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Heather and Moss

DIY • Home Decor • Home Tutorials

Every year I share my Christmas Wrapping with you. I always wrap all my gifts myself, going to the whole sale market to buy the paper, ribbon and decorations myself. My family have always wrapped things beautifully with a layer of tissue first and then paper. This year I wanted to move away from the red/green/metallic palette that's so easy to get stuck in for Christmas. Instead I took inspiration from the evergreens which have such a rich heritage at this time of year. Underneath the brown paper is green tissue. I was thinking this year maybe I should be selling matching wrapping packs in the shop. Leave me a comment here if you are interested and I will try and sort it out for next year. In the meantime...

Merry Christmas!

I hope your skies are starry and bright, and all your holiday wishes come true. xx

Photos by Peony Lim

Food

Two Ginger Caramel Maple Cake

Baking • Cold Pudding • Sweet

This Ginger Cake is family favourite, it’s warm in the winter with the heat from the pepper and the ginger, and works wonderfully for pudding or tea. With the addition of the two toppings it’s a lovely festive cake which looks beautiful on the table too.

1

For the Cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Grease your Bundt tin well with Butter.
Sieve all the dry ingredients together, make a well in the middle.
Add the Egg, Milk, Treacle, Melted Butter and Orange Zest and beat well.
Chop the Ginger into small rough pieces.
Stir in the Raisins and Ginger.
Pour into the cake tin and smooth off.
Bake for 30-35mins.
The cake is dark when cooked so put a skewer into the cake to check it’s cooked. You want it to be nice and moist so a tiny bit of wet crumb on it is perfect.
Allow to cool for 30mins in the tin then turn in onto a rack.

Originally my mother always served this cake without any icing. We would have thick slices with salted butter, custard or clotted cream. It is delicious like that and I highly recommend it. In fact I made little loaves of them like this for Christmas this year and sent them as presents to people in little bags.
For a party and a final flourish I have added the following toppings which are really fun and delicious.

2

Maple Glaze Icing

Combine the Icing Sugar, Maple Syrup and a tbsp of Milk at a time to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
Add more Milk if needed to get a smooth but thick constancy.

3

Salted Caramel Sauce

Place the Sugar in a heavy base pan over a low heat.
Melt the sugar (try not to touch it as it melts, just move the pan around) it should be a light brown and bubble only slightly.
Remove from the heat and add the Butter, stir constantly unlit incorporated.
Then add the Cream and stir until smooth and glossy.
Transfer into a bowl to cool.

4

Pipe

Add both icings to piping bags and use scissors to cut off a small end. There is no need for a piping nozzle.
Starting with the Maple, pipe the sauce in lines up and down the Bundt, allowing it to fall a bit randomly and luxuriously.
Follow with the Caramel in the same way.
Add a few pieces of Crystallised Ginger to decorate.

Fashion

New Classics

Collaborations • On Location • Outfits

Chanel let me borrow some pieces for my recent trip to New York. I chose this classic tweed jacket because I think people often forget about the staple pieces in a closet in favour of the trend focused fads, when really it’s the basics that build great style. I hope you like my current take on a classic. If you follow me on instagram you will have seen me wear my classic black Chanel jacket in other ways too.