how early can i ice my cake?

[mumineedapooooo]

i want to do it now!
Has anybody got any tips?
and how are you decorating yours?

[amazingmumof6]

fruit cake drenched in booze - anytime.
fill in any dips with marzipan blobs till you get a nice level surface. brush with warmed apricot jam, the put rolled out marzipan on top ( about 1cm thick.) avoid bubbles
dampen the marzipan with wet hands, then put on rolled out icing on top.
smooth

decorate with edible glitter, nativity figures and a mini firework. red ribbon to tie around it

perfect

[amazingmumof6]

"anytime" as in yes, you can do it any time, now is good! fruitcake lasts a long time

[mumineedapooooo]

thank you for the tips. 1cm seems quite thick?is that to cover the lumps and bumps?
how thick do you do your icing?

[Startail]

Personally I'd leave it till nearer Christmas. Tightly rapped fruit cake keeps forever.

Iced cake keeps, but is much less tolerant. Too cold and you get condensation, to warm and it dries out.

Certainly only white icing, Having had disasters with the colours running I don't do fancy stuff until the last minute.

[Binfullofgibletsonthe26th]

I do it the week before, as I make my icing and it sometimes sweats in the cake stand, and bubbles, or goes a bit too hard.

I don't ice the whole cake, I do something like this:

www.google.ch/search?q=delia+classic+christmas+cake&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=JpmmULq4J4f3sgarkIDYBA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i|1;d|gCxfkvLAya7l0M:

So a layer of marzipan and icing on the top, huge ribbon or collar around the cake.

Or you could top with glacé fruits and toasted halves of walnut, almonds, brazil nuts etc?

[Binfullofgibletsonthe26th]

www.google.ch/search?q=delia+classic+christmas+cake&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=JpmmULq4J4f3sgarkIDYBA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i|1;d|gCxfkvLAya7l0M:

Sorry forgot to convert link...

[amazingmumof6]

mumineedapooooo you can make icing as thin as 5mm, whatever you prefer

you can ice it ahead and decorate on the day