Once your Christmas cakes are baked and nicely sozzled with alcohol, any thoughts about decorating it?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

My cake (baked today) is a 7" diameter and 4" high round cake.

I make a batch of Delia almond paste , adhered with apricot jam, then white royal icing.
But I haven't thought about how to decorate it yet.

Last year, I cut out some stars from fondant icing , dusted with edible silver glitter .

Any inspiration out there?
I'll have a look on Pinterest and the Bettys website.

If nothing grabs me, it'll be green fondant icing holly leaves (I have cutters) in a wreath shape round the edge.

[BravingSpring]

I have fondant in festive colours, DD will make some decorations, I'm hoping for gingerbread men and candy canes, I'll probably get something Harry Potter themed :)

In a twist this year I'm thinking of doing smooth royal icing rather than my usual snowy look :)

It won't be Betty's window pretty but it'll taste nice.

[Paperblank]

I don't put marzipan and icing on mine because I don't like it (selfish ) so I decorate the top with nuts.

My mum's Christmas Cake was usually done with royal icing roughed up into peaks with incredibly kitsch decorations. The years we did fancy icing we couldn't bear to cut it!

[Shallishanti]

bumping this in the hope of getting some ideas
we don't really like icing, so I usually do marzipan with marzipan holly leaves, but could do with a new idea. Once did a glazed fruit topping (delia I think) and it was nice but not enough contrast to the actual cake.
Nuts are out as DD allergic to most (but not almonds, thankfully)

[flightywoman]

Last year I iced half as himself doesn't like icing but the junior party does!

I've dried some orange slices and used them tied in a bundle with cinnamon sticks and that looks rather nice, but usually I go for something quite trad with a robin, holly, reindeer, a father christmas and a few sprinkles of edible glitter.

[User543212345]

Last year I cut out lots of stars from green icing and arranged them to look like a tree, dusted it with glitter and stuck more stars in other colours and sugar pearls as decorations. I'm lacking inspiration to do anything different this year, sadly.

[BeaBoo]

Just place marking! My effort was rubbish last year because I was rushed as I'd just moved house. I'd like to do something nice this year so looking for ideas.

[HoneyDragon]

I'm doing Nigel Slaters Almond paste and I'm going to give his icing a bash as its sounds nice, he says its fudgey rather than sugary sweet.

Then, after I lie down down to get over thr pretension of Slatering my cake, it will be decorated with a Christmas tree and assorted festive fondant penguins. I like a fondant penguin at Christmas.

[bilbodog]

I have some beautiful White silk roses which were a gift years ago (they have no stems) so I put those in the centre and add fake berries or sometimes greenery from the garden (Rosemary is good). It looks really classy and everyone comments.

[Shallishanti]

that sounds nice bilbodog- is that on royal icing?

[bilbodog]

Hi - no, I've always just used shop bought roll out icing just for a plain smooth look.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

@ Slatering my cake

D'you just happen to have some orgainic whole almonds grown on the most remote Majorcan hillside, picked at daybreak by virgins. And you just happen to have a jar in the pantry.
Add some Morroccon rosewater distilled from white ottomon roses.

And I bet he rolls it out so anally neatly there's no scraps left.



I've made 3D trees by layering up icing stars , (and done with biscuits too). I bought some snowflakes cutters last year but they were too fiddly.

[TheGreenNinja]

I would cover the whole thing in fondant icing (not a fan of Royal!).
What about making a couple of fondant snowmen? Three decreasing size balls of icing, stuck together with a tiny dab of water. Roll out a strip of coloured icing and cut into a scarf. Use a food colouring pen to make eyes, and cut the end of a straw in half, then push that in to make a smile.
Make some presents out of the coloured icing (shape into a block) and make ribbon strips out of a contrasting colour.
Or a Christmas tree out of a cone of green icing, then use (clean) snippy scissors to cut snips out to make branches all the way around.
Or a chimney (out of red icing with white for snow round the top) with a couple of red legs sticking out the top.

The key for the snowflake cutters by the way is to roll very thin (ideally buy a pack of flower paste rather than fondant icing) and dust fairly well with cornflour before you use the cutter.

[HoneyDragon]

No it's going to take ages.

I have to buy the ingredients. Then stop at the bus stop to open all the ingredients and rewrap them in brown paper and string.

Then carry them like that home. Then decant then all into Kilner jars.

Then write twee labels for them. Get the recipe find the actual recipe within several pages of waffle about boyhood Christmases and

THEN I CAN MAKE THE FUCKING PASTE!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

One of NS recipes for marzipan has a plum kernal in it.

Plum kernal

And don't forget, your icing shouldn't be white sugar , it should be made with golden , to give a parchment linen hue.

Like the grubby snow in Darkest Essex

[HoneyDragon]

I thought it was Professor Plum and Kernal Mustard .

Don't plums have stones?

[BeaBoo]

HoneyDragon

Do people actually go to the bother of making their own marzipan then? Is it worth it?

Last year I used ready made but it ended up going all melty and I'm not sure what went wrong.

[HoneyDragon]

I've never made it, but tried a friends last year and it was gorgeous, so I'd say yes (if it works)

[HoneyDragon]

Did you put the marzipan on a couple of days before you iced it?

[BeaBoo]

I can't remember. I probably did it too early. It's possible that the cake wasn't dry enough on top to begin with! I may have a go at making my own marzipan this year then.

[TheGreenNinja]

Marzipan is wasted on cakes. Just hand me the block and be done with it

[HoneyDragon]

Ds is that you?

(He buys it by the block for a treat)

[TheGreenNinja]

no, definitely not DS.
He sounds like a fine young man though. (I do that too... )

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I make my own, 'tis lush and much softer than the rock hard blocks in the shop. Once I bought some from a Cake Shop and it convonced me never to darken a pack of ready wrapped supermarket crud again.

I use Amarretto to soak the fruit, feed the cake and make the marzipan (to flavour and preserve because it's got raw egg - excuses, excuses )

I do mine maybe 24 hours before , then a thick layer of icing . It does make the icing soften after a while, but I've made a smaller cake this year so it'll get eaten before they all go home.

[FiveShelties]

How long before Christmas should the cake be covered marzipan and iced? I have marzipan in the cupboard which is calling my name .............. Eat me .....

[BeaBoo]

Just taken my cake out of the oven! Can anyone link to a decent marzipan recipe?