Christmas Cake Icing

lulu_92

I need to ice and marzipan 4 Christmas cakes (2x 8" and 2x 4"). What would be the best way to do this?

I'm going to buy my marzipan regardless as I don't trust myself to make it!

Should I make my own fondant icing or just buy it? I've seen fondant icing sugar is only 75p for 500g in Morrisons so that would do a cake, right?

McKneff

I usually make Royal Icing with ordinary icing Sugar and do a snowscene.
Fondant icing is sickly sweet for me.

lulu_92

McKneff wrote: »

I usually make Royal Icing with ordinary icing Sugar and do a snowscene.
Fondant icing is sickly sweet for me.

Thanks, they're not for me, one is for a guy who I used to see at work and he loves the stuff. Might do the others with icing sugar though

Izadora

Although it's cheaper to make your own I find that I never get quite the right consistency - it's either a bit too soft/sticky or too dry and prone to cracking - so am happy to pay the extra for ready made which I know will be easy to work with.
If you're better at making fondant than I am then I'll be grateful for any tips on how to get it to work!!

lulu_92

I usually buy it to be honest.

JulieM

If you want to make Royal Icing, you can cheat by using Royal Icing sugar, which contains dried egg white. It saves faffing about separating eggs then finding something to do with the left over yolks.


Though I have to agree with Izadora that you do have to work on getting the right consistency.

Totality

I buy the marizpan and make Royal Icing. Much prefer to fondant - especially on a Christmas cake.

In_Debt_Bet

I struggled to get a nice smooth finish when I used fondant icing last year this year I'm tempted to give royal icing a go for a change, in the past I've finished my Christmas cake with a glazed nut topping (I think it's a Delia recipe) which goes down very well with those not keen on marzipan or too much sweet icing.

igaveupnowimback

Hi, home made fondant often tastes better, but v difficult to do without cracks/texture. Shop bought good enough, still could take a bit of practice if you not done it before, it's the quickly smoothing down sides so you don't get 'pleats' that can be tricky. Use hands then smoothers. That said, plenty youtube vids show you, and you can easily make small xmas toppers eg holly, stars, gifts/snowmen etc although for bigger items you need modelling paste or add gum trag to fondant. Cheers.