Edible Christmas decorations – Yum!

Charlie Cottrell got handy with icing sugar to create festive decorations to delight the belly as well as the eyes

If you’ve forked out £2 for a designer cupcake recently, you’ll know there are all sorts of fun products in the bakery aisles these days. Edible glitter, edible gold, pollen – whatever that is – It’s Pimp My Ride for the kitchen.

Only a loser would bother fluffing up last year’s tinsel rat-tails and blah-blah baubles when they could make their own bling creations and then EAT them. A good point well made I’m sure you’ll agree.

I had visions of creating grown up chocolate coins with edible gold foil wrapping, but manoeuvring the flimsy and oh-so-static gold leaf soon put an end to that, so I settled for subtle gold highlights on spiced chocolate and marzipan discs that I strung up ready for the tree. For little ones, white chocolate covered peppermint cream snowmen will spruce up the spruce.

Chomp down on a holly wreath and you’re looking at a mouth of pain and maybe a little trip to the head doctor, but a chocolate wreath is a different story. Using a combination of modelling chocolate and two rubber stamps that you squish together I created a plateful of delicate and life-like leaves that I used to cover a ring of marzipan. Then, joy of joys, I discovered iridescent chocolate paint for a sheeny green and red finish.

To tart up the Christmas table, I made teeny tree place holders by rolling out of marzipan and green icing – add a few drops of peppermint food colouring and these can double as after dinner mints. Then legitimately go crazy with all that Dr Oetker has to offer in the supermarket to make a tasty, if not tasteful, tree.

What you can create is limited only by your imagination, patience and attitude to forking out cash for food play. Supermarkets carry a solid collection of goodies like writing icing tubes and silver balls. Barbie cake sparkles are more festive than you’d think. Online shoppers have a world of cake magic at their fingertips thanks to stores like Squires Kitchen, which carries exciting things like chocolate transfers, leaf-vein casts and metallic sugar dust. For serious glam, £15.99 at Selfridges will get you a Food Bling kit of gold and silver leaf.

Hurrah for sugar. Ask Santa for some toothpaste.

Recipes

Spiced chocolate and marzipan coins
Makes 6 – 8

Ingredients

50g marzipan
50g spiced chocolate – like Green and Black’s Maya Gold
Gold leaf – if you’re patient and rich

Method: How to make spiced chocolate and marzipan coins

Roll the marzipan into cherry tomato sized balls leave 2 to one side and squash the others to make chunky discs.

Roll out the remaining two balls to half the thickness of the chunky discs. Use these to make the motifs to decorate your coins – I used a little robin cutter from Squires Kitchen but you could use spirals or dots or whatever you fancy.

Press your motif onto the chunky disks firmly.

Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water. Dip the coin into the melted chocolate and turn over until coated. Use a fork to lift the coin out of the chocolate and tap it against the side of the bowl until the chocolate stops dripping. Pop the coin onto some greaseproof paper and repeat.

Tip:
You can buy gold leaf kits from the Laura Santini Easy, Tasty, Magic range at Selfridges

Once all your chocolate coins are hardened up use a cocktail stick to poke a hole through each and thread through with embroidery silk. Decorate with gold leaf. Dangle on your tree.

Peppermint cream snowmen
Makes 10

Ingredients

100g ready to roll icing (or make your own)
Peppermint essence
100g white chocolate
Writing icing and hundreds and thousands
Ribbons

Method: How to make peppermint cream snowmen
Flavour up your icing to taste with the peppermint essence then divide into 10 even portions and roll into a ball.

Squash each ball until it’s about 3mm thick then pinch in either side about 2/3 of the way up so you have a figure of 8 shape.

Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water. Dip each snowman shape into the melted chocolate and turn over until coated. Use a fork to lift the snowman out of the chocolate, tap it against the side of the bowl until the chocolate stops dripping and pop onto some greaseproof paper.

When the chocolate has hardened, decorate the snowmen with the writing icing, silver balls, hundreds and thousands or whatever you fancy. Use a chopstick to poke a hole in the snowman’s head – not too near the top – and thread a ribbon through. Hang your man on the tree and enjoy his lovely face.

Chocolate holly wreaths

Makes 4
Ingredients

100g modelling chocolate
50g marzipan
12 red chocolate beans (like M&Ms)
50g white chocolate melted
Green chocolate paint

Method: How to make chocolate holly wreaths

Using a knife if you’re dexterous or a holly leaf cookie cutter, cut out 48 leaves. Cut in veins using the back of a sharp knife or use a leaf veining stamp.

Tip:
You can buy leaf making stamps, chocolate paint and modelling chocolate from Squires Kitchen

Divide the marzipan into 4 equal portions and roll out into a thick sausage. Join the ends to make a marzipan doughnut – about 4 inches in diameter. Press the chocolate leaves onto the marzipan to build up the wreath – you can use melted chocolate as a glue if they won’t stay put. Use a little melted chocolate to stick 3 red chocolate beans onto each wreath.

Heat the chocolate paint according to pack instructions and add to the melted chocolate. Using a clean paintbrush, paint over the wreaths to turn the leaves green – work quickly, it sets fast.

Leave to dry then hang on your Christmas tree or use as place settings.

Christmas tree place settings
Makes 6

Ingredients

100g green ready-roll icing or sugar paste
100g marzipan
Writing icing, silver balls or other cake decorations

Method: How to make Christmas tree place settings

Divide the green icing and marzipan in half and make each half into a large ball. Roll out flat to make a thin disc, about 7 inches in diameter.

Lay the icing on top of the marzipan. Cut into three equal sized wedge shapes. Lie each wedge so it’s marzipan side up and use the side of your finger to squash an incline into the two long edges. Roll into a cone moulding the icing to seal the edges together at the join.

Decorate with writing icing, silver balls or whatever decorations you have.

With a sharp knife, make an incision in the back of each tree, where you can slip in your guest’s name card.

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