1 — Enter our gift shop online or visit the store and find the ideas we carefully selected. Whimsical brooches from Macon&Lesquoy are the perfect small offering. We also like to pair a scented candle from Evermore with long matches from Archivist for a more consequent present. If unsure, send a gift card to surprise and please.
2 —Fill vases, pots and windowsills with hellebores. From shades of cream to deep burgundies, these Christmas roses are a parent of ranunculi and thrive in cold weather. They are glorious blooms that do not require to be mixed with other flowers to elegantly adorn tables and their hardy nature means they can last up to 10 days once cut.
3 — The music played at a dinner party can transform the mood as well as start conversations. A balance of atmospheric yet lively tunes can be found here. We close this selection with John Lennon's Bless You. This was his personal favourite from his fifth solo album, and it's easy to see why.
4 — Bake a showstopper dessert. We could not imagine a festive end of year without a really traditional Bûche de Noël. It's a cake that can be made "en famille" as it can take different levels of contribution from mixing to decorating.
Bake the cake and make the buttercream a day ahead, ready to assemble at the last minute.
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
You will need 7 eggs. Separate them and keep 7 yolks and 4 whites. Beat the yolks with 55g of caster sugar until the mixture is like a mousse. Separately beat the whites with a pinch of salt and add 30g of sugar once they are getting firm. Fold the whites in the yolks, a third at a time. Add 35g of flour and 40g of cornstarch.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour in the cake mixture to a thickness of about 1cm. Bake for 6 minutes.
In the meantime, bring to the boil 70g of water with 70g of sugar to make a syrup. Turn the heat off as soon as the syrup bubbles and add 2 tablespoons of rhum.
Once the cake has cooled down a little, turn it out on a tea towel, remove the parchment paper and cover it with a slightly damp cloth. At this stage, you can roll the biscuit until you are ready to assemble.
Make chocolate or vanilla buttercream by creaming 200g of butter with 200g of icing sugar. Add 175g of melted and cooled chocolate, or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. If using vanilla, you can add a drop of red food colouring that will turn the cream pink.
To assemble, trim the edges of the cake and brush it with the rhum syrup. Thickly spread the chosen buttercream, saving about a quarter to cover the cake once rolled.
Carefully roll from the long side facing you, quite tightly and using the cloth to press against the cake.
Spread the log with the remaining icing and draw irregular lines with a fork to make it look like a branch. Cut the ends at an angle and add them to the side if you like.
5 — Take younger friends and family members to the circus. We highly recommend Revel Puck's Winter Festival in East London, an independent circus company with a real sense of camaraderie and story-telling. Their Winter Festival consists of two shows, including a reimagination of the classic fairy tale The Ugly Duckling created with young viewers in mind.