Done and dusted iced
I have almost finished the Christmas cake. Following the baking back in October, it has been regularly fed with a wee dram or two. I also used some cranberry juice so that it wasn't too boozy for once. Last Thursday, I put on a nice thick layer of marzipan. That was left to dry for a few days and this morning I covered it in royal icing.
The cake before being iced. I think the marzipan had shrunk a little when it dried so there were gaps between the top and sides.
I've not actually made royal icing before as my mother had been able to do that up until recently. I'd struggled finding royal icing sugar for the past couple of years and had ended up with fondant icing instead but it's just not the same. I know it's possible to make royal icing with regular icing sugar and egg whites but royal icing sugar has been treated so that there's no risk from the raw eggs. After an extensive search, I managed to find some at Hobbycraft of all places.
The main problem with making any kind of icing is putting in too much liquid so that it's too runny to set. I'd worked out the quantities of icing sugar and water to cover a 6½ inch cake which was 375g of icing sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. I put in 2 tablespoons to start off with and then added extra water a few drops at a time. It felt like I'd added way more than another tablespoon and it was still more like a stiff dough than icing! It finally loosened up enough to spread on the cake. Mum requested that I gave it a spiky finish so I did.
The finished cake.
There was quite a bit of icing left over and it seemed a waste to throw it away so I decided to use it up on some biscuits.
I decorated some of my mum's gluten free digestives and ginger biscuits...
... and some pieces of shortbread for me.
Now all that's left is to let the icing dry and set on the Christmas cake. After that, I can add the decorations which doesn't take long. I'm going to do it on Thursday morning, and then - finally - it will all be finished. Yay!
The cake before being iced. I think the marzipan had shrunk a little when it dried so there were gaps between the top and sides.
I've not actually made royal icing before as my mother had been able to do that up until recently. I'd struggled finding royal icing sugar for the past couple of years and had ended up with fondant icing instead but it's just not the same. I know it's possible to make royal icing with regular icing sugar and egg whites but royal icing sugar has been treated so that there's no risk from the raw eggs. After an extensive search, I managed to find some at Hobbycraft of all places.
The main problem with making any kind of icing is putting in too much liquid so that it's too runny to set. I'd worked out the quantities of icing sugar and water to cover a 6½ inch cake which was 375g of icing sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. I put in 2 tablespoons to start off with and then added extra water a few drops at a time. It felt like I'd added way more than another tablespoon and it was still more like a stiff dough than icing! It finally loosened up enough to spread on the cake. Mum requested that I gave it a spiky finish so I did.
The finished cake.
There was quite a bit of icing left over and it seemed a waste to throw it away so I decided to use it up on some biscuits.
I decorated some of my mum's gluten free digestives and ginger biscuits...
... and some pieces of shortbread for me.
Now all that's left is to let the icing dry and set on the Christmas cake. After that, I can add the decorations which doesn't take long. I'm going to do it on Thursday morning, and then - finally - it will all be finished. Yay!