icing/marzipan-ing my first christmas cake

MrsE_2

I've made the Christmas cake.

A friend of mine who makes her own buys marzipan & icing, as she says these are too much faffing.

Now shes a good baker & I'm a beginner baker.

Should I make or buy marzipan & fondant icing?

kessik

Buy every time. It's not all that expensive - you only need to buy Value marzipan from Tesco or Sainsbury, about 80p a block - and even pre-rolled fondant icing is only about £1.60 and is enough to cover an 8" cake. I do an awful lot of cake making and baking and tbh it's just not worth the hassle. Plus marzipan is made from ground almonds and they're not cheap by any means....I'd advise buy.

Raksha

MSE answer - buy every time.

For flavour - make your own. I made a christmas cake as a 14/15 year old at school - made my own marzipan and royal icing - best cookery classes ever!

LJM

i always buy i make the cake but buy marzipan and icing

Gingernutmeg

Homemade mazipan is easy to make and it has a lovely flavour - but it's always going to cost a LOT more than shop-bought as ground almonds are ridiculously expensive. Another thing to bear in mind is that if you do make your own marzipan, you need to plan a fair bit of time for it to dry out on the cake as otherwise the oils from the almonds will discolour any icing you put on top. Bought marzipan generally has less almond in it overall so the drying out time is shorter - you could even get away with not drying it out at all.

As for icing, as someone who's been a baker then I'd always say buy fondant icing. It's a faff to make yourself (you need to boil sugar etc etc), and you really won't get any 'better' result than shop-bought. However, if you want royal icing then that's so easy to make, and it can work out so much cheaper to make it yourself than buying the tubs or packets of royal icing.

greenbee

I'm with gingernutmeg

Make marzipan - some of the shop-bought stuff is revolting.

Buy sugarpaste - BUT make sure you buy decent stuff. Regalice or Dr Oeteker. Tesco own brand used to be good but they've changed the recipe

Royal icing DIY...

radiohelen

Buy, buy, buy.... if you are setting out on your baking journey you would be nuts to try and make your own marzipan...(see what I did there!).. let alone your own fondant icing.

Buy nice quality shop stuff, ice your cake and relax with a large glass of wine as you admire your beautiful cake.

MrsE_2

radiohelen wrote: »

Buy, buy, buy.... if you are setting out on your baking journey you would be nuts to try and make your own marzipan...(see what I did there!).. let alone your own fondant icing.

Buy nice quality shop stuff, ice your cake and relax with a large glass of wine as you admire your beautiful cake.

What marzipan should I buy?

Will look for Regalice or Dr Oeteker icing as recommended above:D

lisa26_2

Always buy!! I do sugar craft and I would never consider making my own sugar paste or marzipan. Is there a cake decorating shop near you? It'll probably cheaper than the supermarket stuff and much better. Buy the best you can afford, its much easier to work with, definately try to get regalice over the other one. Good luck!

stef240377

I buy my marzipan - Dr Oetker is currently 89p in Netto.

Make royal icing - 500g of icing sugar, some glycerine and egg whites. This easily covers my 10" cake.