This is the weekend to ice the Christmas cake. It's best to do it in two stages, the first is to cover the cake in marzipan and make a few icing decorations. For a 23cm cake, roll 800g - 1kg of marzipan into a circle large enough to completely cover the cake - use a bit of icing sugar when rolling to stop any sticking. Melt 3 tablespoons of apricot jam in the microwave then brush over the cake. Drape the marzipan over the cake and using your hands, gently smooth and rub it into position. I like this bit best and could spend hours caressing out all the lumps and bumps but actually they're part of what makes a home-cake so lovely so leave a few showing. Trim off the excess marzipan at the bottom and position on a board.
Next, roll out 300g of ready-to-roll icing on an icing-sugared surface and stamp out some festive shapes. I'm keeping my cake simple and traditional. Decorate with a few silver balls if you like, then leave both the cake and shapes out to dry for two days, ready for the final icing.
2 comments:
ah, I was going to marzipan and put it back into its airtight container.....would that be wrong? Have never iced a cake before (as you can probably tell!)
NMO x
Hi NMO!
I think it's best to leave the cake out for a couple of days so the marzipan firms up and sets a little before the final icing. If it's still a bit squashy, it's trickier to get a smooth surface on the icing.
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