Madron 2015

Sorry I'm late posting this; I had computer problems and had to get a new computer. :)

For Madron/the Autumn Equinox on 23rd September I made a gingerbread cake. It was similar to the one I made last year which you can see here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2014/09/madron.html

I got the recipe from the website Will Cook For Smiles: https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/2014/11/gingerbread-cake.html

The topping was cream cheese, whipped topping like Cool Whip, mild molasses (treacle) and brown sugar but I don't think we have Cool Whip here and I couldn't seem to find a good equivalent, so I used Betty Crocker's cream cheese icing again, like I did for last year's cake. It's easier as well! lol. I have made a cream cheese frosting before when I made James Martin's Frosted white chocolate cake for Easter 2013. The frosting was made with Philadelphia cream cheese, butter and icing sugar. It was quite nice once you got used to it, I think it was quite a strong taste. Here's the recipe if you want to check it out: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/frosted-white-chocolate-easter-cake *


Anyway here are a couple of pictures of my gingerbread cake:

As the icing was being spread on.

With icing.

I liked it better than the one I made last year but it was still a bit of a heavy cake. It tasted better after a few days though. I don't think I'll make another gingerbread cake next year; I might make some more gingerbread like I usually do for Lammas.

I also did a candle ritual from Spirit & Destiny magazine which involved lighting a white candle and a black candle (I already had white candles so I used a black ribbon around one of them to substitute as a black one; I've read that you can use a different coloured ribbon to "stand in" for the colour you want to use) and turning 180 degrees to move from the lighter half of the year to the darker half.

It's really feeling like autumn now; more of the trees are turning. The clocks went back early this morning and now it's going to get darker earlier until Yule (Midwinter/the Winter Solstice) when the days will start getting longer again (although it will be a while before we really notice it).

But first there's Hallowe'en/Samhain which is one of my favourite sabbats! I'm going to make my usual fave Demon's Blood drink but I'm not sure what else I'm making yet. Maybe some gingerbread, there was a recipe in the Tesco mag for gingerbread zombies but I might make something similar. I'll have to decide soon since Hallowe'en is next weekend, lol.

Hope everyone had a good Madron and is enjoying autumn!


P.S. To get in the mood for Hallowe'en you can check out my Seasonal and Hallowe'en boards on Pinterest:

Seasonal: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/moonsparkle84/seasonal/

Hallowe'en/Samhain: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/moonsparkle84/halloween/



*Update 16/9/18: While doing a Food and Mood course earlier this year I learnt that treacle and molasses aren't exactly the same thing, but they are pretty similar.