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This page is one of a series of pages which show how to make, bake, marzipan and ice a perfect Christmas Cake. These pages are full of hints, tips, advice and masses of step by step pictures.

This is the second page in the series, and this page shows you 'How To Marzipan a Christmas Cake'. Click on a line below to go to any of the other pages.

How To Make and Bake a Christmas Cake
How To Marzipan a Christmas Cake
How To Ice Your Christmas Cake with Ready-To-Roll Icing
How To Ice Your Christmas Cake The Traditional Method
A Recipe That Your Children Can Cook

When To Marzipan Your Cake?
The ideal time to marzipan your cake is about 3 weeks before you plan to eat it. The logic behind this is that marzipan takes around two weeks to fully harden. It's best to ice on fully hardened marzipan. In the third week you can pick a convenient time to ice your cake.

Having advised as above, we have marzipan and iced a cake on the same day. I know because I'm looking at two cakes right now!

TIME
45 minutes to marzipan the cake
No cooking time

INGREDIENTS
The ingredients below will make enough to marzipan a 25cm (10 inch) Christmas Cake.

The pack in the middle is the marzipan pack. We have put the contents of the pack in front of it.

COOKING EQUIPMENT
Rolling Pin

METHOD 

After cooking, the top of a Christmas Cake is rounded, so we cut off the rounded part as shown in the picture. This will give a smooth and even surface on both sides of the cake. We now have a flat cake on both sides which is the perfect shape for marzipan and icing.

 

When you cooked the Christmas Cake the recipe called for some brandy or port in the mixture. Well, hopefully there is still some left over! Liberally sprinkle the cut side with brandy or port (roughly 30 ml / 1 fluid ounce). This will preserve the cake and add to the taste.

 

Turn the Christmas Cake cut side down and paste the surface (including the sides) with some jam. We used apricot jam because it does not have a strong flavour. Make sure the entire cake is covered. This is done to stop the marzipan sliding off the cake

Sprinkle the work surface with a little icing sugar. Knead half the marzipan into a ball shape and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a circle which is just a bit bigger than the top of the cake. The marzipan should be about 3/4 cm (1/4 inch) thick. To help obtain a circle, keep turning the marzipan round every 10 seconds or so.

 

Place the circle of marzipan on the cake and gently firm it down making it as flat as possible. Trim off any excess marzipan with a knife and firm down the edge of the marzipan.

 

Take half the remaining marzipan and roll it out into a long strip about 3/4 cm (1/4 inch) thick. This will be used to cover half of the sides so it should be just a little wider than the side of the cake. We do the sides in two goes because a strip of marzipan to round the entire cake is difficult to handle and may break.

 

Measure the sides of the cake with a piece of string, fold the string in half and use that as the measure to trim up the marzipan side pieces.

 

Wrap one piece of side marzipan round the edge of the Christmas Cake. Gently firm it on to the cake and mould it to shape at the bottom. Trim off any excess with a knife.

 

View of base of cake

On the left is the finished marzipan Christmas Cake. We have added the second side section and gently firmed it all down. It's not crucial to get a completely smooth surface because the icing will hide a multitude of sins.

CHRISTMAS CAKE INDEX PAGE