icing/marzipan-ing my first christmas cake

tara747

Evryone I know hates icing and marzipan and peels them off the Christmas cake. So HM icing and marzipan is wasted on them.

lainz

tara747 wrote: »

Evryone I know hates icing and marzipan and peels them off the Christmas cake. So HM icing and marzipan is wasted on them.

:eek: WHAT??!:eek: Invite me and my mum over - we're the opposite, bits of icing are always 'falling' off the cake :rotfl:

Reminds me - need to ice my cake! Going to decorate it a la Kirstie I think

frivolous_fay

Sorry... bad combination of flicking through recipe books and having the primary ingredients in my cupboard... I am now mentally committed to making my own! (Curse you, Rachel Allen!)

Big question though... recipe says 1 drop of almond extract, and I only have essence - will this be ok? Does anyone know how much I ought to use?

Gingernutmeg

Extract is stronger than essence generally, but I'd always err on the side of caution with essence as too much can taste horrible. I'd go for a scant quarter teaspoon and then give it a taste - you can always add a bit more but you can't take it away

sandy2_2

I´d buy marzipan but knead a few drops of almond essence into it to give it more flavour
Sandy

MrsE_2

I bought Waitroses marzipan & Dr Oeteker icing, I couldn't find Regalice.

You put the apricot jam on then marzipan on, then wait? For how long?

greenbee

MrsE wrote: »

I bought Waitroses marzipan & Dr Oeteker icing, I couldn't find Regalice.

You put the apricot jam on then marzipan on, then wait? For how long?

I was at a class yesterday so asked some questions on this:

First, good choice on the marzipan! apparently the waitrose one is good.

Firstly, you need to heat the apricot jam to boiling point (a few bubbles round the edge not a long rolling boil!)

Turn the cake upside down, so that the flat edge (bottom) is uppermost. Fill any holes/dents/irregularities in the cake with marzipan to make a flat surface. Also fill any gap round the bottom with marzipan so that the base is stable and you have something to press the covering layers against.

I suggest that you marzipan the cake in sections rather than draping it over and smoothing down, so jam the top of the cake, cut a circle of marzipan about the right size, put it on, smooth it down (rub with the palm of your hand) and trim to fit.

Then jam the sides of the cake, roll out a strip of marzipan, cut one straight edge which you can use to make sure you get a good line along the bottom of the cake. Wrap round - if it overlaps, cut through both layers where it overlaps and remove the excess - this way you get a good clean join. Then trim where it joins the top (use the edge of a palette knife or similar, you don't need a sharp knife), then smooth all the joins.

You can ice immediately. If you don't, then brush the marzipan with a little white alcohol (gin or vodka) to dampen it as this will make the icing stick.

Measure the cake - top plus sides - so you know how big your circle of icing needs to be.

If you don't have a non-stick board and rolling pin, you'll need icing sugar or cornflour to stop the icing sticking as you roll. You're aiming to roll out a circle approx 4mm thick and slightly larger than the cake. If you have anything you can use as spacer (and a long enough rolling pin!) then put these either side of the board. I have two bits of 4mm thick wood which I use for this.

Knead the icing until soft. When you can bend the smooth side and there are no cracks, it's warm and soft enough. Turn the smooth side up and place on your board.

Roll out using even pressure, and turning the circle of icing rather than direction of rolling, lifting using the rolling pin to avoid distorting the icing.

Once you have a big enough circle, make sure you have your cake ready, on its board or plate.

Roll the icing back onto the rolling pin from the front and lift up. Slide the cake underneath, and roll the icing back from the pin to the cake from back to front (so you can see what you are doing. If any cracks appear in the icing, rub gently with the crease of you palm, a finger or your palm to warm the icing and they should disappear. If there is significant excess, trim it off roughly as the weight will distort the icing.

If you are slightly short anywhere, don't panic!

Smooth the top of the cake with your hand, then work your way round the cake, lifting the icing with one hand to get rid of any pleats or creases, and smoothing with the other. The icing will stretch slightly, so you should be able to deal with any small gaps at the bottom, but if not, don't worry!

Once the whole cake is rub over the cake with the palm of your hand to make sure it is all smooth, and press down the edge at the bottom of the cake (if you don't have a smoother, us something like the side of a spatula will do) this seals the icing at the bottom, and you can then use this line to cut round and get rid of the excess.

Smooth out any cracks or blemishes very gently using the warmth of your hand.

If there are any cracks or holes or marks that don't respond to this treatment... cover them with a decoration you can use spare icing either plain or coloured to make holly leaves, snowflakes, christmas trees, or even just circles, and ensure that the pattern hides the worst of the mistakes. A few silver balls never go amiss either, or a bit of glitter (edible stuff, not the craft stuff!).

If you still have a small gap at the bottom of the cake, this can be dealt with either by covering the board (let me know if you want instructions) or by rolling a sausage of icing to go all round the bottom and decorating that so it looks as if it was meant to be there!

Good luck!

gizzie121

I made 9 cakes, and bought the marzipan and icing already rolled because it was my first time. I found there was enough marzipan left after icing 4 cakes, to re roll it and use for cake number five.

I then realised that it was very easy to roll it out yourself, and bought some decent marzipan, the 60% stuff, to finish the other cakes off.

We used the left over icing to decorate the cakes using stars and trees. The children didn't really let me do much, GRrrr, but the cakes look sooo good, so I don't mind. I particularly love the igloo decoration my 11 year old did.

All in all though, the cakes cost me a flipping fortune, yet, it was still cheaper than buying a present for every person in the families I give them to. Also, it's really good fun, the children love helping, and my daughter now thinks she might like to be a cake decorator.

Here's a link to the pictures of them.

http://www.slide.com/r/fLycbEOjzz-AiB1ql-uwDL50tA4uQ9eT?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

wallbash

Bought the marzipan , Tesco finest. But made Royal Icing yesterday.

La-Cara

gizzie121 wrote: »

I made 9 cakes, and bought the marzipan and icing already rolled because it was my first time. I found there was enough marzipan left after icing 4 cakes, to re roll it and use for cake number five.

I then realised that it was very easy to roll it out yourself, and bought some decent marzipan, the 60% stuff, to finish the other cakes off.

We used the left over icing to decorate the cakes using stars and trees. The children didn't really let me do much, GRrrr, but the cakes look sooo good, so I don't mind. I particularly love the igloo decoration my 11 year old did.

All in all though, the cakes cost me a flipping fortune, yet, it was still cheaper than buying a present for every person in the families I give them to. Also, it's really good fun, the children love helping, and my daughter now thinks she might like to be a cake decorator.

Here's a link to the pictures of them.

http://www.slide.com/r/fLycbEOjzz-AiB1ql-uwDL50tA4uQ9eT?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

your cakes look lovely, have got some inspiration for doing mine now :T

I bought my marzipan and icing too. Sainsburys marzipan, and Morrisons icing that I bought last year and is now past its best before but it's still fine :money: