In homes up and down the country and in fact, all over the world, ovens will be on and spoons will be poised ready to stir and make Christmas puddings. For this Sunday, the last in November, is traditionally known as Stir-Up Sunday!

In years gone by, (and probably because Kitchen Aids hadn’t been invented back then!), the whole family took turns to mix the pudding, making a wish as they stirred.

Nowadays, with a wide variety of ready-made puddings available in supermarkets, it is estimated that two-thirds of British children have never experienced stirring Christmas pudding mix… myself included! That’s not because ready-made puddings were preferred in our house, simply that I really don’t like Christmas pudding, so every year my mum used to make a cherry pie, just for me!

Having said that, Stir-Up Sunday still featured in our household. We just adapted it into the day we made Christmas cake because, unlike Christmas pudding, this was something I could get on-board with… well the icing and the marzipan at least! So, every year, on the last Sunday before Advent we made our Christmas cake.

For me though, the most exciting bit was to follow when I got to choose the finishing touches for the cake. From little plastic robins and Christmas trees to Snowmen candles, we made it different every year!

Cake decorations have certainly come a long way since then and we have a range of cake toppers your customers can be proud of!

We never seemed to master covering the whole cake so ribbon was often used to hide the ‘mechanics’ in our house so don’t forget to offer your customers some ribbon!

And for those customers who don’t like dried fruit anything, be it Christmas cake or otherwise, these cute little picks will add a festive air to a cupcake or even a sandwich!

Rachel