Hobbit Hole Cake

A couple of weeks ago, I had all kinds of plans for different posts about some of our Christmas traditions and my favorite Christmas hymns, but as we got closer to Christmas I started feeling less like it's-Christmas-break-and-I-have-all-this-free-time and more like there-are-a-million-things-to-do-and-we're-leaving-for-Denver-in-a-few-days. So blogging fell to the wayside. On the bright side, I'll have things to blog about next December!

I do hope you had a merry Christmas, even though I wasn't around to send my greetings!

We had a wonderful time! On the 24th we celebrated a white Christmas at the Blue House with just the five of us, and then we left early on the 25th for time with our family in Denver where it was definitely not white -- the temperatures were in the 50's most of the time we were there! Hanging out with our family, eating way too much, and playing cards was just what we needed. We returned Sunday night, and now I have a week to get things done around the house before school starts on the 6th.

One of our family traditions is to have a shared birthday cake for both Jesus and Marc, whose birthday is on Christmas Day. This year, rather than the traditional birthday cake, Anna had a special theme in mind. Knowing the newest Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug, would be in theaters this holiday season, she decided she wanted to make a hobbit hole cake. She found several inspiration cakes on Pinterest (I'll list the links below), and just took ideas from all of them. Here is the amazing result!

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tree made out of grape stems

She's never done a cake like this before (neither have I), and I did nothing to help her other than buying lots and lots of sugar. Grace, who served as her assistant, helped by making lots of leaves, some flowers, and the cabbage in the garden. It was so much fun to see the cake come together -- every time I walked in the kitchen my jaw dropped in awe. But the best was when Anna started piping in the grass; it just all came together to look so complete.

Anna worked on the cake most of the day on the 23rd. The morning of the 24th we had our traditional gingerbread pancake breakfast and opened presents. Then it was time for the big cake reveal. (Sorry about the fuzzy picture -- I'm going to blame it on being up very late wrapping gifts, rather than my so-so photography skills!)

Then we all went to the movie (loved it!), went to church that evening (rejoice!), and finally ate the cake (yummy!). Next, came an all-night packing and organizing panic for me, which (unfortunately) is also a tradition. I never get us packed until the last minute. Thankfully, Marc drove all the way to Denver while I caught up on my sleep.

How was your Christmas?

Hobbit hole inspiration cakes:

Over the Apple Tree

Searching for Dragons

Shower of Roses

That Really Frosts Me

Cake Trails

chrislaing@imgur

Fondant recipe Anna used:

How Does She?