Mary Berry Christmas Cake

Deenie123

Hi,

I've currently got the fruit soaking for the cake in this recipe:

http://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/baking/mary-berrys-classic-fruit-cake

Has anyone made this one before? 4 tbsp of brandy really doesn't seem like a lot of liquid for all that fruit :eek: That's only 60ml!

Also, I'm going to ice it by doing a buttercream on it (hate the taste of marzipan) and then sugarpaste over that. I've never worked with sugarpaste before and have a couple of questions about it, would be grateful if anyone could shed some light. First off, for a 9" round cake would I need about 1kg of fondant?

Also, do I need a plastic rolling pin or will a wooden one coated in icing sugar do?

phormium

I haven't made this recipe so can't comment on the amount of liquid. However regarding your plan to butter cream the cake, don't do it!

Buttercream is not really suitable for a fruit cake unless you are going to eat it all quickly, even then I wouldn't do it. There is no problem not using marzipan, you can just use the fondant, to stick it on just brush the cake with either apricot jam heated first to thin it or if you have it handy marmalade will do rather than buying a pot of apricot jam. Honestly who eats that stuff? I have only ever used it to stick on the marzipan, it's used for that as it has very little flavour.

If you don't want to use any jam type stuff to stick it on just brushing the cake with alcohol would work as well, I really wouldn't use the buttercream though.

PS 1 kg would do, won't give a very thick covering, hard to get smooth too with thin layer. Wooden rolling pin is fine, dust a bit of icing sugar on counter, not too much or it will stop the icing sticking on.

Deenie123

phormium wrote: »

I haven't made this recipe so can't comment on the amount of liquid. However regarding your plan to butter cream the cake, don't do it!

Buttercream is not really suitable for a fruit cake unless you are going to eat it all quickly, even then I wouldn't do it. There is no problem not using marzipan, you can just use the fondant, to stick it on just brush the cake with either apricot jam heated first to thin it or if you have it handy marmalade will do rather than buying a pot of apricot jam. Honestly who eats that stuff? I have only ever used it to stick on the marzipan, it's used for that as it has very little flavour.

If you don't want to use any jam type stuff to stick it on just brushing the cake with alcohol would work as well, I really wouldn't use the buttercream though.

PS 1 kg would do, won't give a very thick covering, hard to get smooth too with thin layer. Wooden rolling pin is fine, dust a bit of icing sugar on counter, not too much or it will stop the icing sticking on.

That's really helpful, thanks.

I ended up adding an extra 2tbsp of brandy last night and baked it today - it didn't look too wet at all in the mixture. It looks fine, cooked in 4.5 hours but obviously won't know how the moisture levels are til it's actually cut and tasted

Thanks for the heads up on the buttercream, I had been watching a baking programme and saw it being used on red velvet cake under the fondant instead of marzipan and thought that was great that I didn't have to use marzipan Didn't realize it wasn't appropriate for a fruit cake, have a jar of apricot jam and actually also have a frozen tub of sieved apricot jam left over from something I made a couple of weeks ago so will just thaw that out and use that to stick the icing.

Can't get over the weight of it!

phormium

It's fine to use buttercream on any type of sponge cake under fondant as firstly you need something to smooth out the sides etc where the joins from the layers are so you can get a good even finish and secondly sponge cakes will be eaten quickly so no time for buttercream to go off. No one really uses marzipan on a sponge cake, ganache or buttercream is the usual.

Assuming you lined your tin carefully you will have a much smoother surface on a fruit cake and no layers so the need to even it out is not as important as a sponge. Turn it upside down anyway to give yourself an even top to the cake.

leahyl

Deenie123 wrote: »

Hi,

I've currently got the fruit soaking for the cake in this recipe:

http://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/baking/mary-berrys-classic-fruit-cake

Has anyone made this one before? 4 tbsp of brandy really doesn't seem like a lot of liquid for all that fruit :eek: That's only 60ml!

Also, I'm going to ice it by doing a buttercream on it (hate the taste of marzipan) and then sugarpaste over that. I've never worked with sugarpaste before and have a couple of questions about it, would be grateful if anyone could shed some light. First off, for a 9" round cake would I need about 1kg of fondant?

Also, do I need a plastic rolling pin or will a wooden one coated in icing sugar do?

I made this cake for the first time this year - 4 tbsps is actually plenty because you will be "feeding" the cake with more booze over the next few weeks anyway so you don't want the cake to be too boozy - or maybe you do, since I saw you put extra alcohol in :pac:

Spanishbuzz316

Does anyone know if u can get the mary berry christmas cake kit in tesco over here?

Deenie123

So I practice-iced an oxford lunch so that I don't wreck the christmas cake! Used the Lidl fondant and I have to admit, it was quite tasty as fondant goes. Better stock up before they run out in the lead up to the big day.

Question for the bakers out there - how do I stick fondant to fondant? Or I got little decorations for the cake and am not entirely sure how to stick them on

These are the decorations: http://www.homestoreandmore.ie/christmas-cake/christmas-tree-7-homemade-icing-cake-toppers/invt/062105

Someone mentioned edible glue to me?

phormium

Water will stick fondant to fondant, barely wet it, use a little paintbrush if you have it.

If you want something stronger for heavier decorations on for example the side of the cake just mix some icing sugar with water to a paste or even mush up a bit of sugarpaste with a few drops of water.

Deenie123

Well, decided that we're close enough to Christmas to cut the cake. yum yum yum yum.

Veeerrry nice, fed it about 3 times - 2 tbsp each time and had added the extra 2 tbsp before cooking.

cake seems perfect, lovely and moist, not too strong, nice nutty flavour coming through. Don't normally like xmas cake so delighted with this