Icing cake question

[Mawi]

I have made my first ever Christmas cake and I am not sure how to ice it. I want to use icing sugar and I don't know if I need marzipan and apricot jam. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Fruit cake is normally
Cake, apricot glaze, marzipan layer and the royal icing layer.

But if you don't like marzipan then skip it.

Apricot glaze/jam is used as a glue.

Icing sugar?

I’ve always used earned, sieved apricot jam, then marzipan, then a couple of days later A brush of water and fondant for wedding cakes. Royal icing is hard and nobody likes it, do they?

Mind you, these days I do Xmas cakes that don’t require any covering or feeding. Bliss.

*warmed jam, not sieved.

Not earned! Bloody autocorrect!

My aunt always said, apricot jam, then marzipan, leave for a few days, then brush vodka over the marzipan to serialise and make the marzipan tacky to stick to the rolled icing.

I adore royal icing!

Royal icing is lovely but it’s made with raw eggs and only keeps for a few days which is shit if you’re like me and still eating Christmas cake in February.

If it's your first time I'd get the ready to roll icing sugar and marzipan. Use caster sugar on the worktop as you roll out to stop it sticking.

Put the marzipan on first and leave it to dry out for a couple of days before putting the icing on, otherwise the icing can go a bit yellow.

If you want royal icing that lasts, buy the Tate and Lyle icing sugar - it’s icing sugar with dried egg whites so doesn’t go off but sets like concrete. Also useful for smaller amounts eg writing in a birthday cake (just mix with a drop of water and ignore the ‘beat hard for 5 minutes’ part).

My fave fruit cake icing currently is marzipan then instead of the rolled fondant (I don’t like the taste) use fondant icing sugar mixed thick with water. Tastes like watery icing but keeps better, soft set (not concrete!) I think that’s from Tate and Lyle too actually (I don’t work for them honest!).

Do not using icing sugar to cover it. It will NOT set and be drippy and sticky. Use fondant or royal icing x

Thank you all for the replies. Complete novice here.
If I do the marzipan tomorrow and the icing on Thursday/Friday will that be ok or will I leave it to later in the week. I want it finished for the 23rd.

Will be fine to do it like that. I often marzipan and ice up on the same day.

Any tips on how to get a neat finish with royal icing? My Dad does like it & I've made him a cake.

@lucysmam it's really difficult to get royal icing smooth as it's wet. But a pallet knife will help. If u want it totally smith your best of using fondant icing x

@pippop1317 I thought as much; it frustrated me last time I tried! I have fondant already so may just use that instead

I always over in fondant. Plus you can have more decorating fun x

@lucysmam it's really hard to get a smooth finish, so we always go for a snowy look with a couple of plastic penguins

I seem to recall that being what my Mum used to do years ago!

Royal icing is hard and nobody likes it, do they?

My ds does. I didn't think anyone liked fondant (bleuch) either. The only advantage of fondant over royal icing is that it's easier to peel off to throw in the bin and it's easier to get it smooth.

@lucysmam - I've never attempted to get it smooth. I always go for the snow effect by putting little peaks in it with the back of a spoon. My decorations always have a snow theme - polar bear fishing, penguins, santa buried in snow, person cross-country skiing splatted into a tree etc.

Just to clarify - they were not all on the same cake[

Ready to roll marzipan and apricot jam. Warm jam and spread over cake. Roll out marzipan and draw over and then smooth down with hands. Few days later buy a big plastic pot of royal icing (Lakeland’s do it) and use palette knife to spread over cake - I make it look rough with peeks and a stick on a few plastic penguins / trees and a cake frill

If you want smooth royal icing you should build up the layers, over a period of days.

If you don't want your royal icing to go solid, you can add a teaspoon of glycerine.

Proper almond icing is way nicer than marzipan. Mix 50% ground almonds, 25% icing sugar, 25% caster sugar. Beat an egg, juice of a lemon, a good dollop of whiskey and some almond extract. Add gradually to nuts/sugar. Be carful with quantities as it's easy to make it too gloopy.