The magnum opus of the aristocratic Christmas feast was a magnificent ‘banquet course’ of elaborate, colourful sweetmeats – items of confectionary. Elizabeth I famously had a sweet tooth, easily fed by new imports of sugar arriving from Morocco and increased imports from the East and West Indies.

The piece de résistance of the banquet course was the marchpane, or marzipan – a paste made from ground almonds and sugar and used to create large, intricate, often 3-dimensional decorations. Marchpane could be further decorated with icing or embellished with edible gold leaf.