Xmas Cake advice

Bunny200

I have a fruit cake maturing and getting more and more boozy by the week and I was wondering when I should marzipan and ice it? I've never done it before so not sure when to do it, I understand I should leave the marzipan to dry a little before putting the icing on but how long?? 1 day or 1 week?? Do I need to leave the fondant icing to dry as well or should I do that xmas week?

Pollybear

*waits for answers*

I haven't made a Christmas cake for years but this year I have. Mine is maturing too. I'm thinking of marzipaning it next week and then maybe icing it the weekend before Christmas or early Christmas week. I hope somebody else comes along with a definitive answer:)

Seakay

The main thing is to have 2 weeks between the marzipan going on and the icing (to avoid oil from the almonds bleeding through). Then again, it depends how long it will take you to eat the cake - maybe there won't be time for it to bleed through anyway!
If the icing is going to be done more than a week before cutting, and you are using home made royal icing, then add a teaspoon of liquid glucose to the mixture to be sure that it doesn't set rock hard.
Use warmed non lumpy jam or jelly to brush onto the cake to help the marzipan stick, the icing doesn't need any assistance.

touch*my*food*feel*myfork

I leave 1 week between marzipan and icing and never had any problems.

geordie_joe

Seakay wrote: »

If the icing is going to be done more than a week before cutting, and you are using home made royal icing, then add a teaspoon of liquid glucose to the mixture to be sure that it doesn't set rock hard.

But if you are planning on sending me a slice, the harder the better!

SingleSue

I always used to cut corners on my Christmas cake.

First time I did it was via the proper recipe with all correct timings....2nd time, the time was shorter, 3rd time shorter still.

By the time I did my last one (which was about my 9th or something), I made it early on Christmas Eve and marzipanned and iced it Christmas Eve night....everyone said it was my best one out of the lot!

Last year and this year my parents have purchased one instead...the ingredients got just a little too expensive for me to afford anymore especially as the cake would weigh approx 10 lbs and would feed a veritable army several times over.

*Huge thanks to Addiscomber for showing me where to find you all...I can now find it without links!

chrisbethany

Hi Bunny - there's another Christmas cake thread on page 1 that might be helpful.

Chris

Pollybear

I might marzipan mine later this week then, will save time later. I fed it again this morning.

floyd

Just a quicky, once I have put on my marzipan, how do I store it? Since the purpose of leaving it for a week is to dry it out I assume putting it in a tupperware box defeats the object? Any ideas folks?

jasmine33

floyd wrote: »

Just a quicky, once I have put on my marzipan, how do I store it? Since the purpose of leaving it for a week is to dry it out I assume putting it in a tupperware box defeats the object? Any ideas folks?

I leave mine out in the warm kitchen for a couple of days after I have put on the marzipan and then put it back into the tupperware container.

Gingernutmeg

I normally only leave it for a few days between marzipanning and icing. Most commercial marzipan you buy isn't that oily anyway, I've certainly never had a problem with it discolouring the icing. If you're making your own marzipan, then I'd give it longer, probably a week or so as that will be oilier.