Marzipan questions

[Pennies]

1. Tonight I've iced a 6" square cake with marzipan. I'm a little confused because the quantity said 800g, but I've given it a generous layer and only used 300g. The cake is only about 2.5" high. Why did the recipe say so much was needed?

1. Now it is marzipanned, how best to keep it until I ice it (on Tuesday)?

1. I'm icing it with sugar paste - how long will it keep for?

Thanks.

Bump

1. If you have given it a generous layer, that will be enough. Some recipes err on the generous side.

1. A marzipanned cake should be kept in an airy place for about a week to dry before you ice it. Do not wrap it - the marzipan is supposed to dry or else the oils from the almonds in the marzipan will come through the top icing and stain it a brownish colour (Yum!) I would wait until next weekend before icing. Some watered-down and warmed apricot jam (the cheap stuff without any actual apricots in) helps paste icing to stick to the marzipan.

1. For a few months, or longer, if the cake is a rich fruit one. The more fruit, the longer it will keep. The sugar paste will also keep for ages.

Hope this helps.

Lots and lots of help! thanks .

I did a 12 inch round on Friday and was supposed to use nearly 2kilos of marzipan - I only ended up using about 1.5 and that's with an extra layer on the top of the cake as I prefer to use about half the thickness around the sides and ice using one big sheet then attach another disc.

A lot of recipes seem to work on the 1/2 inch of marzipan, 1/2 inch of icing principle which IMO is far too much.

I will do my icing (regal, not sugar paste!) on either Friday or Monday next week and I tend to spriyz with water rather than using sieved apricot jam which is what I used to attach the icing.