Wow, juju, your children's cakes sound amazing. They are very fortunate to have such a clever, talented Mum.
Snow scene cakes look wonderful. Do you use an edible glitter to add some sparkle? It looks very effective.
My rich fruit cakes only get 1 feeding of brandy, if that. It really depends how long the fruit was soaking in the brandy to starts with. I did get asked to make one slam in whiskey once. I ended up buying a bottle of blended whiskey, there was no way my bottle of Glen Ord was going anywhere near a cake😸 Somehow it didn't seem to taste as good. I had mix left so made a tiny cake for us to try, it was, to my taste, just not as good.
Was your marzipan cooked or raw? I have made both, the jury is out on an I prefer. If I make it for Mum's residential home I make cooked, just to be on the safe side. For taste I prefer the raw variety.
Is your daughter lactose sensitive? I think it's lovely that she wants the same cake each year. I have made a couple of train cakes for DH, and once, many years ago, a champagne bottle for SIL. My biggest challenge was a single tier was a wedding cake at 3 weeks notice! They wanted wired flowers and ribbons.
Wow! How talented! I used to love making cakes at Christmas and for the children's birthdays. I'm afraid the Christmas cakes are just snow scenes now! Still loved though. People have said they didn't like Christmas cake but love mine. Could be because I leave it till the last moment and the cake is very moist. I used to make my own marzipan, but take short cuts now. For the children, I've made tractors, witches, lions, rabbits, Concorde, a car crash (!) and so on. My daughter asks for the lion cake, dairy and egg free, most years. She's 35 later this year!
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