Christmas is a time for fruit cake; brandy and fruit puddings, and mince pies.

No-one in my family likes dried fruit.

Christmas in my family has been devoid of any cakes and desserts for many a year. I have tried Pavlova—an airy-fairy, sugary-sweet meringue with cream and fruit—and that wasn’t too bad; except I don’t like meringue. Being a POM I went for ye Olde-English trifle once or twice—and please don’t get me started on whether a trifle has jelly or not—of course it bloody doesn’t! It does have sherry though, and if you put enough in it Christmas can be very merry …

My son and daughter-in-law are off to Cootamundra for Christmas. (For those who don’t know, Cootamundra is between nowhere and nowhere in NSW and about a four hour drive from Canberra.), and my daughter is in the throes of packing up her house in preparation for January move. So Christmas came early this year so we could all be together.

As many of you know, during the course of the year I became the cupcake Queen, and opening pressies over a glass of bubbly is a tradition in this household. And when a very large box appeared on the table in front of me, I was somewhat taken aback … mostly we give vouchers … boring I know, but useful. Is this going anywhere? Yes it is—so bear with me.

And in the box was … Ta Da!

So of course I decided there and then to make cupcakes for Christmas.

Of course, the cupcake stand had to be assembled. Firstly I checked my engineering degree (absent), but never mind; having spent some time recently in IKEA, flat boxes are not the challenge they used to be. In fact, after packing up the kitchen earlier in the year I can unpack a flat box with amazing speed and accuracy. Though putting the contents of said box together can often be startlingly troublesome—which explains why I was up at 6.30am on Christmas Eve.

Stand duly assembled I set about the cupcakes. Being the cupcake Queen I have lots of wrappers, decorations, and pickers for all occasions, so out came the Christmas cups and pickers (Christmas trees and reindeer), and some nice silver and green sprinkles. And two hours later (I took the dogs out while they were cooling down) … voila!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, all ready to be served up with nice dollop of brandy cream—and not a smidgen of dried fruit in sight.

So Merry Christmas—and remember what they say: “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas, and when the white runs out, I’ll drink the Red.” Cheers!