My Christmas cake is in the oven, takes 4 hours to cook and I always find it an apprehensive time.

I didn’t line the Christmas Tree cake tin, so I have to keep my fingers crossed that the cake will not stick to the tin.

My sloes are now in the freezer, ready to be bottled tomorrow.Thanks to comments on here I now know I do not need to prick the sloes if they have been frozen.

My sloe gin recipe is from the “Good Housekeeping complete Book of Home Preserving” .

1lb sloes

3-4oz of granulated sugar

75cl bottle of Gin.

Add it all to a tightly closing jar ,keep in a dark place and shake every day for a week,then continue shaking once a week for 2 to 3 month.