Festive baking: Decorating your Christmas cake

You’ve made the Christmas cake [recipe here], you’ve been feeding it every week and now is the time to start decorating!

What you’ll need

• 750g marzipan
• 750g ready to roll icing
• Apricot jam
• Cake board

1. Roll out the marzipan between two sheets of parchment – it gets quite sticky!
2. Lift the cake onto the cake board and use a pastry brush to brush some warmed up jam over the top and sides of the cake
3. Lay the rolled marzipan over the cake and smooth down the sides
4. Roll out the icing – use icing sugar to stop it sticking
5. Lay the icing over the marzipan layer, smooth down the sides and trim at the base

Onto the festive Christmas decorations…

Last year I turned my cakes into presents using some coloured fondant that I stuck onto the icing layer.

It looked so effective!

I also turned one of the Christmas cakes into a gingerbread village by sticking some gingerbread shapes onto the sides. The recipe for the gingerbread is here. I used royal icing for this which set really quickly – a great decorating tip is to use this rather than regular icing sugar when piping.

Other decorating ideas…

Forest cake – Why not make a forest scene on top of your cake? Use upturned ice cream wafer cones that are covered in green buttercream. Either pipe them on using a star nozzle, or just smear buttercream onto them. Finish off the decoration with icing sugar, sieved from a height.

Wreath cake – Use coloured fondant and a holly cutter to create individual leaves. Stick them onto the top of the cake with edible glue/water in a circle shape. Create berries out of red fondant and stick in groups of three at various points.

Natural decoration – Dehydrate orange slices by cutting an orange, placing the slices onto greaseproof paper and bake in a low oven for a few hours. Place them on the top of the iced cake with cinnamon sticks, star anise, cleaned pine cones and frosted berries to create a natural scene. Dust in icing sugar to make it look magical!

Christmas lights – You need coloured fondant shaped into small balls for the lights. Stick them onto the cake at various points and then use tube icing in black [or make it yourself and put into an icing bag] to join the “lights” together.

Christmas pudding – I love this idea! Cover the cake with ready to roll icing, cut out a circle in the middle and add marzipan for the pudding custard. Add a few glace cherries and a sprig of holly to create a fun take on the Christmas pudding!

What are my decorating plans for this year?

I am planning on dividing my Christmas cake into six smaller rectangles to be given to friends and family that I cannot see over the festive period.

I’ll be recreating the gingerbread village but on a smaller scale and focusing on the top of the cake. I’ll use the same recipe as above too because it is the best one I’ve found!

I may also use the idea of a forest scene by using old grape vines. Eat the grapes off the vine, stick a bit into the icing and dust with icing sugar and voila! You have a snowy scene!

I will also keep it simple and use a star cutter to cut out lots of stars to stick over the cake.

I’ll keep you updated on my decorating progress over on my Instagram so be sure to check in!

x