Bugger I've left it late

[cheshirecatssmile]

Google has let me down

I've marzipan my cakes. It's dry and set. I'm using ready made fondant icing.
How soon can I decorate, I have other fondant decorations and edible glue.
Getting myself in a twist as I have 3 cakes to do.
One cake is a gift so want to get it right

I depends on which marzipan you've used. The picture looks like it's "white" marzipan and not the "golden" version.. You don't need to leave the white stuff too long before icing, overnight at the longest but the golden version needs to dry out or you can end up with patches of yellow showing through

I had no idea you had to leave marzipan before icing. I never have. Why do you leave it?

Hope it's going well OP. I do think the trees would be wicked if you piped Green royal icing on to look like the branches like this but 2D

I think I used to wait just 24 hours for it to dry and set a bit. But i always used the 'white' stuff not the yellow.
these days I cut the marzipan into small cubes and mix it into the cake itself before baking, then decorate with candied fruit and whole nuts. Looks appropriately festive.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/festive-fruit-nut-cake

Cake 1
Just need a merry Christmas thingy on it

Cake 2

Run out of green icing so to be continued......

They look great.
What a lovely gift, I'm sure the recipient will be thrilled.

Thank you

What gorgeous cakes.

Thank you, I was covered in icing sugar, glue and those bloody tiny red balls. I used tweezers to stick on the more fiddly bits.

They are lovely @cheshirecatssmile

They’re really fab!

All that panicking for nothing 🙄😂

I really admire all you who make your Christmas cakes . I love Christmas cake , I'm not a bad cook but never been brave enough to try making my own .
Well done all of you you're all amazing .🍰🎄

If you are using ready made marzipan you can ice straight away. If you make your own you really need to let it dry or the nut oil seeps through the icing. I have just made my marzipan and will get it on the cake then leave it until Christmas Eve to ice.

Just mix it up and pray. That's what I did but in my defence, I've been using the same recipe for years.
It always feels like a huge achievement when finished and I give myself a pat on the back.

Is it easy to make?

Christmas cake is way easier than sponge, I think. Just more time-consuming.

We make our own marzipan and have never had the butter seep through the icing but I think it very possible the icing is much thicker than on other people's cakes

That’s ace! Love the fat robins!

LOL my Sainsbury's Christmas cake looks a bit sad now when I see all these wonderful home made cakes . Maybe next year I'll try my hand at it .

That’s amazing @WhaleInAManger. That’s why I don’t make my own Christmas cake, I couldn’t achieve anything approaching those.

Cheshirecatsmile, it’s very easy to make and it means you can slightly lower the sugar content of you want to. The faff is the rolling it out but no one in their right mind makes it! I just do it because my mum hated shop bought and I have done it for so many years that I just can’t imagine not and this is the first cake I have done since she died. I did do Delia’s boiled marzipan one year and there is no earthly point in doing that whatsoever!!

Loving those robins!

Thanks for the compliments but it's genuinely an easy decoration to make. I'm not a cakey person and only do one 'decorated' cake a year (at Christmas) so don't go thinking I have any special skills

@bizzywiththefizzy definately give it a go next year!