Christmas Brown Butter Pecan Cake + Autumn-Winter Update

I wanted to do a post about the cake I made for Christmas and since I haven't done my autumn-winter update yet, I decided to make this a double post. (Like last year's.) Scroll further down if you just want to read the update. :)

Christmas Brown Butter Pecan Cake

For this Christmas (or rather Christmas 2021 now!) I baked a brown butter pecan sheet cake. The recipe is from Handle the Heat: https://handletheheat.com/butter-pecan-sheet-cake/

I normally make the cake on Christmas Eve and then ice it on Christmas Day. But in this case the glaze needs to be done when it's warm so I did it all on Christmas Eve. It came out quite nice, except the glaze melted into the cake, so it didn't look quite like the pictures!

I still liked it. I had some with leftover condensed milk (that I had used for Christmas Eve crockpot hot chocolate, see below) and also some evaporated milk another time. Here's a picture:

 

 

I was disappointed about the glaze but at least it still tasted nice enough! Good to try this for a change.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and/or New Year, plus any other festival you celebrated. Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a good 2022. :)

Autumn-Winter Update

Now time for my final update of 2021! This past year I decided to do quarterly updates (from "season to season") rather than monthly ones like in 2019, or "two monthly" ones which I did in 2020. I like doing it this way, although it is more to write in one go. I probably will do quarterly updates again during 2022.

You can see the rest of the 2021 quarterly updates at the links below:

Winter-Spring Update (and a Beltane Round-up): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/04/winter-spring-update-beltane-round-up.html

Spring-Summer: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/07/spring-summer-update.html

Summer-Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/10/summer-autumn-update.html

I went to the beach again in October, before it got too cold. I don't go much over the winter. It was a nic sunset. Here are a couple of photos:

 

Sunset on Lancing Beach.

At the end of October, I celebrated Hallowe'en /Samahin. You can read my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/11/halloweensamhain-2021.html

The firework display at Lancing Beach Green (for Bonfire Night) was on again this year. It was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. I didn't get many decent pictures, so won't show any here.

In early November I did a metal fusion belly dance workshop with Lianna Greene. It had been postponed a couple of times before, so I was glad it went ahead.

I also went to Haskins Roundstone Garden Centre in Nov and had a look at the Christmas decorations and for some presents. Afterwards I went to Starbucks and got a pumpkin spice Frappuccino. I always hear about PSLs (pumpkin spice lattes) and thought I would try the cold version! It's quite nice, similar to the gingerbread spice Frappuccino.

The late-night Christmas shopping event was on in Shoreham-by-sea again, so I went to that in early December.

It was Yule/the Winter Solstice on 21st December. Here is my post about my celebrations: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/12/yule-2021.html

Apart from that I kept  up my weekly walks in the park during autumn and into winter. I do that throughout the year unless the weather is really cold. Here is a photo from early Dec:

Buckingham Park, Shoreham-by-sea.

Then I celebrated Christmas (see above for the cake I baked). On Christmas Eve I made the crockpot hot chocolate that is a new tradition I started a few years ago. (I do it in a pan though since I don't have a crockpot.) I made some for New Year's Eve too. You can see a picture of it from Christmas 2020 here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/01/christmas-gingerbread-sheet-cake.html

Also watched the countdown on TV on NYE and then had a family meal the next day. I bought a naked red velvet cake from Marks & Spencer for New Year. I didn't feel like baking anything this year. Last New Year I had a cookies and cream cake from Tesco which was disappointing, but at least I know I like the red velvet one! 

 

So that's it for the last update! As I said, I think I will do quarterly updates again this year. I haven't done more recipe posts like I was thinking of last year but never mind! I'll see how I feel during 2022. 

I hope the year has started off well for you and wishing you all a good year ahead! :) 2021 was a bit better than 2020 for me personally but I still found it quite hard. I wrote an end of year reflecton post over on my other blog Falling Petals, if you're interested.

Things are still up and down with the pandemic. Currently in the UK we have some restrictions and some have been reintroduced in England specifically since the Omicron variant came here, such as face coverings in most indoor places and recommendations to work from home. Nightclubs and large events require proof of vaccination or having tested negative for coronavirus.

We're fully in winter now which isn't my favourite season, but I try to find something good in them all. The next sabbat will be Imbolg/Imbolc in February which marks the shift towards spring. However, I will share some winter inspiration below since that's the season we're currently in. It can be hard not to "jump ahead" mentally sometimes! 

Hope everyone is doing alright. :) How was your autumn and how is your winter going? (Or how was your spring and how is your summer going?)

Check out these posts for some winter inspiration:

Winter Round-up + Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/12/winter-round-up-inspiration.html

More Winter Inspiration + Winter Tag: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/12/more-winter-inspiration-winter-tag.html

How to really enjoy- and not merely survive- winter (Rain or Shine Mamma)- also linked to this in the Yule 2021 post: https://rainorshinemamma.com/how-to-really-enjoy-and-not-merely-survive-winter/ 

Post about dealing with the darker days (despite having had the shortest day on Yule, the days will still be quite short and dark for a while yet): https://www.mummyburgess.co.uk/2018/10/dealing-with-darker-days.html

Also visit 2020's December Update for a few more links about coping during January/winter: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/01/christmas-gingerbread-sheet-cake.html

And 2021's for more links (both are also double posts about Christmas): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/01/christmas-ginger-poke-cake.html

 

P.S. If you want to live a healthier lifestyle throughout the year, then join the free Health Challenge from Diana of The Chic Life. Each month has a theme. I signed up recently and looking forward to it, since I've enjoyed her other challenges. You can read more and sign-up here: https://thechiclife.com/health-challenge-2022-join