So, a few months ago, I made two Christmas cakes (see the recipe for the cake here) - one 20cm, and one 15cm cake. For the 15cm cake, I halved the recipe, which results in a smaller but deeper cake. This was fed with brandy as with the 20cm cake. Around a week before Christmas, it was time to cover the cake. I then finished decorating the cake on Christmas Eve. Now I know I'm no expert when it comes to fondant work, so I decided to keep the design fairly simple. Firstly I covered the cakes with marzipan and white fondant. Then I added some royal icing decorations and gingerbread men. There's a more detailed recipe/guide below :)
Ingredients:
2 Christmas cakes (one 20cm and one 15cm) - see linked recipe above
For the royal icing:
- 225g (1 cup) icing sugar
- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp glycerine
For the gingerbread:
- 95g (2/3 cup) butter or margarine
- 75g (2/5 cup) dark soft brown sugar
- 40g (1 & 1/2 tbsp) golden syrup
- 225g (1 & 1/2 cups) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Other:
- 500g ready to roll marzipan
- 500g ready to roll white fondant
- 75g ready to roll purple fondant
- 1-2tbsp sieved apricot jam
- Icing sugar, for dusting
- Concentrated green gel food colouring (mine was Leaf green from Wilton)
Method:
1. A week before Christmas, the cake needs to be covered with marzipan and fondant. Lightly dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll out 1/3 of the marzipan to a circle roughly 25cm in diameter - this should be enough to cover the top and sides of the 15cm cake. Try to get the marzipan 2-3mm thick.
2. Brush the 15cm cake lightly with the sieved apricot jam. This acts as an adhesive to the cake, letting the marzipan stick.
3. Transfer the marzipan onto the sponge, and gently smooth down the tops and sides of the cake - try to be as smooth as possible. However, the odd rip doesn't really matter as it will be covered with fondant. After smoothing down the sides (using your hands or you could use a fondant smoother), trim off the excess fondant from the base.
4. Roll out the remaining marzipan to a circle around 30cm in diameter. As with the 15cm cake, brush the 20cm cake with apricot jam and transfer the marzipan onto the cake. Gently smooth the top and sides. Try to get the top as level as possible (as this is where the 15cm cake will sit).
5. Place some cling film on your surface (enough to fit a 25cm circle of fondant), then dust with more icing sugar, and then roll out 1/3 of the white fondant to a 25cm circle. Keep the fondant 3-4mm thickness to help prevent rips.
6. Brush the surface of the 15cm cake with a little water, then carefully transfer the fondant to the cake. The easiest way to do this is pick up the clingfilm holding the fondant, and then flip this onto the cake. Whilst the clingfilm is stuck to the fondant, smooth your hands over the top and sides. Then remove the clingfilm - this helps me at least to get a smoother finish/the chance of ripping seems less.
7. Repeat for the 20cm cake with the remaining fondant. Roll 1/2 of the purple fondant out to a long rectangle (around 50cm in length and 2cm in width). Cut into a neat 1cm thick rectangle. Lightly brush the base of the 15cm cake with a little water, then transfer these ribbon across. Roll the remaining purple fondant to a long rectangle about 60cm in length and 1.5cm in width, and gain cut into a neat 1cm thick rectangle. Transfer to the base of the 20cm cake.
8. Stack the 15cm cake on top of the 20cm cake, then set aside for 3-4 days for the fondant to firm up.
9. A few days before/on Christmas Eve, begin the other decorations. To make the gingerbread, preheat your oven to 200c (180c fan)/400f/gas mark 4. Grease and line the base of a baking tray with baking parchment.
10. Melt the butter, sugar, and golden syrup together in a saucepan, stirring regularly until the butter has melted. Set aside for a few minutes to cool.
11. In a mixing bowl, sieve together the plain flour, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda. Make a well in the centre and pour in the melted butter/sugar/syrup. Beat until you have a warm dough.
12. Dust your surface with a little plain flour, and then roll the gingerbread out until it is about 3/4cm/1/2 inch thick. Use gingerbread men cookie cutters (I had some funny "ninjabread" ones I used) to neatly make the gingerbread men, Depending on the size of the cutters, you should get between 6 and 12 men with the dough. My cutters were about 6cm tall.
13. Bake the gingerbread men for around 8 minutes, until the biscuits have become slightly more golden. Set aside to cool.
14. To make the royal icing, tip the egg whites into a grease-free bowl and whisk briefly until they have become frothy. Add the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time, and whisk after each addition. If you have a stand mixer (with the whisk attachment), you can leave it running whilst you add the icing sugar.
15. Add the lemon juice and glycerine, then whisk until the mixture forms stiff, glossy, white peaks.
16. Take 1/3 of the mixture and set aside in a bowl. Dip a cocktail stick in the green food colouring and use this to colour this royal icing. Beat well to evenly distribute the colour.
17. Place a "Grass piping nozzle" (Wilton nozzle 233) in a piping bag and fill the bag with the green royal icing. Snip the tip off the bag, then pipe vertically downwards on the 20cm cake top (around the 15cm cake). Stand your gingerbread men up in the "grass".
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| Grass piping nozzle/Wilton 233 |
18. Place a 1M piping nozzle (open star) into another piping bag and fill this with the white royal icing. Pipe swirls over the top of the 15cm cake. Leave to firm up.
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| 1M Open Star piping nozzle |
19. Enjoy!
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