My First Chritmas Cake

I started cake decorating classes 5 week before Christmas last year. I didn't know what I wanted to learn but was inspired by looking at pictures and wished that I could make cakes like those. This cake classes only do sugar paste (aka fondant). I wanted to learn piping and buttercream. That will be next. So this is my first complete decorated cake I've ever made. It's a fruit cake covered with marzipan(almond paste) and fondant (sugar paste). I made the flowers and leaves out of modelling paste which is similar to sugar paste but it dries hard.

First, this is the recipe for the fruit cake. I have made modifications to the original recipes. I've reduced the sugar and also the amount of fruits because I do not like my fruit cake too sweet. And I omitted peel because I don't like them.

230 grams plain flour

60 grams self raising flour

200 grams dark brown sugar

230 grams butter

5 (size 55 gram) eggs

800 grams mixed fruit

60 grams almonds

1 teaspoon cinnomon powder

1 teaspoon all spice

1 teaspoon nutmeg powder

1 teaspoon ginger powder

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

6 tablespoon brandy (or substitute with what you like)

1/4 teaspoon bicarb-soda

1. Mix fruit, essence, spices and brandy and leave overnight.
2. When ready to begin, mix bicarb-soda with 1 tablespoon of boiling water and pour over fruit.
3. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well after each addition.
4. Then add alternatively flour and fruit into the creamed butter.
5. Wrap 3-4 layers of paper aroung the sides of the tray. This prevents the sides from getting burnt.
6. Pour into a greased lined tray at 160C for about 2-3 hours.

Leave it to cool for at least one day before decorating. If your cake is not flat at the top, cut it flat and make that the bottom. For covering the cake, the first layer is almond paste or marzipan and the top layer is sugar paste or fondant. I did not take any pictures of the process but this is the process.

1. Fill the cake with marzipan. If there is fruit on the surface, press it down. If it sinks, fill it.
2. Roll some marzipan to about 3 mm thickness, dust with icing sugar to prevent from sticking.
3. Put the cake on top of marzipan and cut around it( about 3 mm from the edges).
4. Take the cake off and brush the marzipan with egg white or sugar syrup so that it sticks to the cake.
5. Put the cake back and using a cake leveler, push the marzipan around the edges until inline with the cake edge.
6. Roll a strip of marzipan for the side. Cut the length equals to the circumference of the cake. The height can be slightly taller than the cake.
7. Brush marzipan with egg white or syrup and cover around the cake.
8. Turn the cake with the cover top on the work bench and cut the excess off the side (cutting inwards).
9. Then cover the bottom the same way as the top.
10. Leave this for at least 2 days before covering with fondant.
11. Roll the fondant to about 3 mm, dust with some icing sugar. Make sure that it can cover the top and the sides too. It is better to be slightly under(1 cm from the measurement required) than over (bigger than what is required). Because it stretches.
12. Brush cake with egg white or syrup. Put fondant over cake.
13. Level the top and the sides.
14. Once it is all sticking nicely, cut off the excess.
15. Put on a board and the cake is ready to be decorated.

I did not take any pictures while in the process of making it. But next time, I will.