Now that it’s getting into the holidays and Christmas is round the corner, it’s time to decorate your already baked and fed Christmas cake. If you’ve not made one yet, there’s still time, you just won’t have as long to feed and mature it. This post has the recipes for all the basic components of christmas cake decoration, we’ve also included pictures of our cake as an idea/inspiration for your own designs!
Christmas cake is traditionally brushed with apricot jam, covered in a layer of marzipan (or almond paste if you will) and then a layer of fondant icing. Both of which are easily bought in any supermarket, resulting is a simpler, quicker method. However here are the recipes if you wish to make your Christmas cake from scratch and be extra proud of yourself.
- 225g ground almonds
- 225g caster sugar
- 300g icing sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp almond extract
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, you may need to add more icing sugar to make it come together.
- Kneed into a ball, wrap in cling film and store in the fridge till you need it.
- 500g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp liquid glucose
- 1 tsp glycerine
- 1 egg white
- Put the icing sugar into a bowl, creating a well in the centre for you egg white, glucose & glycerine.
- Mix together until combines and tip out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar.
- Knead the fondant until it’s nice and smooth, wrap in cling film & store in the fridge.
The fondant icing is also something we will be using to decorate the top of the cake to make models of trees, holly leaves, candy canes, santa – whatever you fancy or however creative you would like to be!
Another recipe that may come in handy whilst decorating your cake is a royal icing recipe. Royal icing is a thick icing using egg whites which will set rock solid. It’s great for creating a snow scene or sticking together a gingerbread house.
- 2 egg whites
- 500g icing sugar
- 3 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp glycerine
- Whisk the egg whites till frothy, sift and fold the icing sugar in a tablespoon at a time.
- Add the lemon juice and glycerine and mix.
- Beat the icing using an electric whisk to form stiff peaks.
- Use immediately.
Alternatively, you can cover your marzipan in the royal icing to form a smooth coverage or fluff the icing up using the back of a spoon, a palette knife or even a fork to create snow like textures in the surface. We used royal icing to pipe little rosettes around the bottom of our cake.
