing. I set this small cake aside. I then decorated the larger cake. I coloured a biggish quantity of fondant a light green and rolled it out to about 2.5 mm thick. I covered the larger fruit cake with a thin layer of royal icing and placed the green fondant over it; smoothing it onto the cake in the same way as I did for the smaller cake. I cut several icicles out of white fondant and attached them to the larger cake using edible sugar glue.

I attached the larger cake to the cake board with royal icing and placed the smaller one on top of it. I placed the lid of the box against the side of the larger cake with the bow in front of it. I cut a strip of red fondant for the ribbon and attached it with royal icing.

I hope the family will enjoy this fun and tasty cake.

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About Robbie and Michael Cheadle
Robbie Cheadle was born in London in the United Kingdom. Her father died when she was three months old and her mother immigrated to South Africa with her tiny baby girl. Robbie has lived in Johannesburg, George and Cape Town in South Africa and attended fourteen different schools. This gave her lots of opportunities to meet new people and learn lots of social skills as she was frequently “the new girl”.

Robbie is a qualified Chartered Accountant and specialises in corporate finance with a specific interest in listed entities and stock markets. Robbie has written a number of publications on listing equities and debt instruments in Africa and foreign direct investment into Africa.

Robbie is married to Terence Cheadle and they have two lovely boys, Gregory and Michael. Michael (aged 11) is the co-author of the Sir Chocolate series of books and attends school in Johannesburg. Gregory (aged 14) is an avid reader and assists Robbie and Michael with filming and editing their YouTube videos and editing their books. Robbie is also the author of the new Silly Willy series the first of which, Silly Willy goes to Cape Town, is now available.

Robbie and Michael Cheadle’s books
Sir Chocolate books – currently available in hard copy and as ebooks
A5 format for children aged 6 to 9 years
Square format for younger children aged 2 to 5 years

Sir Chocolate and the strawberry cream berries story and cookbook:
Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet live in Chocolate land where you can eat absolutely everything. Join them on a fantastic adventure to find the amazing strawberry cream berry and learn how to make some of their scrumptious recipes at the same time.

Sir Chocolate and the baby cookie monster story and cookbook:
Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet find a lost baby cookie monster. Join them on an adventure to return the baby to its mother and learn how to make some of their delicious recipes at the same time.

Sir Chocolate and the sugar dough bees story and cookbook:
A greedy snail damages the flower fields and the fondant bees are in danger of starving. Join Sir Chocolate on an adventure to find the fruit drop fairies who have magic healing powers and discover how to make some of his favourite foods on the way.

Sir Chocolate and the Condensed Milk River story and cookbook:
The Condensed Milk River where Sir Chocolate goes fishing has stopped flowing. The water creatures are losing their homes. Can Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet solve this problem? Includes five lovely new recipes.

Sir Chocolate and the sugar crystal caves story and cookbook:
Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet journey to the sugar crystal caves to collect the sugar water they need to make their soda pop. To get to the Chocolate Chip Hills they must cross the Chocolate Mousse Swamp infested with alligator sours and a meringue ghost. When they arrive, they discover that the sugar crystals are melting, and something needs to be done to save them. Learn how to make some four fun creations out of biscuits and the sugar crystals too.

Silly Willy goes to Cape Town currently available in hardcopy and as an ebook
Blurb: When the George family go on holiday to Cape Town, Cautious Craig cannot believe what he has to endure at the hands of his naughty and wilful younger brother, Silly Willy. Willy throws tantrums at the most embarrassing and inappropriate times, causes a commotion on the aeroplane and tries to steal a chameleon from Butterfly World. What is a poor older brother expected to do in these situations?

Coming in 2018
What was it like for children growing up in rural Suffolk during World War II?
Elsie and her family live in a small double story cottage in Bungay, Suffolk. Every night she lies awake listening anxiously for the sound of the German bomber planes. Often they come and the air raid siren sounds signaling that the family must leave their beds and venture out to the air raid shelter in the garden.
Despite, the war raging across the English channel, daily life must continue with its highlights, such as Christmas and the traditional Boxing Day fox hunt, and its scary moments when Elsie learns the stories of Jack Frost and the ghostly and terrifying Black Shuck that haunts the coastline and countryside of East Anglia.
Includes some authentic WWII recipes.

Follow Robbie Cheadle at:
Blog: https://bakeandwrite.co.za/
Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
Plus.google: https://plus.google.com/105609586198905397891
Facebook: @SirChocolateBooks
Twitter: @bakeandwrite

Purchase Robbie and Michael Cheadle’s Books from:
https://www.amazon.com/author/robbiecheadle or http://tinyurl.com/zdokqjr