If you want to make your own Christmas Cake you'll need to marzipan it before you can ice it.
It's not difficult really and we have step by step instructions and pictures below to help you along the way.
675g / 1.5lb marzipan
2 tablespoons Icing Sugar (dust work surface)
2 tablespoons apricot jam
30 ml / 1 fluid ounce brandy or port
Previously you need to have made and baked the Christmas cake.
It's ideal if you ice your cake when the marzipan has had about two weeks to fully harden. Having advised that, we have marzipaned and iced a cake on the same day. I know because I'm looking at two cakes right now!
This page takes you through how to marzipan a basic Christmas cake. Click on a line below to go to any of the other pages in this series about Christmas Cakes.
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
After baking your christnas cake, the top of the Christmas Cake is rounded, so you should cut off the rounded part as shown in the picture. This will give a smooth and even surface on both sides of the cake.
You wiil now have a flat cake on both sides which is the perfect shape for marzipan and icing.
Cutting top of XMAS cake for marzipan
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.
Adding brandy or port to Christmas cake
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.
Coat surface of Christmas cake with jam
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.
Roll out marzipan for top of cake
Place the circle of marzipan on the cake and gently firm it down making it as flat as possible.
Place marzipan on top of Christmas cake
Trim off any excess marzipan with a knife and firm down the edge of the marzipan.
Trim off excess 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.
Marzipan cut for the sides of the cake
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.
Marzipan sides onto Christmas cake
Below 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 with marzipan