Recent Bakes: Gingerbread Ornaments and much, much more.

Before I start the entry proper, a quick update about my posting plans over the holidays! This will be my final post until after Christmas. Sailor Jupiter is planned out and happening the minute we get back from our trip, so no worries, Moonies! I’ve got lightning and roses planned for the new year.

Also, it’s been an exciting week for Pretty Cake Machine! The gingerbread house got featured on Thrillist and Pop Hangover, as well as going kind of crazy viral on Tumblr. The only bummer is that of the roughly 70,000 Tumblr notes it received across various postings, nearly 60,000 of those were given to a serial content thief who tried to take credit for making the house. Tumblr was wonderful about taking that post down once it was reported, though, and in any case I’m thrilled that many people saw and liked it! It even got a shout out from Bento Box Entertainment (the studio that makes Bob’s Burgers) and the Bob’s Burgers writing team! I’m basically the happiest fan alive.

Now, back to the originally scheduled programming!

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It’s Christmas! Well, technically it’s Festivus. In any case, I’m baking my brains out. Mostly for others, but a little bit for me as well.

First, the stuff for others.

Marzipan Jam Cookies

My mother sometimes has me make treats as client gifts for her business during the holidays, and this year we decided on butter cookies with jam filling and marzipan flowers in the center. They were pretty cute and stupidly delicious. I’ll be posting the recipe in the new year for sure.

Eeyore Tsum Tsum Black Forest Cake

It was also my mother’s birthday yesterday! She had one request: a real, German Black Forest cake. Any German expat will know this is tough to find in the US. Thankfully, I have a recipe! I decorated it like a Christmas-themed Eeyore Tsum Tsum. Decorating in only whipped cream is a huge pain. It is the worst. Seeing my mom break out into a huge grin when she saw her cake made it all worth it, though.

Check out those sweet layers. Oh yes.

Peanut Brittle & Peppermint Brownies

Next up, treats for my in-laws! Peanut brittle is a must because it’s my FIL’s favorite, but this year I also made some peppermint brownies with a healthy layer of ganache and crushed candy canes. I have to repent for forgetting to bring chocolate at Thanksgiving somehow!

And last, the stuff for me.

Gingerbread Ornaments

Back in Germany, we used to visit multiple Christmas markets each winter. A mainstay of these places was Lebkuchenherzen, massive spiced cookies decorated in a hard frosting with various holiday or love messages. They were more decoration than food, but seeing them always signaled to me that Christmas was extremely close. It also reminded me of the not-rock-hard Christmas cookies I would totally be eating later that day, so that’s never a bad thing.

This year I decided to extend the not-really-edible cookie tradition to our Christmas tree. I used the gingerbread recipe from my Bob’s Burgers gingerbread house project, plus a basic royal icing to decorate. All of them hung really nicely, and thanks to our new cat startling device I can proudly report exactly zero have been destroyed by French Toast so far. It’s a Christmas miracle. (Shedding a single tear.)

How do people even take photos of Christmas trees? You all are lucky this came out looking like a tree at all.

I also made a plate just for display, ’cause y’know. Why not?

Since these aren’t really meant to be eating, I suppose it’s more of a DIY project… but hey, I used an oven! It totally counts.

A quick aside: how gorgeous is this ornament my grandmother gave me?! That is some hand carved amazingness.

So, that’s it! The last of my holiday baking. I’ll see you all soon, and I hope you have a delightful remainder of 2014! Eat cookies. Eat all of the cookies.