This is a concept that a lot of people don't understand, but I hate mince pies, Christmas pudding, and Christmas cake. They contain dried fruit and spices that I do not like. Unless you are serving up a chocolate yule log - I will say no. Therefore when it come to baking with the children over Christmas I would much rather make some fairy cakes and ice them in a Christmas fashion.

Middle man loves his food and I don't bake with him half as much as he would like, so I saw this Christmas craft linky as the perfect opportunity to make some fairy cakes.

Start by making a simple fairy cake recipe. For 12 cakes, I use 4oz self raising flour, 4oz caster sugar, 2 eggs and 4oz butter. I added some chocolate drops, so that it looked like currants when you bit into them. Cook the cakes and allow them to cool.

When cool, melt some chocolate and put a spoonful onto each cake.

Then make up some yellow icing and put a small spoonful on top of the chocolate.

Top with holly and red berry sprinkles if you have them, or if like me you don't, then improvise with some cut up green jelly sweets and some red sugar balls.

And there you go - this is my kind of Christmas pudding, made by (and then quickly eaten by) my middle man. If you can stop your little ones from eating them up, then put a few in a cupcake box - making a lovely gift for family and friends.

(If you,like my sister and husband, think that Christmas puddings should have white cream - not yellow custard, then just don't add any yellow colouring!)